This doesn't sound good. I wanted to get the Willwood setup in the future, but I heard 16" rims were necessary. I wanted to stick with 15s but I planned to get 16's so the brakes would fit without a problem....now I hear all this.....shaving calipers, machineing rims. I may just have to stick with my *yuck* 9.1" brakes!

 

naaah, once Brian gets these little problems worked out, the kit should work just fine! I have faith...YOU have faith!


[Modified by Katman, 10:17 AM 3/25/2002]

 

For those of us who already have the kit, these aren't really "little" problems. Modifying calipers or wheels, using too thick a spacer without longer studs, these could probably all be considered safety issues, and should any of us get in to some sort of accident while using this kit, I'm sure a lawyer would jump all over a brake kit modified to the extent that ours are.

fwiw, I think the rest of us had faith in brian's kits at one time as well....but as more little problems pop up, the less faith we have.

 

yeah your right about the safety side of it...

....but wouldn't 'common sense' tell you to put your stock brakes back on and email B.Hasty about any of the issues at hand?

it did with me...

 

I agree, I should do that. I'm just so sick of dealing with my brakes at this point, I really don't want to touch them.

 

o man....so am i....so am i! wait till you get you stocks back on....you'll wanna take a vacation from your front suspension area for a couple weeks! haha..

 

I think the worst part was trying to grind off that last little bit of caliper so the wheels would clear.....
1. jack up car
2. remove front wheels
3. see where wheels still rub
4. shave a little bit off each caliper
5. replace wheels
6. lower car
7. drive around the block making several hard stops
8. pull back into driveway, swearing several times
9. repeat for 5 hours

 

I concur. Same thing w/ me, except that was all under a rate of $65/hr by mechanic's rates. That really got to me.

I wouldn't mind if I had to put my stock brakes back on. Problem is, one of the calipers got involved in a little fire incident, and the integrity of that caliper's shot to hell.

I'm right there w/ Caffeine--I heard good things about fastbrakes.com before, but I can't understand why people would be. You can cut corners with some parts of the car, but brakes and wheels aren't one of them.

As far as using different rims as Katman did... that's great and all if you have access to them. Hell, I'd do the same thing as you! Problem is, a lot of the fastbrakes.com customers are budget-conscious people... that's why they went to fastbrakes.com in the first place, and not Brembo or Wilwood directly. OK, I can get the bigger wheels I now need, but the budget for car stuff is already stretched as it is... and believe me, $1000 saved from NOT having to buy wheels means $1000 I can use towards fuel for the year, or even to dump into an IRA.

Wheel spacers... I hate screwing w/ my offset... I don't have any clue what that does to the integrity of suspension bits. 10mm spacers... man, that just puts my wheel waaaay out there to the point where I'd have fender problems. I can understand your determination to help Brian and make the kit work, but at a certain point, you really have to question your own trust in what he says.


[Modified by PyroVTEC, 7:55 PM 3/31/2002]

 

....hmm, well it seems that the main goal of the fitting tests I did, was a combination aimed towards the wheel offset and the supplied wheel spacers. 10mm isn't soo bad at all if your wheels have a 40 to 45 offset (maybe even a 38 offset, didnt get to test that offset though).....AND if you run longer wheel studs.

Put it this way, I had the 16x7 CPF's on my car which were a 35offset AND i was running the 3mm spacer per side! So, that means I the wheel acted like it had a 32offset! I had tire-fender rubbing problems only on my passengerside, because I had minor car accident last year and it tweaked my suspension a little bit, its been fixed, but I think the crossmember is damaged a tad bit since I didnt replace it, and that's why my pass.side rubs.

Anways.....the 32 offset was pretty shitty actually. If you're car isn't that low (non tucking tires) then you should be ok if you have a 35 offset wheel + run these spacers. You'll be in even better (non-rubbing) if your wheels are between a 40-45 offset a n d if you need to run up to a 10mm wheel spacer....all should be good still.

But then again, if your (not you) into the show thing , and you're doing this all for looks....that's lame.



[Modified by Katman, 7:06 PM 3/26/2002]

 

Just noticed this, I also have the wilwood kit but I have the kit that is suppose to be used with 14in wheels. I am on the second version of the kit now and I am running into problems with wheel clearance. I was originally going to run HX wheels but that was a no go due to offset and wheel/caliper design. So I bought some rota subzero's. My kit uses the stock 10.3 rotors off of a EX/GSR and the wilwood NDL calipers. I need approximately 6mm spacer so I have to contact Brian about that. I totally feel all your guys troubles I had to do a bunch of grinding to the knuckle to get the adapter to even fit. I might see if I can go up a rotor size, it looks like if I use a 11in rotor and get the caliper further away from the hub I might clear the spokes of the subzero's. And caffeine slug where did you buy your porterfield pads from I only paid 52 shipped for my r4s pads. I Wish you all luck and maybe all of us phoenix people should get together and drink a few beers and gripe about fitment..lol
I totally agree with katman, wheel spacers and longer studs are pretty much a must with this kit.



[Modified by superflea, 2:31 PM 3/27/2002]

 

any luck with contacting fastbrakes on this? I'm sure that something could be worked out if you can communicate with him, esp since you say he told you they would fit before you bought them.

 

I contacted him the other day. Basically he said that I could either get thicker wheel spacers, or I could use spacers between the knuckle and caliper to move the caliper inwards more (thus requiring me to thin the outer pad even more).

superflea - I bought my pads from porterfield-brakes.com. That was the only place I had seen that sold them. Where did you get yours?

 

*NEW DEVELOPMENT*

I received an email from Brian himself... I guess he really is dedicated to his customers...

Here's the email:
I am trying to find a solution to this fitment issue
and will do whatever I can to make it right for both
of you.

I do not understand why the wheels are interfereing
with the calipers as they did not do this on my test
fit knuckles.

The problem with Katmans car is totally different
than your situation as he has lowered his car below
what I recommend and is having the LCA interference
problem. His wheel problem can be addressed by
getting the right wheels to fit the 11.75"
rotor/caliper combo. I am working on the solution for
his car too.

I hope you will bear with me and I will find a
solution as soon as I possibly can. If I can't find
some remedy I will take back the kits.

Please let me know that you have received this
message.

Thanks,
Brian H
Fastbrake Enterprises LLC

 

not only does cause wheel spacers cause wheel to fender contact but it also puts unnecesary stress on the balljoints and wheel bearings and the saftey concerns that go along with it. another thing is if u go to the local drag strip and the tech inspector knows what to look for he would fail u for having wheel spacers unless u had lengthened wheel studs

 

I have always had good experiences with Brian.