Wilwoods good or bad

Wheels, Suspension, Brakes & Tyres questions and answers

Moderators: timk, Stu, -alex, miata, zombie, Andrew

olboy
Fast Driver
Posts: 204
Joined: Tue Sep 22, 2009 7:28 pm
Vehicle: NA6 - Turbo
Location: NSW South Coast

Wilwoods good or bad

Postby olboy » Sun Aug 07, 2011 9:21 pm

Hi
I have a Na6 that I am using for track days only and I have just come into some more power (turbo )
I'm sure that I,m going to have to upgrade my brakes and I see that Miata Roadster
have Wilwoods for $570 which sounds good to me but before I shell out for them I thought I should ask for any comments on them
What can you guys tell me about them and do you have any other recemendations

Olboy

Hjt
Speed Racer
Posts: 2499
Joined: Thu Jan 13, 2011 12:46 pm
Vehicle: NB8A

Re: Wilwoods good or bad

Postby Hjt » Sun Aug 07, 2011 9:33 pm

From what i have gathered, once you cannot get the performance your after from good brake fluid and good pads, that is the next step.

I have heard only good thing about Willwood.

olboy
Fast Driver
Posts: 204
Joined: Tue Sep 22, 2009 7:28 pm
Vehicle: NA6 - Turbo
Location: NSW South Coast

Re: Wilwoods good or bad

Postby olboy » Sun Aug 07, 2011 9:36 pm

Sorry I forgot to mention that I would like to keep my 15' rims

olboy

User avatar
greenMachine
Forum Guru
Posts: 4148
Joined: Thu Apr 24, 2003 11:00 am
Vehicle: NB SE
Location: Sports car paradise - Canberra
Contact:

Re: Wilwoods good or bad

Postby greenMachine » Sun Aug 07, 2011 9:42 pm

I know you said its only for track days, but if it is registered be aware that they are not ADR approved (generally - there is one model that has the seals, but whether the seals can handle track temps ...).

What determines whether they fit is the rotor size and wheel offset, not the caliper. There are lots of cars (including mine) that run them under 15s.

:mrgreen:
I never met a horsepower I didn't like (thanks bwob)

Build thread

NB SE - gone to the dark side (and loving it 8) )

User avatar
timk
Racing Driver
Posts: 1928
Joined: Fri Dec 31, 2004 3:16 pm
Vehicle: NC

Re: Wilwoods good or bad

Postby timk » Tue Aug 16, 2011 9:02 pm

Ditch the crap bolts that come with the kit and get some higher grade bolts - this advice was from an engineering mate of mine after seeing the kit in my garage.

You save a fair bit of weight going to the alloy hat on their two piece rotor.

Oh and find someone who does safety wiring (typically used on dirt bikes etc) & use the right tool to twist the wire or it will end up in fail! 8)

User avatar
MINX
Racing Driver
Posts: 1658
Joined: Mon Apr 07, 2008 7:51 pm
Vehicle: NB SE
Location: Brisbane

Re: Wilwoods good or bad

Postby MINX » Wed Aug 17, 2011 8:59 pm

Fitted 949 Racing Wilwood Kit today.
All good. Seem to work great- but am still bedding in.
Test will be next track day.
http://s278.photobucket.com/albums/kk83/MXS67/Wilwood/?albumview=slideshow

Image
Lakeside 1:02.94 Clubman 1:04.61 Sprint 1:00.81 Sportsman 1:04.27 National 1:28.36 WP 1:15.45 MtCotton 0:51.13 Symmons 1:12.2 Baskerville 1:08

User avatar
jerrah
Racing Driver
Posts: 724
Joined: Mon Mar 10, 2008 2:54 am
Vehicle: NA6
Location: Brisbane

Re: Wilwoods good or bad

Postby jerrah » Wed Aug 17, 2011 9:20 pm

Were you having trouble with the SE brakes Minx?

What brake pads do they use in the Willwood kits?
1991 MX5

User avatar
MINX
Racing Driver
Posts: 1658
Joined: Mon Apr 07, 2008 7:51 pm
Vehicle: NB SE
Location: Brisbane

Re: Wilwoods good or bad

Postby MINX » Wed Aug 17, 2011 9:46 pm

jerrah wrote:Were you having trouble with the SE brakes Minx?

