First of all, is anyone here running a Wilwood setup? Im not even sure if they make any for the R or not.

Secondly, and more generally, when it comes to these expensive braking set up, how SHOULD the pedal feel and should there be any shimmy'ing or shaking at all? Both hard and light braking.

The reason I ask is because my roommate installed a Wilwood setup on his WRX. 4 piston, crossdrilled and slotted rotors. It hasnt been on the car very long, maybe 100 miles if that. But he has an unreal amount of shaking when applying the brakes. He insists that its just the pads (I think they are a Wilwood pad that came with the setup) or its just because is a "race brake setup". Im not buying that ****. I was in the car with him tonight, and I can tell you that if they were my brakes, I would be in the garage right now removing them. They shake ridiculously, it feels like the lugnuts are loose or something.

Obviously the pads need to bed, so if thats all thats causing this shaking, would it be THIS BAD? Im not even close to being an expert on racing brakes, but this just does not seem right at all. I dont care how hardcore the pad or setup is, it should still have nice and smooth feel right?

 

sound like the brackets he used aren't to a high enough tolerance , and the caliper is being deflected

Ive run into the same problem

 

these would be brackets that came with the kit? or stock brackets from the OEM setup?

thanks Dan

 

if the caliper is not 100% parallel to the rotor
you will get horrible brake shudder, like you described

even off by 1-2mm will be crazy
it has to be dead nutz on

think about it, if the caliper isn't parallel, than the pad won't hit parallel, and the caliper will flex and will try to move the rotor

 

thats exactly what it feels like could be going on. but is it possible it is just the pads breaking in?

you think if we took off the wheel, you would be able to see if the pad was parallel to the rotor or not?

 

take the pad out, if it has uneven wear, like one corner of the pad is thinner than the other, than the caliper is def not parallel

 

I ran a wilwood setup for around 2 years (4 pot dynalite calipers), and they were fine. There is no piston boot, so you have to inspect them regularly to ensure that dirt and grime do not build around the piston.

Other than that, there was no shimmy or shake at partial or full brake application. Hawk also makes pads for that caliper, so if you cannot find a pad to suit your tastes from Wilwood's wide assortment, you might find the hawk HPS decent for the street.

 

OK, got a chance to check this out today. These are actually 6 piston calipers. It appears that the caliper is not sitting on top of the rotor evenly. So one side of the caliper, the pistons are fully retracted into the caliper, while the other side, the pistons are extended out some so the pad can touch the rotor. There are shims used on the bracket to pull in or push out the caliper to center the rotor. Would this mean that one pad will bite harder than the other? Otherwise, the pad surfaces appear to be wearing evenly, however, the inside pad seems to have much more wear as if its biting a lot harder.

 

for anyone thats paying attention, we added a shim or two to the brackets to center the caliper and that definitely improved the problem. Need to fine tune the shims to center the caliper perfectly and that should make it perfect.

 

 

I never had to use the shims for my Wilwood kit, and I've had exactly zero problems with them. No odd pedal feel and no crazy shaking. They're smoother than a fetus's ***...

Sounds like your problem lies in the car (pehaps the mounting surface isn't true?) or installation and not the kit. With mine, there are multiple washers that go between the spindle and the bracket as well as the bracket and caliper. Double check your install to make sure you've got it correct if you think you're having misaligment issues.

Don't count on the shims to fix your problem. If you have to use them, then I'd say the problem might lie elsewhere. Though we are dealing with American made products here, the tolerances really are pretty tight from what I've seen.

 

the "shims" Im referring to are the ones on the brackets that hold the caliper. The kit came with 3 washers for each bolt, but that didnt center the caliper over the rotor. only one side of the caliper pistons was able to move, the other side had no room to move. This also happens to be on a WRX so I dont know if there are any major design differences between the Integra and WRX set ups.

 

Wilwood calipers don't have any clearance issues with the stock wheels?

 

I am generally talking about aftermarket brake kit feel, and in this case, we are specifically talking about a WRX application. I highly doubt these would fit behind the stock ITR wheels but not sure. I think they are 13.1 inch rotors with 6 piston calipers.

 

funny this topic should come up; I am having the same problem on my brakes and I now remember it all started when I removed the calipers from the brackets when putting on new rotors.

I am gonna have to go look at this this weekend.