Needing opinions in choosing brakes.

[Bmorrow]

Curious if anyone has used various Wilwood sizes and pistons brake systems and can give me some advice. The last few years I have been building a mild autocross truck. Everything I’ve done to the truck, has been done with growth in mind. Right now it’s an 86 C10. Built ls1 and built t56. UMI 2.5 stage suspension kit. Now, next is brakes. I am unsure if I should save a little money and do the 12” on front and back or 14” front and back. I don’t want have too little braking power but also don’t want to pay double for something I would never use. Later down the road the truck will be supercharged. I will autocross it a few times a year and most of my driving is weekend driving other than that. What do you guys think?

[andrewb70]

I think most people treat brakes like jewelry and most people don't drive hard enough to tax their stock brakes...Save your money and get a good set of pads.

Andrew

[79 Camaro]

On my 68 C10 LS swapped truck I'm running 12" 93 Camaro rear discs. On the front I started with 13" C5 discs but the 20" wheels I'm running they made the rotors look small so I remade the caliper brackets so I can 14" ZO6 rotors. They fill out the wheel quite nicely. I won't ever drive the truck hard enough to take advantage of the 14" brakes but it stops really well.

[anguilla1980]

I drive my car REALLY hard but most importantly, I do it a LOT.

I started out with factory power front disc brakes, then went to manual Willwoods with 11" front and GM metrics in the rear. Then went to Willwood + hydroboost and the 12.88" 6R front and 12.88" 4R in the rear.

Next year I plan on going from a 17" wheel to an 18" just so I can run StopTech 14" 6 pistons. It will also require a spindle upgrade which is great because it will give me a MUCH improved bearing setup over the 50 year old factory design.


Based on "I will autocross it a few times a year and most of my driving is weekend driving other than that" I would say the Wilwood 12.88 setup will be more than you will need. You would just never need the 14" but your call on how you want it to look with your wheels. You pad choice when you auto-x and drive on the street is frankly more important than if you run 11", 12.88", or 14" brakes - provided of course all other things being equal and operating correctly.

[65 drop top]

I’m kind of adding to the previous comments because they gave you good advise, but bigger brakes don’t necessarily make you stop faster. The right combination of master cylinder, caliper piston area, suspension, tires, etc will make you stop fast. Large rotors will help dissipate heat and allow you to stop fast repeatedly. Now if you’re being a little more technical, larger rotors add more unsprung weight and more centrifugal force. If you were building a race car you would really need to take these thing into considering, but on a primarily street driven car/truck, I would buy something thats fits my budget and looks cool inside the wheel.

[79 Camaro]

Yeah I was shocked at how much the 14" rotor weighed. The swept area of the C5 13" rotor is the same as the 14" ZO6 rotor and both the same thickness.

[F-Body International]

I think most people treat brakes like jewelry and most people don't drive hard enough to tax their stock brakes...Save your money and get a good set of pads.

Andrew

X2!

This is why all I'm doing is good front pads and 4 wheel braided line.........with stock calipers and rotors. I appreciate, respect and even admire all the aftermarket and modern upgrades but, like you say, that is realistically not needed for most people.

[jetmech442]

Agree with everything above. I will add that the stock D52 GM caliper has way more piston area than the Aero6 Wilwood 6 piston caliper and even with the 11'' rotor it generates really good brake force numbers for running 200TW tires(Nitto NT05, Hankook RS4's...etc). Wilwood makes a dual piston aluminum D52 that has the same area, but looks great and is easier to bleed.

If I could have gotten a good cooling system routed to the stock 11'' rotors, I would have stayed with my D52 wilwoods and 11 rotors. but since I am looking to track mine more and more now I went with 14'' and Aero6 calipers. This didn't really improve my braking force, just thermal capacity and dissipation.