What brake pads do they use in the Willwood kits?


I chose the base Wilwood BP10 pads to suit my DD and Track combo duties.
My front pads only had about 1mm of meat left on them, and couldnt pull hard enough to even engage the abs.
And previously at Lakeside they had trouble pulling me up from 185kph :P

So I chose the upgrade for extra bite.
Lakeside 1:02.94 Clubman 1:04.61 Sprint 1:00.81 Sportsman 1:04.27 National 1:28.36 WP 1:15.45 MtCotton 0:51.13 Symmons 1:12.2 Baskerville 1:08

User avatar
jerrah
Racing Driver
Posts: 724
Joined: Mon Mar 10, 2008 2:54 am
Vehicle: NA6
Location: Brisbane

Re: Wilwoods good or bad

Postby jerrah » Thu Aug 18, 2011 12:04 pm

I was suffering from major brake fade at QR Monday but Willwood's are way out of my price range.
MINX wrote:And previously at Lakeside they had trouble pulling me up from 185kph :P
185km/h! Your car is obviously much quicker than mine I top out around 170!
1991 MX5

olboy
Fast Driver
Posts: 204
Joined: Tue Sep 22, 2009 7:28 pm
Vehicle: NA6 - Turbo
Location: NSW South Coast

Re: Wilwoods good or bad

Postby olboy » Thu Aug 18, 2011 2:29 pm

Hi Minx what size wheels are you running

olboy

User avatar
jerrah
Racing Driver
Posts: 724
Joined: Mon Mar 10, 2008 2:54 am
Vehicle: NA6
Location: Brisbane

Re: Wilwoods good or bad

Postby jerrah » Fri Aug 19, 2011 11:31 am

Davex3 wrote:I think i might be ordering a wilwood front kit shortly also. I may have a mates rates front SE brake setup after that, should be excellent for an NA6 with some nice pads, if your interested....
I'm very interested as long as I can make them fit... I may have to purchase some 6UL's to make it work though...

Will the NB Sport brakes clear all 6UL's or only the 15x9's?
1991 MX5

User avatar
NitroDann
Forum sponsor
Posts: 10280
Joined: Thu Nov 05, 2009 12:10 pm
Vehicle: NA6
Location: Newcastle NSW
Contact:

Re: Wilwoods good or bad

Postby NitroDann » Fri Aug 19, 2011 12:01 pm

All.

Dann
http://www.NitroDann.com

speed wrote:If I was to do it again, I wouldn't even consider the supercharger.

Hjt
Speed Racer
Posts: 2499
Joined: Thu Jan 13, 2011 12:46 pm
Vehicle: NB8A

Re: Wilwoods good or bad

Postby Hjt » Fri Aug 19, 2011 12:13 pm

People really over estimate the size of brake sets to rims.

I have 15 x 6.5 on my SP and they clear fine :S

Hjt
Speed Racer
Posts: 2499
Joined: Thu Jan 13, 2011 12:46 pm
Vehicle: NB8A

Re: Wilwoods good or bad

Postby Hjt » Fri Aug 19, 2011 12:34 pm

Ssr comp c tbh.

What I ment by the comment is often people just need to research the wheels before spending big money on wider rims.

If your cars 70kw you going to wide a rim can have many negative effects, besides the legality involved.

User avatar
jerrah
Racing Driver
Posts: 724
Joined: Mon Mar 10, 2008 2:54 am
Vehicle: NA6
Location: Brisbane

Re: Wilwoods good or bad

Postby jerrah » Fri Aug 19, 2011 1:50 pm

Hjt wrote:people just need to research the wheels before spending big money on wider rims.
I purchased the 15x7 RPF1's because of the low weight and NB8a brakes have not been an issue, the NB8B/SE brakes seem to have fitment issues with the RPF1's. I considered them to be 'good value' rather than 'big money' when I purchased them.
1991 MX5


Return to “MX5 Wheels, Suspension, Brakes & Tyres”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 11 guests