Topic: How big a difference does the wildwood brakes make?

[hammy221]

I'm thinking of getting the will wood brakes all around on my sol and had a few questions.

1. How was the installation? It looks fairly straight forward.

2. How big a difference do they make? Feel, peddle pressure to lock up as compared to stock, peddle feedback.

3. How much improvement does it make to the E-Brake? Will it lock the tires on demand? I can't stand that the stock one won't lock them up.

Thank you all for the advice

[elff]

For the Wilwood kit, you need to purchase them from here
http://www.tceperformanceproducts.com/solstice/sky/kits-2/

The kit is spot on and Todd@ TCE is amazing with customer support.

1. It's pretty straight forward and with a lift is not an issue at all. 
2. Part of that depends on the Pads you put on it.  They are temperature dependent.  I use the BP10s for the street and the hotter they get the grippier they get.  If your passenger is not wearing a seat belt, you could break their nose on the dash if you slam it hard enough.   I almost did that to my sister in law as someone cut me off at 70mph while I was taking her for a test drive and she had slid the shoulder strap down below her chest for some stupid reason.  The peddle feedback is awesome due to the included stainless steel brake lines.   It will make it feel like your foot is directly connected to the pads.  For me, this was one of the biggest things I noticed
3. It works but I have not tried what you are suggesting. As my car is at DDM, I can't test this for you right now

For me, the TCE KIT was worth every penny I paid.   Lots of people add power to their car, but neglect the brakes.   For me, stopping is what keeps you alive. 
There is that old joke
It's not the fall that kills you
It's the sudden stop.

If you do track days, or are an occasional canyon runner, I personally think this is a necessary upgrade.

[wspohn]

The stock brakes work well. Unless you race you don't need anything more.

What you DO need it to ditch the crappy brake pads that came from the factory and stick something worthwhile in there - it will make as much difference as changing the whole system, at least on the street.

[Gentleman Jack]

The braided brake lines make a nice difference too.

[wspohn]

The braided brake lines make a nice difference too.

Yeah, the braided lines allow less expansion and result in a firmer pedal - how much depends on how much the stock ones expand. Never used these on the Kappas, but routinely make my own Aeroquip lines on the race cars.

[hammy221]

For the Wilwood kit, you need to purchase them from here
http://www.tceperformanceproducts.com/solstice/sky/kits-2/

The kit is spot on and Todd@ TCE is amazing with customer support.

1. It's pretty straight forward and with a lift is not an issue at all. 
2. Part of that depends on the Pads you put on it.  They are temperature dependent.  I use the BP10s for the street and the hotter they get the grippier they get.  If your passenger is not wearing a seat belt, you could break their nose on the dash if you slam it hard enough.   I almost did that to my sister in law as someone cut me off at 70mph while I was taking her for a test drive and she had slid the shoulder strap down below her chest for some stupid reason.  The peddle feedback is awesome due to the included stainless steel brake lines.   It will make it feel like your foot is directly connected to the pads.  For me, this was one of the biggest things I noticed
3. It works but I have not tried what you are suggesting. As my car is at DDM, I can't test this for you right now

For me, the TCE KIT was worth every penny I paid.   Lots of people add power to their car, but neglect the brakes.   For me, stopping is what keeps you alive. 
There is that old joke
It's not the fall that kills you
It's the sudden stop.

If you do track days, or are an occasional canyon runner, I personally think this is a necessary upgrade.

Thank you for the input. I plan to do a v8 transplant oh ultra high power 2.4 build so I want the brakes and suspension ready for it.

[ophidia31]

On this car the only reason I would do the bigger brakes would be for the pedal feel/control alone of the fixed caliper. You dont have the slop of a moving caliper and modulation is much easier with a fixed caliper setup. I wish the calipers that fit the stock brakes were still available from ddm.

[cbr6]

The Solstice did win SSB and T2 championships with the stock brakes with race pads did it not?

[Gentleman Jack]

The stock brakes work well. Unless you race you don't need anything more.

What you DO need it to ditch the crappy brake pads that came from the factory and stick something worthwhile in there - it will make as much difference as changing the whole system, at least on the street.

Oddly,  a 10 year old Camry works very well unless you need to haul something.
What you DO need is to have only one car in your family because anything more that that is just ridiculous.

:sarcasm:

[CASam]

I have the oversize Wilwood set.     I also have 9.5 rims and 275 soft compound tires.   I noticed that in the hills under hard braking I was getting a bad fade and pedal pressures got impossible.    I replaced the pads with a set of competition grade from Kappasphere and they still faded.

I installed the Wilwood set and they are GREAT.   An improvement in pedal feel, lower pedal pressures required and as they get hot they actually have slightly less pedal pressure.    [ Slightly as meaning a tiny bit;  will not surprise you.]   I have a nearly 400 hp 2.0 and I wanted to stop when I wanted to stop.

Pricey..... if you do not go to the track or push it in the hills I think changing the pads will be enough.   But.........if you push the car the Wilwood brakes are soooooooo nice!

CASam

[wspohn]

I have the oversize Wilwood set.     I also have 9.5 rims and 275 soft compound tires.   I noticed that in the hills under hard braking I was getting a bad fade and pedal pressures got impossible.    I replaced the pads with a set of competition grade from Kappasphere and they still faded.

I installed the Wilwood set and they are GREAT.   An improvement in pedal feel, lower pedal pressures required and as they get hot they actually have slightly less pedal pressure.    [ Slightly as meaning a tiny bit;  will not surprise you.]   I have a nearly 400 hp 2.0 and I wanted to stop when I wanted to stop.

Unfortunately you changed two variables at once, the calipers and the pads, so it is impossible to attribute what proportion of the change you experienced to either one of those things.

Too bad you didn't first try whatever the pad material is that Wilwood supplies, in a stock caliper to see if that would be sufficient.  Some of the Hawk and EBC compounds (just as examples) are excellent.

[Sol Asylum]

Too bad you didn't first try whatever the pad material is that Wilwood supplies, in a stock caliper to see if that would be sufficient.  Some of the Hawk and EBC compounds (just as examples) are excellent.

Actually I think that is what he did, he just has it worded oddly.  I think he changed pads, I don't think Kappasphere has competition pads for the Wilwoods, that didn't work so then he added the Wilwoods.

[wspohn]

Actually I think that is what he did, he just has it worded oddly.  I think he changed pads, I don't think Kappasphere has competition pads for the Wilwoods, that didn't work so then he added the Wilwoods.

No, I got that. But unless he had tried the same pad compound on stock discs and calipers, i.e. whatever pad compound Wilwood uses, there is no way of knowing if his braking improvement might not be 75% or even 100% due to the change to a better pad material.

[LatinVenom]

This is similar to the V8 issue vs the 4 banger LNF. Brake pads, improved lines and brake fluid upgrade is the way to try it 1st.
This is no difference from what we did to improve the handling of the car.