Wilwood aftermarket rear calipers

Discussion in 'Mk2' started by Adamss24, Jan 1, 2022.

  1. Jon Olds Forum Junkie

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    Spend 500 bucks on the top available pads, if the brakes still not strong enough, upgrade
    LOL
    Jon
     
  2. Tristan

    Tristan Paid Member Paid Member

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    What are your favourites, Jon?
     
  3. Adamss24 Forum Member

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    I think I will rather spend 500 quid on a brake upgrade however getting more aggressive pads means I can make full use of the system that’s already on the car. I’ve used ferodo ds2500 with good results however brake discs were not lasting long, they either warped or worn weirdly due to the aggressive pad compound ! Thanks for suggestion John…
     
  4. Jon Olds Forum Junkie

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    Brake discs/pads are a consumable, far better to have effective brakes than lugging around oversized hardware (unsprung weight etc etc)
    DS2500 work fine...IMHO
    Jon
     
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  5. Tristan

    Tristan Paid Member Paid Member

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    What are your favourites, Jon?
     
  6. Terry47

    Terry47 Paid Member Paid Member

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    Just to add my contribution to this for the set up I run on the tarmac rally car. The rears are standard discs with VW standard pads, originally off an 8v GTI if my memory is correct. The fronts is where it all happens. The current setup is Wilwood GNIII (6 pot) calipers running on 298x32mm vented discs. The pad area is 11.3 sq" compared to the standard with I believe is around 5 sq". These are operated via a custom built bias pedal box with no servo and all this fits under a 15" rim.

    I have tried a number of different pad types from Wildwood, Ferodo and Hawk. The best I found were the original Wilwood compound but for some reason they 'upgraded' their compounds and the suggested replacements were not as good, but that is just my opinion. So after buying a few sets and only using them a couple of times I finally hit upon the Hawk ones and they work very well even from cold but get better the more you use them.

    Why standard rears, well they don't do much all the braking is done by the fronts. With such stopping power I have on occasion had the rears lock up under heavy braking with the weight transference. Anyway the rears are only there to stop the exhaust and fuel tank from dragging on the ground.
     
  7. Jon Olds Forum Junkie

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    Terry, mk2 must have better airflow to the rear discs somehow than the mk1, or you run less rear bias than me. Running std pads on the rear of my mk1 (rallying) and the std pads overheat and start breaking up. I have tried Hawk (very aggressive, lathe their way through the discs) Wilwood (not aggressive enough) Ferodo (good results 2500 and 3000 fair price, easily available) Mintex (not aggressive enough) Tarox (not aggressive enough) even EBC reds recently which were fine on a winter rally on G60/mk2. EBC yellow (not aggressive enough) EBC green (LOL....may as well fit them upside down) . Price and wear rate are half decent ways of telling you whether they are any good. £80-£120 should get a set of fronts, any more than that is too rich for me. 3 dry rallies SV per set nominal. Rears last 2 to 4 times more than that. All comments are aimed at motorsport use, not road.
    Jon
     
  8. Terry47

    Terry47 Paid Member Paid Member

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    Jon, don’t know whether air flow is the case or not. Bias is set predominantly to the front so less force on rears and a set of standard rears last me 4-5 years and then only changed because of age. Fronts also last a fair while I think mainly because of the pad size, they do get used but again last. I think the set in the car at the moment have had about 4 years use and are still only half worn (however that’s only about a dozen events so mileage wise about 500 miles). So on current usage they should see me out. Cost is the main problem last ones bought were £127.00 about 8 years ago. Don’t think I’ll be buying anymore, just had a quick search (Cambridge Motorsport) and they are now a whopping £232.82 plus postage. I’ll use the others that I’ve kept, Ferodo and Wilwood
     
  9. Adamss24 Forum Member

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    Thanks for your your input and experience folks, I am set on the wilwood rear calipers as they seem a nicer pair of calipers than the factory alloy calipers as fitted to the rear of many VAG models, also they use standard a4/a6/golf rear brake pads which are really cheap to find and have been fitted to most European models from 90 on. If they don’t work I will keep them for my exeo, I have a 4 wheel drivetrain conversion planed for spring and a healthy power increase at the same time ! Another guy I know have another pair of wilwood from calipers with 2D934345-866E-4F80-B00C-66FBBED88980.png 5A369592-8066-4E27-9DA2-6CF7075C2CD0.png 95210067-1E67-4D56-8ECD-7E75628773B2.png 1A2FF0D9-FA3D-4C4E-8441-B9599D2A3153.png 781F738C-33C8-41E3-A4FD-48F94C1CD2A3.png FFFC61C6-E193-4C6C-AAD3-55F7FDA5D741.png 21A71325-77C6-4587-B474-BBDD2A3E8235.png custom brackets which will take 330mm front discs however I have to get them 1st and try them for clearances…
     
  10. Adamss24 Forum Member

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    They are not cheap though and I hate trying for fitment if they are not working…however they are looking very small and they might fit with smaller discs to get necessary clearances! Thanks again folks !
     
  11. Tristan

    Tristan Paid Member Paid Member

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    Why are you so fixed on Wilwood?
     
  12. Adamss24 Forum Member

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    Because they are the smallest calipers that fit under small wheels ! For larger wheels I have plenty options: brembo zr17/18, genuine rs4, Akebono…I also have a full ATE big power brake kit which I bought brand new 10-15 years ago…still have a new set of pads…
     

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