leadville1

I have been patiently waiting for a good 4 wheel kit to come out for the C7, Stoptech is still 2 months out and I understand it will be a 380mm kit that may not fit under an 18" wheel. I saw this kit from Wilwood, the calipers look almost just like the Brembo 6 piston calipers. I just have no experience with Wilwood in track conditions to know if they are decent or not.

http://www.superchevy.com/how-to/bra...r/viewall.html

Painrace

I raced with Wilwood brakes for years. Great company and people who know what they are doing. I don't think you can go wrong with them and you have outstanding instructions.

Jim

leadville1

I just spoke with them, these kits have a lot of good attributes. No dust boots, stainless pistons, heavily veined rotors. The consumables are also not expensive.

I may have to give them a try and see how they do, I can buy a 4 wheel kit for what a 2 wheel kit costs on other manufacturers.

63Corvette

WHY? Why waste good track budget upgrading stuff before you even find out if you will need it?

Bill Dearborn

I have the previous version of those calipers on my C6Z and am happy with them. I also had the LG G Stop (Wilwood Wide SL6) on my C5Z. They have all seen a lot of track days and do just fine.

There are several variations on that kit including a race set up that comes with the thermlock pistons. Go to the Wilwood web site and take a look at what they have. You can even get ceramic rotors if you want to pay the price. If you are interested in them give Todd at TCE (forum sponsor) and talk to him about price, etc.

The Aeros are an updated version of the W6A and W4A calipers that have a stiffening bridge across the top of the caliper. You have to remove the caliper to change the pads. The W versions didn't have the bridge and allowed you to pull the pads without removing the calipers. Caliper removal is easy since they are mounted on studs.

You can also order them in a wide version which allows you to move up to a thicker pad. Pad compounds are somewhat limited to the Wilwood compounds which in my opinion are great, pad prices are typically lower cost than others. The Wilwood pads are very close in layout to some AP pads and a couple of places require some machinging so they fit in the Wilwood caliper. I did have Porterfield machine some AP Raybestos 47 pads for me.

I get decent pad wear with the 6617 pad but I think the new thicker pad wear characteristics will be similar to the 7420s that I used in my G Stop Kit. Using pad spacers to keep the pistons inside the calipers and flipping the pads from side to side to equalize wear I was able to get 10 days track use out of a set of 7420 H Compound pads. Not bad at $200/set.

Currently I am using A compound in front and H compound in the rear when I am on track. On the street I use the BP10 compound.

The Wilwoods come standard with stainless steel pistons and don't have any dust boots so you have to make sure you clean the pistons before shoving them back into their bores. Shims should be used to keep the pistons inside their bores as the pads wear. Basically, shims are just pad backing plates. I also use a thin Titanium heat shield once the pads get thin so excess heat doesn't get transferred into the pistons. I didn't go with the Thermlocks and the heat shields are a cheaper alternative to the Thermlocks.

As you may have perceived I like them. Are they better or worse than Stop-Tech, Brembo, etc. I don't know but they have met my needs.

Bill

leadville1

Trust me I know I need them, I did 3 events last year on the stock set up, it was a disaster to say the least. Look at some of my posts, I had catastrophic failure with stock. The stock rotors are complete garbage.

0Todd TCE

Be happy to answer any questions you have.

C7 stuff is not on my web page yet but for the most part the C5, C6 and C7 stuff by basics are the same. More limited options as I don't see much market for 13" kits any longer on the new car, but the fundamental parts remain the same. Standard fare Aer6 front and Aero4 rear at this time.

Caliper finish options, Thermlocks, rotor finishes etc readily available.

And of course the best deals you are likely to find on them.

dvandentop

call jeff at essex performance to set you up with an AP instead.

leadville1

I really don't want Gray annodized calipers on my car, when the rears are red, they also don't have a 4 wheel option for this car.

Unless the rotors are garbage on Wilwood I don't see a ton of differences between the two.

Adam@Amp'dAutosport.com

Just FYI Carbotech has pads for these calipers.

0Todd TCE

FYI: The TCE page for the C7 has been updated.

Also: Note that there are no Wilwood "Race Kits" for the C7 at this time. Ie. no 20mm pad Aero6 or Aero4 caliper set ups including Thermlock pistons and full floating rotors etc.

The 20mm pad Aero6 (available only in black anodizing and nickel finishes) uses a different mount offset and will not work in the current kit bracket.

Any of the current Aero calipers however can be fit with these pistons. Yes you will be using the narrower 17mm pad but as Bill has pointed out; this is simply more of a life issue than a performance one. And it offers greater wheel clearance. And...there are few 20mm pad options for it. (in fact no street pads so you'd have to run 17mm pads and/or spacers behind them)


*Yes in time I suspect this will change and you'll see a dedicated road race kit. Front at least. But suffer various other issues for a dual purpose vehicle.

leadville1

How do Wilwood finishes stand up to the track I would imagine like most they turn a darker shade of red as they are used? Is the Nickel finish more resistant to heat?

0Todd TCE

You would be correct on both counts however I have not seen any of the powder coated ones seemingly really abused over the years from track use. It's pretty durable. And using Ti shims or thermlocks keeps additional heat out.

The nickel finish is offered to address this. And that the pc can 'hold' heat more as it doesn't breath as well you might call it. Same reason the 'race' caliper with the 20mm pads is in black ano and nickel only.

For the enthusiast track day user... I wouldn't lose of ton of sleep over any of it. For the guy building a true dedicated track car only with a lot of use planned the other caliper would offer you some added benefits. But as noted; would require you build your own brackets- based upon the ones in the kit now to use as a sample. *And yes, I looked; I don't believe I'd be comfortable re working these as the threaded portion would end up too thin.

leadville1

I am sold, I am going to try them. I go to Road America, they will get tested for sure. I am not an amateur by any means (Instructor), but I am also not using this as dedicated race, it is a street car first.

Just have to figure out if I go Nickel or Red. Are templates available. I am very confident they should fit my TSW 18" wheels but want to check. I saw the distance from centerline is 8.1 inches, my TSW's easily fit with the stock Brembo's which are HUGE calipers. There is also no issue on the spokes either as the Interlagos are a 50mm offset and stick out further than stock.

0Todd TCE

There are no cut/paste templates but if you open the pdf links via the Wiwood page or my "help me install it" link you'll find dimensions on page 3.

For track use I'd suggest either the Ti pad plates or the thermlock pistons. No way I can say which really...one is far more money of course. PM or email me and I'll get you and adjustment cost.

The other thing of course is proper pads. The H pads are the defacto track pad for most folks running Wilwoods. Of course you are welcome to use alternate brands just be certain what you pick is compatible with the BP10 street pads or you'll have some issues.