Topic: Wilwood Brakes for the Kappa

[lil goat]

I am still bugging the guys at Solstice-Sport.com on when they will release the Wilwood brake kits for our car, I don't have anything to tell you except they exist I have seen them on a Solstice and a Sky. They will have bigger disc's in the 4 and 6 piston caliper kits, and matching rear kits as well. I believe it is the rear kits that are holding things up. My son has the Wilwood kit on his GTO, the car is 1000lbs heavier than mine and will stop in less space. The kits are likely to be in the $2000 range for the 4 piston kit from what I was told, maybe a little less I hope.

[DeepBlueGXP]

Do you have the big brakes from DDM?

Cheers, you have them right?

[Critterman]

I have the 4 piston set from DDM,  they work extremely well.  No lockup no fade

[Cheers]

Do you have the big brakes from DDM?

Cheers, you have them right?

Yes I have them and they are GREAT ---  Have the same setup as Critterman from DDM --- along with the tune the best investments I have made -- Lyndon helps make you go fast, DDM helps you handle and stop fast.

[lil goat]

The only advantage to the Wilwood over the DDM is they include a matching rear set, and larger disc's on the 4 Stage II and 6 Stage III caliper set. I think the Stage 1 kit is basically the same as DDM with 4 calipers and uses the stock disc's, only most likely more expensive. I saw a set of the Stainless Steel Brakes, with both front and back and HUGE disc's looked SWEEEEEET!

[2kwk4u]

Do any/all of the big brake upgrade kits fit under the stock wheels with no problems?

[Critterman]

DDM uses a spacer on the stock Solstice wheels, it isn't needed on the Sky wheels

[lil goat]

I saw the SSBC kit on a Sky with stock wheels, not sure the fitment on the Wilwood kit yet. I did volunteer my car as a test vehicle.

[Morfious]

I have the DDM brake as well and was talking to dave about the rear set.  He stated most of the ones out there are identical to what we have now a 1 piston setup.  There is some issue with the parking brake that makes the rears more difficult.  A complete re-design would be in order to get anything different that what we have now for the rears.  In his mind there was no reason to spend extra cash to get the same performance we have now.  I have not seen the Willwood setup, but I know the SSBC setup uses a 1 piston caliper in the rear.  So you would be paying $1300 for no gain in performance.

[lil goat]

The SSBC set does have one very expensive advantage, the rear discs are HUGE, as are the front. They almost fill the inside of the wheel, the Wilwoods are the same on there Stage II & III. I have always thought the stock disc's look so small, larger disc's do increase braking and the big thing help dissipate heat better.

[2kwk4u]

The SSBC set does have one very expensive advantage, the rear discs are HUGE, as are the front. They almost fill the inside of the wheel, the Wilwoods are the same on there Stage II & III. I have always thought the stock disc's look so small, larger disc's do increase braking and the big thing help dissipate heat better.

I respectfully disagree.  Even with a 50/50 weight bias, your front brakes are doing most of the work.  The only reason to have big rear rotors is for cosmetics.  But those good looks come at the cost of extra rotating mass, which will HAMPER your performance, both accelerating AND braking... my $.02, anyway.

[snaponbob]

Now my turn to respectfully disagree with some of the disagreement! GM biases ALL of the products heavily to the front. Yes, the fronts do most of the work, but if the rears are designed to do almost NO work, optimum stopping is impossible. You just have to love the laibility attorneys at GM!!!!! Putting bigger and/or more powerful brakes ONLY on the front will simply get the front end more heavily biased and locking sooner. I installed Hawk Plus pads on the back (only) on my Redline to balance the brakes (really needed in Solo). They are a bit noisy, but the car stapps much better because the rears are working more. If one were to install big brakes on the front, do the rears as well. With the rears working more the fronts are not over burdened and the car will stop even that much better. Minor down side is the increased unsprung weight, but that shouldn't be a big issue in any circumstance. One thing I have been curious about is with these great big calipers there would be a greater demand on the volume of fluid that would be moving when the brakes are engaged. Sure would like to know how that feels at the pedal. Oh, BTW, new brakes or not, invest in steel braided lines. They are fantastic!!! As for the increased rotating mass, the diameter is much less than the wheels/tires and the increase weight of the disks is not that great, so the increased flywheel effect would be marginal at best.

[Critterman]

Pedal feels like a rock when you hit it hard, easy to control the presure without thinking about it, and stops hard when you want.   DDM BB w/Hawk + pads front and rear

[Lucy'sDaddy]

I have not done a brake upgrade yet. MAYBE this year, depending on the economy (work).
My 2 cents is this: When I painted the calipers red on Lucy, I also painted the outer edges of the brake rotors red to match. It took NO time to burn the paint off the rear calipers. They get HOT!
BUT, the front calipers stayed red, until we did a HARD run one evening at the Tail of the Dragon with CajunSky.
So my take on this is that If I do a brake upgrade, I want to use larger, vented rotors on the rear. I also have concerns on running calipers without piston seals. THAT to me is a concern, at least here in Michigan.
Also, I did an F-body caliper upgrade on my '04 Monte Carlo Intimidator SS this fall. Single piston to dual piston aluminum calipers and stainless lines front and back. Powerslot rotors and Hawk HPS pads. I got 115,000 miles, 2 cars, and 4 years on the last set. The brakes work and feel better, BUT, I definetely notice that now the brake pedal has more stroke, due to the now undersized master cylinder. Not mushy, but a longer stroke. Does anyone have any issues similar to that with the Kappa brake upgrades?
I would be leaning towards the SSBC system myself.

[2kwk4u]

OK, I can admit I'm wrong... it happens from time to time  :wink:  Guess I'll look into upgrading the rears beyond just pads when I decide to do a brake upgrade. 

Thanks for the edumcation, snaponbob and Lucy'sDaddy