Ssbc v/s wilwood

[cutlassmann]

What is the difference between the two and what would you go with and why?

[Schwartz Performance]

SSBC is stainless, and not that great of quality. I'd stick with Wilwood. We installed a customers SSBC kit a few years ago and the rotors had terrible runout. It was barely driveable.. Bad tech support at that time, and ended up not using the kit and all.

-Dale

[cutlassmann]

what would be a good kit for my car thats not to high in price i want to go with wilwood...?

[cpd004]

I had the SSBC 1LE kit on an '87 Trans Am and wouldn't recommend them either. I too had rotor issues.

[LS6 Tommy]

I have nothing against SSBC. We had their stuff on the 70 Vette before it was redone, but it was stock style upgrade parts. Wilwood stuff is well received, but I have seen 2 of their aluminum hubs break under relatively normal cornering loads. One of the failures resulted in a car in the wall on the back straight at NHIS...

Tommy

[OG_Racing]

We've herd the same horror stories from ssbc. Wilwood makes a nice kit for street use but it's not the end-all-be-all race kit. If you're looking for a kit that will handle track abuse look to Brembo, stoptech, or PFC.

[Schwartz Performance]

What are you doing with the car?

-Dale

[csouth]

What are you doing with the car?

-Dale

This ^^^^
Are you looking at Wilwood because of the name because there are many other upgrade paths you can take. My friend just expressed a problem he's having with his SSBC brake kit. The car is in the shop now awaiting part.

[Bill Howell]

This comparison is like comparing a yugo to a mercedes. Don't waste your money on _ _ _ _ . Wilwood or Baer are the only two companies out there, IMO that services our hobby. Stop Tech has good stuff too, but that is more, again, IMO for full race setups.
If budget is an issue, use factory parts, they work better than _ _ _ _ .

[cutlassmann]

enjoying and touring

[Bonehead]

I don't have anything nice to say about either. Used one and they always leaked. The other is mostly imported junk.

I use Baer now. And these just showed up on Monday!

[Decline]

I have used Wilwood for a couple years with no problems. If $ is an issue I'd look to use some GM modern OEM stuff if it's possible. Not sure if anybody makes a bracket for a cutlass tho.

[71maroesteban]

I looked into Wilwood and bear but decided on using kore3 brackets with c5 z06 brakes with cross drilled and slotted rotors great brakes and within a reasonable price range would like the c6 z06 brakes but it's double the money and don't know if they'd clear my wheel

[HellPhish89]

also, if any hard use.. stay away from stock C6Z calipers. they are junk. the 4 and 6 piston Brembos are good units and with some shopping can be had for good prices. be forwarned, you will need 17+" wheels for them (only 2 manufaturers have 17s that will fit the 4 piston setups, 1 that will fit with the 6)

[parsonsj]

Wilwood makes a nice kit for street use but it's not the end-all-be-all race kit. If you're looking for a kit that will handle track abuse look to Brembo, stoptech, or PFC.

I know that's a common perception, but Wilwood has only come to the street market in recent years, and only Wilwood has continuous carbon-ceramic rotors that will bolt up for most cars:

[parsonsj]

Oh, and moving thread to proper sub-forum.

[OG_Racing]

Big difference in braking systems when you compare carbon ceramic, iron and carbon carbon rotors. Carbon carbon is what f1, imsa, dtm, ect is running right now. It is leaps and bounds better then the traditional iron rotors. Size for size a carbon carbon system will clean house in every aspect of braking. The down side, if you need to ask how much it is you cant afford it. You don't just buy the equipment you buy a service from the manufacture. Prices easily reach into the hundreds of thousands. Then we have tried and true iron enough said, we all got that. Carbon ceramic is actually beat by iron rotors in performance. A 14" iron rotor will have a higher tq output then a 14" carbon ceramic. Thats why you see a zr1 with 19" wheels. They need a larger wheel to fit the required carbon ceramic rotor to obtain equal braking performance to a normal sized iron rotor. If your going from a standard sized gm 11.75" iron rotor to a willwood carbon 14" rotor. I would not expect to see braking performance increased. That being said. The carbon ceramic will last much much longer then a normal iron rotor. They do wear out but you can expect the life to be doubled.
Sorry i know too much about brakes. :p


Sorry op for taking this off course. If your looking for a nice system that is safe and reliable. The wilwood kit will have a higher quality over the ssbc. Bear has a good track record as well. We carry pads for them ;) See if they meet your price range.

[parsonsj]

Yep, we've gone off-track. I've run Baer, Wilwood, and Brembo on street cars, and Wilwood and Brembo on the track.

All are far superior to OEM (even the C6 Z06 stuff), and all will the job you're looking for. SSBC... seems more like a street cruiser system.

[cutlassmann]

what are these going on?

[Ron Sutton]

Yep, we've gone off-track. I've run Baer, Wilwood, and Brembo on street cars, and Wilwood and Brembo on the track.

All are far superior to OEM (even the C6 Z06 stuff), and all will the job you're looking for. SSBC... seems more like a street cruiser system.

Agreed. In my experience, Baer, Wilwood, and Brembo are great on street cars ... and specific packages from Wilwood and Brembo are good for track days. Like anything, you can get the wrong product for an application. There are certain Wilwood and Brembo brake kits that are not correct for track days.

The new Wilwood Aerolite 6 caliper combined with their Spec-37 rotors are an excellent track brake system. I am not as fond of their hubs, as they are lightweight. But frankly all the hubs & bearings made to fit stock OEM spindles from the 60's-80's are too weak to be safe for continuous loads seen from road course tracks. The OEM spindles themselves are too weak & there are several stronger, better options these days.

The Brembo GT-R kits are good track day brake systems too. (Not the GT kits) These are also in the category of "if you have to ask you probably can't afford them." I have NOT found the Brembo GT-R monoblock calipers to be better than the Wilwood Aerolite Caliper. The Brembo caliper has more a bit more flex, but it is marginal. The material in the Brembo GT-R rotors is top quality & have similar heat management capabilities to the Wilwood Spec-37 rotors pound for pound. I have found the Brembo rotors last longer. To run these brakes as a bolt on, you would need to change to a C5/C6, Gen 5 Camaro, or other late model car spindle that Brembo makes kits for, as they do not make them to fit the 50's-80's cars we typically build in PT.

If we were talking about top level, professional racing, brake systems ... and we're not ... the conversation would not include the brakes we're discussing. The conversation would be about specific pro level race brake systems from Brembo, Alcon, PFC, Stoptech, AP, etc.