944J

How do the wilwood 944 "big brakes" compare to the stock 944na brakes and then how do they compare to the 944T, 968, and 928 brakes?

What should I feel if I get them for every day driving? Track?

Lemming

I've been meaning to do a write-up on these brakes, but just haven't gotten around to it.

First, the difference is night and day. You will get a number of people on this board who will write that the NA brakes are fine as long as you use good pads. Well, I was running good pads (KFPs, Hawks) prior to the upgrade and still think that there is a night and day difference.

When I first ordered the brakes from Travis, I went with the most aggressive "A" compound that he offers. What I found was that I could easily lock up the front wheels, so the car was out balance brake wise. At that point I was running KFP golds. For the next track day, I put Hawk blues in the back and the balance was better but still not enough bite in the back. After consulting with Travis, I ordered the "E" pads to see if I could balance the car out. At first, I hated the E pads, not nearly as aggressive early on as the A pads. However, by the end of the first session, I was realizing that the car was stopping amazingly well and was well balanced (A pads in front, Hawk Blues in back). I just got my second set of E pads in the mail yesterday.

I'm very happy with the upgrade, especially since it allowed me to stay with my stock 15" wheels. Hopefully I will be putting an adjustable brake bias system on the car latter this year, at that time I will likely go back to the A pads and add more rear bias to balance the car.

One thing that I really like about the Wilwoods is the ease of changing the pads. Pull one pin, remove pads, compress pistons, intall pads, reinsert pins (about 5 minutes at most).

One thing I don't like about the Wilwoods is that the pads do not use all of the rotor. There is a good 1/2" or so on the inside of the rotor that the pads do not touch, they are just not wide enough. I'm guessing that this is a compromise to get the right caliper that will fit with the stock 15" wheels.

As for stopping power, well in my 2600lb 924S3, I apply the brakes at 160' going into turn 10a at Road Atlanta at speeds around 140 mph

ckuhtz

Nice. That's about what I used to do in my '86 951 w/ relatively aggressive race pads on Hoosiers or Kumho Victoracers. I could possibly have gotten more aggressive if I had an option to adjust bias.

Btw, 140mph for a NA car is FLYING for entry to 10a.

944J

cool, how do they compare with the big brake packages available?

cjeckert

i love that 924 um wanna trade?

944J

so how do the wildwood 944na upgrade kits compare to:

1) stock 951
2) 951S
3) brembo big reds

in terms of performance, weight, and price? (considering you are starting with a 944na car)

Charlie944

Tim, did the SS brake lines from a stock caliper match up ok for the Wilwoods? Or did was new lines supplied with the calipers? Also how do you like the ATE slotted rotors you have?

spedracer18

Cant quote prices exactly, but suffice it to say that options 1,2, and 3 need upgrades to a turbo hub, meaning switching to a 53 mm offset and not being able to run 15's. This would convert to a much increased cost for an upgrade to even the stock 951 calipers, which have the least stopping power on that list. Provided you could find all 4 951 calipers for the 951, and rebuild them since they are almost certainly used, for say $500. You would still need to switch over to the 951 hubs and I believe there is also a suspension change with the new hubs. All in all I would say about $1200 for the stock 951 calipers plus alot of work. The big reds would be really expensive...

Remember search function is your friend, this topic has been discussed before.

Really IMHO Willwoods are the way to go. I do believe there is a need for a brake bias with them however, as stated above, so if I were to spring for them I would buy the brake bias at the same time. They seem massive compared to the tink stock rear calipers.

Lemming

You need new lines. Travis provides these with his kits.