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Wilwood?

12thMan

New Member
Joined
Jun 26, 2016
Messages
39
Working on a Coyote build with a builder. How many of you have run Wilwood on a build?

Guys who’s doing the work is questioning the quality of an aluminum caliper vs steel. They’re not that much more than other kits. Worth it for a nicer build?
 

Yeller

Contributor
Bronco Guru
Joined
Mar 27, 2012
Messages
6,211
Loc.
Rogers County Oklahoma
Aluminum calipers are fine but I’m a fan of using what you can obtain from any parts store anywhere. Nothing like having an issue and waiting on parts that may or may not be available in the future.

Watch the parking lots at parts stores at events that are not just a car show and see what guys are trying to fix that they can’t get parts for, brakes often are one of them.
 

toddz69

Sponsor/Vendor
Bronco Guru
Joined
Nov 28, 2001
Messages
10,194
Wilwood makes nice calipers - they're a little lower on the totem pole of quality than other aluminum calipers out there (Brembo, Alcan, etc.) but work well for a lot of builds and are certainly high enough quality to work on our Broncos - and they're good looking for the high $$ builds that a lot of companies are doing now. I wouldn't worry about aluminum vs. steel calipers.

I'm with @Yeller in that I like to have easily sourced parts and if you're sidelined with a Wilwood problem, you're probably at the mercy of when Summit or other mail order shops can get parts to you. That's fine when you're in urban areas and not in a hurry, but if you're 50 miles from Nowheresville, something available at a local parts store might be a lot more convenient.

A few other items on Wilwood - they don't use normal OEM dust seals on their calipers and I'm not a fan of that. Whether I'm picking fly poop out of the pepper on that one is open for debate, but it should be noted. Additionally, Wilwood likes to use rigid, rather than floating, calipers on their rear disc kits. This can lead to piston knock back as the rotor/axle moves (assuming you have a semi-floating, rather than full-floating) axles. It can also put additional stress on the axle seals and I've anecdotally seen some leaking axle seals on Wilwood-equipped 9" rear ends that I believe was caused by this. I've never seen an OEM that ran rigid calipers on a semi-floating rear axle. Mike Maier (noted Mustang/race car builder) talks a little bit about this in this video:


Todd Z.
 

sprdv1

Contributor
REBEL
Joined
Mar 8, 2007
Messages
81,824
Aluminum calipers are fine but I’m a fan of using what you can obtain from any parts store anywhere. Nothing like having an issue and waiting on parts that may or may not be available in the future.

Watch the parking lots at parts stores at events that are not just a car show and see what guys are trying to fix that they can’t get parts for, brakes often are one of them.

Good points w/not having the wilwood and other after market stuff
 

Apogee

Contributor
Bronco Guru
Joined
Nov 26, 2005
Messages
6,051
I agree with Todd on his assessment, though I'd add that NPT has no place in a brake system, and yet 1/8-27 NPT is the standard inlet port configuration on most Wilwood calipers. FWIW, Wilwood does offer dust seals on a lot of their calipers now, otherwise they can't sell them into a lot of the international markets, but you have to pay the upgrade fee to get them.
 

ntsqd

heratic car camper
Joined
Jan 30, 2005
Messages
3,318
Loc.
Upper SoKA
The dust boots started on the DynaPro's about 2001 or so.

Ask me how I know. :)

But yeah, w/o the dust boots or seals I wouldn't want them off-road.
 

ba123

Contributor
Bronco Guru
Joined
Oct 29, 2022
Messages
1,805
Loc.
CA
I’m putting a wilwood master, mainly cause it looks so nice, but have often heard not the best things about their calipers.

I just installed a kit from MPBrakes that ToddZ told me about for the rears that uses mustang calipers and since I have stock front discs, I upgraded to the TBird calipers. All painted black and look nice.
IMG_5513.jpeg
IMG_5429.jpeg
 

ntsqd

heratic car camper
Joined
Jan 30, 2005
Messages
3,318
Loc.
Upper SoKA
I DD'd a set of wilwood DynaPro's for several years until I sold the car and would hesitate to do so again.
 

duffymahoney

Contributor
Bronco Guru
Joined
Apr 26, 2015
Messages
2,594
I have the caddy rears and the t-bird fronts, the bias is a too front heavy. I plan to eventually do fancy calipers. But for now the old style works.
 
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