I wanted to share my opinion after giving this kit a good workout: Its all good.
The rotor size is up only a bit but the 13lbs per wheel weight savings can definately be felt through the steering wheel. It is absolutely telepathic now and noticably sharper. Bumps at speed are a non event now as well. The braking has better initial grab and is very linear and strong. Fade of course is not an issue. I must say the "race/steet" pads I used intially are not my favorite. Very noisy and they never seemed to settle into a smooth application. The "street" pads I changed to are perfectly smooth and quiet, and they held up fine. BTW, It only takes a minute or so to change the pads once the wheels are off. One allen head bolt and you can slip them out easily. Lastly This kit allowed me to use my stock wheels. A big deal maker for me as none of the other kits does this without some big spacers. All in all I highly recommend this kit if your looking for a brake kit. :D

 

nice, this might be a upgrade in the VERY LATE future. =(
Nice review .

 

pic/links?

 

Pics of my car are here:
https://www.rx8club.com/showthread.p...hlight=wilwood

 

13 lbs per wheel! Wow, that's significant.

 

Good review rlfletech.

Are the pads you're using from the kit?

 

I started with a race/street compound pad but have switched to the street pad. I believe you can select whatever compound you want when you order the kit.

 

That is one of those "intangible" benefits of lighter unsprung weight that you just can't put numbers to, but it really makes a difference for a sports car. This is where people can make some poor decisions. Like alot of things in a modified car, you have to get the proper pad for your application. Pad compound is always a trade-off in performance (not even considering dust and noise), and you normally want the lowest temp compound that doesn't fade or break down. Save the race or race/street pads for when you go to the track, or are about to hit the canyons hard.

---jps

 

The pics looks great. Glad you are happy with them and they work well. I would be interested in some 60-0 comparisons, even if is just subjective.

 

Yeah.. impressions on feel would be great.. Do you feel they grab significanly harder, meaning that when you stomp hard on the pedal it feels like your going to go through the windshield? Or is fade just a non issue now and the brakes feel a bit better than stock.....

If I buy a BBK I would want to know that these things are stopping at least 10 to 15 feet shorter than stock... Vivid proved this with their Stop Tech kit..

 

rlfletech, have you considered ceramic brake pads? My boss persuaded me they were optimal everywhere, because ceramics have a high heat capacity, low wear resistance, and my boss was a brake mechanic for many years.

 

i believe ceramic and carbon pads only operate well at high temps, not good for the street

 

Probably so. Are there an ceramic/organic brake pad compounds?

 

The Ferrari Enzo utilizes ceramic rotors...
________
Maine dispensary

 

Porsche uses ceramic composite brakes on most of the 911 model line w/o problems. Brembo is coming out with a ceramic brake system soon, and there are a couple smaller companies with ceramic offerings. From what I have read, they are very streetable.

 

Care to offer up any more info? Has Wilwood ever made this information available to you as far as the braking distances?

 

Lets face it, the stock brakes are pretty damn good. Because the rotor size is so similar I doubt this kit offers a vastly shorter stopping distance. I don't have, and don't plan on taking the time to get exact stopping distance data. Stickier tires will probably have more of an effect per dollar.
What this kit does do:
Fade at track conditions is even less of an issue than before.
The brakes bite harder with less pedal pressure than before.
Pads are incredibly easy to change now.
A LARGE savings in unsprung weight per wheel.

 

The Q pads that are supplied with the kit are indeed a ceramic based pad good up to 800 degress. They also dont need to be heated up to work properly. Best part is, they dont dust or squeek.

You guys have to keep one thing in mind. The point of a big brake kit is not to reduce 80-0 or 60-0 distances. You can do that with just a pad change. The point of a larger and more effecient system is to be able to withstand constant punishment and abuse and actually work better when hot.

You can get better braking just by swapping pads. But what happens when you upgrade one component without upgrading related components? Premature failure. With larger more effecient systems you dont see the degradation from heat that you see in a stock set up. Which actually means that these components under the same circumstances will actually last much much longer.

On top of that, I cant stress enough what a difference of 25 pounds of unsprung weight feels like off the front end. That alone is worth the price of admission.

 

25 lbs...damn. wonder how much you could lose on the rears

 

That's why several of us are interested in a rear kit.

---jps

 

Hey Doc,

Do you guys have a turntable or something else useful for measuring rotational intertia handy? (even most pro-grade CAD packages should be able to calculate that if you have a 3-D model)

The 25lb unsprung weight reduction is definitely a big plus, and losing 3 lb off the rotors is good, but it doesn't seem like it would be that difficult to (with the right equipment) measure the rotational inertias of the two different rotors, which is a data point that I'd be really interested in seeing.

 

I second that emotion. I talked to the guys (Brake Zone) who sell this kit;I was told that they expect to receive the Wilwood caliper for the rear around December, and to offer a rear kit sometime spring 2005.

 

I dont have access to one but I can ask my engineer. I know that with SEMA around the corner, we have been extremely busy trying to prepare. If you got access to one I ll gladly get you a rotor for testing.

 

unfortunately, I don't have a turntable available (instrumented or otherwise), and the only CAD access I have is at work, where bringing in other peoples proprietary models would require much more legal hassle than it's worth.

 

Brembo building a ceramic kit? I'm all ears!

As far as Porsche PCCB "w/o problems", you should check out the writeups Porsche forums.