MN80Vette

For those of you who have Wilwood brakes, how long was it between you order and their shipping?

I ordered a complete Wilwood front brake kit 10 weeks ago. The estimated ship date came and went last month. I tried calling their customer support number several times, but nobody answers after half an hour on hold.

A friend who races in the Optima Ultimate Street Car Invitational series with his Wilwood-equipped Nova said that Wilwood takes care of their racing customers first. Is there any truth to that statement?

The weather is finally warming up here (Minnesota), and I still don't know when i will get my car on the road.

0Todd TCE

Wilwood's ship times have been extremely long of late.

This is due to a number of reasons; poor forecasting of projected sales, (sales blown out of the water compared to what was planned for), the moving of their warehouse and in-house E-cote line to another building, (best laid plans...) as well as slow supply chain issues with outside suppliers of components (no, they don't make things like bleed screws for example in house).

Depending upon 'what' is needed they've also been effected greatly by the demands of their OE supplier contract with Shelby which, while not effecting C3 parts directly, can effect things like the E-coat line etc.

I've had a number of customers waiting for well over a month and longer for items. Some much longer. I don't have a crystal ball here but I see a number of my customers orders finally shipping (I hope) in the next couple of weeks.

Won't speak for them directly..but they are working hard to rectify the problems. Some of them tho can't be just undone in a blink.

GUSTO14

Dave, did you order directly from Wilwood, or through a vendor? If directly from Wilwood, you may find a vendor (such as Vansteel or VB&P) that has what you're looking for already in stock.

Which kit did you order?

Good luck... GUSTO

MN80Vette

Front Brake Kit, Wilwood, 12.19" Rotor, 4 Piston, black

MN80Vette

Thanks. That's good information. It sounds like a lot of things changed at the same time plus some major growing pains. It takes time, effort and $$ to fix major issues like those. In the mean time, backlog builds.

Mid-America is going to call Wilwood today and hopefully will have a new ship date tomorrow.

MN80Vette

I ordered the front brake kit on February 5, and the estimated ship date was the end of February.

The end of February came and went, and the new estimated ship date was the end of March.

The end of March came and went, and the new estimated ship date is the end of April.

I am hoping the third time's the charm, not just the next "end of the month" shipping estimate.

The weather has been summer-like here in Minnesota, and my car is still on jack stands.

0Todd TCE

I see one of my long standing orders appears to be (expected) leaving today.

MN80Vette

How long was your long standing order standing? Was it a full kit or just some calipers or rotors?

If my order actually ships at the end of April (current estimate), then my order was standing for 12 weeks/3 months.

0Todd TCE

I'd say some of the open orders are at 8-10wks right now. Some things are coming out sooner than expected however so they're digging out of the hole..

MN80Vette

I ordered a Wilwood front brake kit on February 5th. The estimated ship date was the end of February.

When the end of February came and went, the estimated ship date was the changed to end of March.

When the end of March came and went, the estimated ship date was the changed to end of April.

The end of April came and went and, you guessed it, the estimated ship date was the changed to end of May.

There is a definite pattern here. The C3 driving season is pretty short in Minnesota, and Wilwood is cutting it shorter by the month.

MN80Vette

Well, the previous "End of May" estimated ship date came and went, so I made my routine call to Mid America Corvette who made their routine call to Wilwood for an update. Wilwood followed with their routine response: Add a month to the estimated ship date.

The estimated ship date for a C3 front brake kit is now the end of June. That is a total of 22 weeks from the order date and STILL COUNTING. Another end-of-month slip will make that 26 weeks. That's half a year!

I tried talking to Wilwood myself. Their response was, "We already sent the seller a revised ship date. [end of response]"

They should have their issues with the new production lines resolve by now. I'm guessing they working on large volume orders and haven't worked individual buyer orders into the pipeline yet. I'm just guessing though because THEY WON'T TELL ME WHAT THE PROBLEM IS AND WHAT THEY PLAN TO DO ABOUT IT.

IMO, Wilwood Customer Service is among the worst of all the vendors I've dealt with over the past 16 years.

0Todd TCE

Actually their customer service is fine. You've gotten a response from both them and their dealer. It's simply not the one you wanted. Believe me their phone staff is well aware of how folks feel and they can't do much to change it other than try to be polite about it.

The problem is not customer service..its production. As well as supply and demand. As well as some of the same issues above. And a few OEM orders that are simply taking presidence over the normal channels.

All of which sucks of course. I recently filled orders going back to about Feb and I'm (happy?) to say I have finally but ONE long fill order still open. I also had some custom work in that is filtering out now. Some have cancelled orders with me in frustration looking to buy elsewhere...yeah that didn't work either unless by remote chance it was on the shelf so they came back an re submitted the order. Careful here however as you'll quickly fall out of the que as they say- seen it happen- cancelled and re ordered later only to find they were now waiting on something entirely different after filling the open orders! Total suckage!! lol

Can't speak to specifics or give you false hope but I do believe you'll see some light at the end of the tunnel sooner than later.

MN80Vette

You're right, Todd. The real problem is a production problem. However, the would appease many of their customers in extended wait situations by explaining what the problem is what is being done about it, and a rough idea of when the problem will be solved or what must happen before certain products will start shipping.

I would consider that to be very good customer service if they respond to inquiries for updates with more information than just another date a month later than the previous date.

0Todd TCE

I feel your pain brutha....trust me! At one point I had some 13 or more open orders.

Hang in there.

0Todd TCE

Just thought I'd let you know; that final kit (slated for mid to late June verbally a week ago) just shipped today. Things could be moving a bit quicker. Best of luck to you!

MN80Vette

That is EXCELLENT news. THANK YOU!!

I put the rear calipers on last night, I'm all set for the front. I will post a new thread for the installation soon. I am signed up for a car show on the 23rd. I might actually make it.

MN80Vette

I don't know whose brake kit was shipped June 8th, but it wasn't mine.

MA Motorworks didn't get a response from Wilwood, but I don't care anymore because I found another Wilwood distributor with 2 of those brake systems IN STOCK. I canceled my original order and bought from the other. They shipped it today too!

I was mentally prepared to put my old front calipers on just to get my car on the road for Street Machine Nationals in a few weeks.