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I have heard that some people have had to repeatedly rebuild their wilwoods. is everyone having this problem, or is it just a freak occurance? about how long are they lasting?
I am trying to weigh the Fastbrake setup against some OEM calipers...
I have heard that some people have had to repeatedly rebuild their wilwoods. is everyone having this problem, or is it just a freak occurance? about how long are they lasting?
I am trying to weigh the Fastbrake setup against some OEM calipers...
The only problem we've had with Jeff's Wilwoods (on 12.x" rotors) is some pad knockback. We're going to try some things to fix, like new wheelbearings. He did have to rebuilt one caliper, but that is because he melted the pad backing plate to the piston because of a bad choice of pad compounds at Cal Speedway.
Last I heard in the pits the Fastbrake problems were "solved", but I don't run them.
i think i will end up trying some hawk blues at all 4 corners and some brake vents to see if that is sufficient. if it isnt, then i will switch to the fastbrakes.
i also have to remove a wonderful 4 channel ABS system, fun stuff. i want to keep the brake changes as simple as possible.
I think one of the problems with the Wilwood setup is not so much Wilwoods problem but the fact that the Nissan Hub is not machined very accurately. If you look at a floating calliper it can have a lot of play and find the center of the rotor very easily. Even if the ears on the hub are not perfectly square it does not effect the ability of the caliper to square itself back up due to all the slop in the system. Wilwoods have zero ability to float so you need to insure that the caliper is actually square to the rotor. You can see (by looking thru the area the pads sit) it if you have a problem. If you do you can get taper wear inside the cylinders of the caliper. Even all squared up the calipers do not have the ability to run forever with out bleeding them every once in a while. I need to bleed mine about every 6 months to keep a nice firm pedal. When I am doing track events its not a issue because I bleed before most events anyway.
I have heard that some people have had to repeatedly rebuild their wilwoods. is everyone having this problem, or is it just a freak occurance? about how long are they lasting?
I am trying to weigh the Fastbrake setup against some OEM calipers...
The new forged calipers seem to have a rock hard pedal and hang in there. They cost the same also.
Rob and I both just rebuilt our calipers after more than a full season on them. Both of us were getting mushy pedals, first after a couple days, then after each session.
We both rebuilt them (Rob also installed new pistons, I used scotchbrite to polish mine up), and both had great brakes all weekend. I didn't bleed mine, even after the 3 hour enduro Saturday night.
You really do not need the Willwood big brake kit. The NX brakes are more than enough. Just get the FWD 91-96 Mitsubishi Hawk Blue pads. They fit the NX calipers fine. I have yet to get a mushy pedal or fade them. I do change the entire calipers once every season. I do not have to since the brakes are rock solid. I just do it as a pre-caution.
You can get a loaded caliper for 48.95 each. That includes the pads (that I use on my street car) and the bracket. This way I do not even have to get pads for my street car
The more I learn about the Willwoods, the less I like them. The pads are held inside the caliper by cottor pins. To be safe you must replace these pins every time you check or replace the pads. If you do not, the pins will fall off and you could end in trouble. Why would they use cottor pins is beyond me? This is a cheap way to hold a pad inside a caliper. A threaded pin would have been much better.
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1998 SE-R, ITA Race Car
2002 Toyota Tundra V8 SR5, tow truck, 207 hp, 271 lb-ft
2006 Apex Silver Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution
i think i will try out the OEM setup for one weekend. if i am unhappy with the way it handles the heat (my car will likely be one of the heavier ones out there) i will switch to the wilwoods. the worst that happens is i kill a weekend, BFD.
The pads are held inside the caliper by cottor pins. To be safe you must replace these pins every time you check or replace the pads. If you do not, the pins will fall off and you could end in trouble. Why would they use cottor pins is beyond me? This is a cheap way to hold a pad inside a caliper. A threaded pin would have been much better.
Cotter pins are made out of a soft enough material that you can reuse them a couple of time before failure. In addition, the pins on the wilwood calipers do not take any of the load exerted on them. They simply hold the pad in place and keep them from drifting out of the slots made for them. Considering they have used this setup for many years, Im sure there is some logic behind it...besides it makes changing pads a snap.
Cotter pins are made out of a soft enough material that you can reuse them a couple of time before failure. In addition, the pins on the wilwood calipers do not take any of the load exerted on them. They simply hold the pad in place and keep them from drifting out of the slots made for them. Considering they have used this setup for many years, Im sure there is some logic behind it...besides it makes changing pads a snap.
yeah, but dont you think that a simple bolt would have been better? it certainly wouldnt make pad swaps that much more complicated anyway.
yeah, but dont you think that a simple bolt would have been better? it certainly wouldnt make pad swaps that much more complicated anyway.
The pin is fine. A lot of OEMs use the same style-- the brakes on my 240 are the same way. You could probably just use safety wire-- a bolt would be overkill and added weight.
