[Red Grant]

I've noticed that wilwood brakes seemed to be more prevalent in hotrodder projects.

But, I've also noticed that real high end custom hotrodding shop's trophy projects seemed to prefer baer set up.


I've been googling for awhile, and the prevailing opinions seemed to be that baer brakes seemed to be more durable/reliable and more of a low maintenance than wilwood.

 

[curtis73]

I'm more worried about the "feel" of the brakes on the road. I personally love the peak braking that is available from the wilwood, but the Baer setup is more progressive feeling at the pedal.

That could be completely dependent on the vehicles I've driven with both systems, but for the most part the Baer setup seems to offer better feedback for my driving style.

 

[garyroushkolb]

wilwood vs baer brakes

I,ve installed both and I'll give you my take. Baer has metric bolts and has been more difficult to install than the sae bolted Wilwood. It has been my experience that Baer needed more shimming than Wilwood. Wilwood has safety wire holes drilled where Baer doesn't use safety wire. Baer brakes are manufactured in Canada and I think the Wilwoods are US made. The Wilwoods have a "race car/aircraft" feel rather than Baer's "street car" feel.
This is just a personal opinion of mine, I think there must be a pricing benefit for the Baers over the Wilwoods. Most race/hot rod shops prefer the Wilwoods, whereas custom shops install Baers. I myself would buy the Wilwoods, but both seem the be first quality.

 

[powerrodsmike]

I know that unless you are buying a "kit" from Baer that they have already designed for your application, they won't even talk to you.

The other high end company, Brembo, isn't set up to sell individual parts, and building a system is not possible using their info that's available to the public. But, I noticed that you are looking to build some kind of european sedan. If Brembo has a kit for your car, I'd check them out before I'd consider Baer.

Wilwood is probably being found on many cars because of thier selection, user friendly catalog with all the tech info a guy needs to build a system. The phone tech guys are friendly and helpful. Also they are cheaper than Baer.

I will say that the dynalites and their lower end "hi tech" billet stuff is wholly inadequate to be put on a street car, unless it is under 2000#. I have replaced several sets of calipers for the mid size GM and made those cars stop WAY better.

I spent a considerable amount of time trying to get a set of 14" rotors and 6 piston calipers for our '68 Chrysler Imperial project. I talked to Baer, SSBC, Brembo, Coleman, and wound up going with the Wilwoods.

We'll see how they work.

Later, mikey

 

[onovakind67]

We used Wilwoods on our road racer. Dropped 20# per side over the GM discs. Excellent braking, you can get pads to fit the application and they're reasonably priced.

 

[Bob C]

We used Wilwoods on our road racer. Dropped 20# per side over the GM discs. Excellent braking, you can get pads to fit the application and they're reasonably priced.

What pads are you using? I tried the green pads and they tore up my rotors.
I switched to the tan pads and the seem to last for ever but don't stop as well.
Bob
Bob

 

[Crazy Mopar Guy]

I,ve installed both and I'll give you my take. Baer has metric bolts and has been more difficult to install than the sae bolted Wilwood. It has been my experience that Baer needed more shimming than Wilwood. Wilwood has safety wire holes drilled where Baer doesn't use safety wire. Baer brakes are manufactured in Canada and I think the Wilwoods are US made. The Wilwoods have a "race car/aircraft" feel rather than Baer's "street car" feel.
This is just a personal opinion of mine, I think there must be a pricing benefit for the Baers over the Wilwoods. Most race/hot rod shops prefer the Wilwoods, whereas custom shops install Baers. I myself would buy the Wilwoods, but both seem the be first quality.

Wow!!!!!! Pretty well EXACTLY sums up what I think too!
:thumbup:

 

[onovakind67]

What pads are you using? I tried the green pads and they tore up my rotors.
I switched to the tan pads and the seem to last for ever but don't stop as well.
Bob
Bob

We use the Polymatrix A pads

 

[Red Grant]

Thanks to you all.


I think I'm leaning toward baer. Difficulty of installation isn't an issue for me, since I'll let the experts do it.


For me, the importance is on combination of reliability, durability, and performance.

Besides, my vehicle would most definitely weigh more than 2000lbs.

 

[pepi]

Willwoods have a great kit that includes some very nice spindles (alum) for the 30s type of axles. I also like the safety wire holes in the bolts and did I mention they are made in America. Another plus is the many choices of pads, the pads are very easy to change. I would by this product again without hesitation.

 

[302 Z28]

Ditto the Wilwwod calipers, easy to install, the pads can be replaced without pulling the calipers and best of all their made in the USA :thumbup: .

Vince

 

[farna]

If the brakes are set up right there should be little difference between any of the higher end systems, as long as you're comparing apples to apples (Wilwood six piston to Brembo/Baer six piston, with close to the same diameter and pad area, and similar pads). Ever heard the phrase "six of one, half dozen of the other"? There are some attribute one has over the other, like the safety wires and SAE bolts vs. no provision for wires and metric (you can always replace the factory bolts with drilled bolts).

The "feel" can be adjusted to a degree by altering master cylinder bore (smaller bore = more pressure though a little less volume, large bore = more pressure/volume) and/or pedal ratio. Not something you just want to do without a bit of knowledge of how the system will be affected and adequate testing though. In general you're safe to go up or down about 1/16" in MC bore without affecting anything more than pedal pressure. I've gone as much as 1/8", but any more than that and the affect on volume starts to come in. But it's something I always test in a parking lot with plenty room before going out on the street! I've never had a systme fail, but if you go to far with the bore and/or ratio it can take a lot of "leg" to stop and/or a lot more room than you want. So make sure you have at least twice the room you think you'll need for testing. The bolt on kits have been tested by the vendor, that's the real advantage!

RobC -- the harder pads don't stop as good because of the material. The more agreesive pads you have that tore up the rotor did so because they're really trying to hang onto that rotating piece of metal! Softer pads will sacrifice the pad a lot quicker but grip better. I bought a Jeep J-10 and the previous owner told me he just put premium pads on the front, but it stopped better with the cheap ones. Those metallic pads he used have gotta go!! On a wet road with no load I found myself anticipating stops and having to gear down. Not a good feeling! With a load I knew I'd have to anticipate stops, but I drove that thing form Dover DE to Lexington SC -- a 14 hour drive with that thing (usually 11-12)! I kept geting behind 18 wheelers on I-95 because I know they can't stop faster than I could! If I left enough room behind anything else some #$%$%^ idiot would slip his little car or empty truck in and leave me with little more than a car length between us at 65 or so. If the guy in front had slammed on brakes I'd have got out with a jack handle and beat the SOB!! People DO NOT know how to drive!! At 65 a car length isn't enough room even without a load, and it was OBVIOUS that I had a load! No one cared -- if I hit them it would be my fault anyway. I got cut like that going through towns TWICE with some idiot jumping in front of me wiht 3-4' between our bumpers right in front of intersections then braking to turn. I was keeping the thing geared down just in case. If someone had come to a stop in front of me like that I'd have had to use the jack handle. Lukily the lights didn't turn...