Wilwood Big Brakes Are Finally On!

**MattRobertson** · 07-01-2006, 06:13 AM

As some of you know, about a month ago I ordered Stage II big brake kits from supporting vendor TCE Performance. A Stage II kit is basically a complete brake system replacement, including calipers, rotors and stainless lines. I also picked up some higher-temp fluid and went with the option to have both the front and rear calipers powder-coated red.

You can have the rotors slotted and drilled, but pretty much everything I heard -- and some of the guys I know who do SCCA class racing gave me an earful -- says that both are primarily cosmetic mods. Drilling will get you cracked rotors eventually and slotting is your ticket to reduced contact patch, increased dust and accelerated pad wear (I am not telling the whole story here but for us civilians I think the above is an accurate depiction of the benefits of drilling and slotting).

So far I have driven these only a short time: About 180 miles for the drive home. They aren't broken in yet so I have to take it easy while the pads cure.

First to give you an idea of what you get when you upgrade the rotors. I was surprised to learn when the stock rotors were hauled off that they are not directionally vaned. The 'vanes' that you see go straight down and all they do is separate the two contact surfaces. An aid to cooling I'm sure but nothing like a directional vane. Here's a picture of the 14" front rotors on the left and the 13" rear rotors on the right (stockers are 13" and 12"). To give you a baseline for comparison, the new 13" rear rotors on the right are the same thickness as the stockers.

That is one bigass rotor. Here's a shot of it on the car before the caliper was fitted.

And another from the other side after the 6-piston caliper is on

Here's one of the rear after assembly is completed.

As for driving impressions, its tough as I am babying them during the bedding and curing process. However the improvement is already noticeable in terms of feel. Most of this comes from the braided lines, which I would recommend to everyone as a standalone mod. It won't help you stop any better but it will give you a big improvement in pedal feel, and probably would be relatively cheap as well.

Unfortunately I hit the road immediately after leaving the shop and didn't stop until it was very late at night. No pics installed, but the front rotor is... well it fills my 20" wheels and my somewhat skeletonized 5-spokes are the perfect wheel to show them off. I'll post daylight pics with them on tomorrow. Before I had gotten a mile out of the shop the guy in the SUV to the left of me at a stoplight had his eyes glued onto them. Did I mention thats one bigass rotor? :-)

**Ozzie** · 07-01-2006, 06:31 AM

Nice job, Matt! I was wondering how that project was coming along. The pix are great. Can't wait to see the setup "live" at Willow Springs.

**Bubba's Dragon** · 07-01-2006, 07:56 AM

Wow intresting mod, cant wait to see the pictures on line.. ^^ Hmm turbo or brakes... HMMM

**Rev.Hammer** · 07-01-2006, 10:22 AM

Those are such an awesome looking setup! It appears to be well engineered too..
Its I shame I couldn't get them to participate in any way with the SE LX Shindig. I guess that the LX line is too bush league...

**magnumdude** · 07-01-2006, 12:42 PM

Can't wait to see how they perform

**Super T** · 07-01-2006, 01:46 PM

I used wilwood dynalites on a car i had to design/build for my senior project... they make some truly quality stuff. The kit looks amazing! Good call on the powdercoating too, I must say. That kit is a hair cheaper than the Brembo and Stoptech kits too, isn't it?

**MattRobertson** · 07-01-2006, 05:53 PM

Originally Posted by Super T

That kit is a hair cheaper than the Brembo and Stoptech kits too, isn't it?

Its a bunch cheaper, actually. Brembo's are almost $6100 (at HHP) and Stoptechs are $5000 (at Zeckhausen). At TCE Performance the full kits spec out at full price to less than $3400, but if your ego demands red brakes add a few bucks to that.

Each of the kits are different in their use of rotor sizes, pads and calipers. I'm sure the other two are worth every penny but frankly the other two were flat out not priced in my range. Besides that, the TCE/Wilwood kit did what I wanted. Cosmetically I would like a14" rotor in the back along with a 6-piston caliper too (and it still would have been cheaper, albeit not by much at that point) but the car just doesn't need it imho.

In fact it doesn't need any of this unless you are hammering the thing, and I do. The stock LX brakes are very good.

EDIT: I also looked at SSBS brake kits but the word I heard from a shop that had done several installs was that they are of fine quality but have an issue with brake squeal that never seems to go away.

**Darthvader** · 07-01-2006, 06:26 PM

Very impressive Matt. Frankie like!!!

**SoCalRT** · 07-01-2006, 06:35 PM

Very nice, thanks for the well thought out write up.

**MattRobertson** · 07-02-2006, 06:22 PM

Here are some installed pics in the daylight, finally. Brakes are bedded and I just have to be gentle to them for a few more days before I can start leaning into em nice and hard to see what they can do.

FRONT

REAR

FULL SIDE

**RTracer** · 07-02-2006, 06:33 PM

Oh man, you have all the cool stuff!!

Lookin nice, brakin better!

**Big Boy** · 07-02-2006, 06:37 PM

Originally Posted by MattRobertson

EDIT: I also looked at SSBS brake kits but the word I heard from a shop that had done several installs was that they are of fine quality but have an issue with brake squeal that never seems to go away.

I have the SSBC brakes on my Chevelle with no problems.

Just my experience.

Great looking setup Matt. I love the red caliphers with the Black and even my Midnight Blue Magnum.

**STAGE 3 R/T** · 07-02-2006, 06:53 PM

go with the brakes first then the turbo! all that power and stock brakes? just my .02

Originally Posted by Bubba's Dragon

Wow intresting mod, cant wait to see the pictures on line.. ^^ Hmm turbo or brakes... HMMM

**Meister** · 07-02-2006, 07:28 PM

Great info, Matt. Thanks for sharing via the great write up & pics.

Your choice of red for the calipers was the only correct choice given your badging. It's absolutely perfect and worth every extra shekel you threw at it.