Baer or Wilwood??

[SicMonte]

I am in the market to get a good set of front brakes for my Monte Carlo SS. I plan on buying the brakes in mid January. I have been looking at the Baer Track 4 set up...but am just not sure yet. Alot fo you guys on here use Wilwood brakes and I'll be honest...I know nothing about them.

My car is mainly a street driven car with occational road race/autocross use. I am mainly getting the front brakes so my car will be ready for the RTTS event!!

Any info would be appreciated.

[JRouche]

I atcualy cant say one is better than the other. Both companies have a strong track record.

Its kinda hard do a side by side comparison. Both companies offer a wide range of products, although I think wilwood has a wider range from really simple brakes to some full on race "type" units. Baer brakes have been known for sometime to produce really nice brake packages. They supply alot of setups for newer cars.

Anyway, both companies are really good. And alot of the time it comes down to the brake pads. I have read discussions where a pad from say wilwood wasnt giving the performance the driver needed. Then someone suggested a pad from wilwood that was a diff compound and that cured his braking whoas. JR

[ProdigyCustoms]

Real simple decision on this one. Wilwood does not make a big brake kit for your car, so Baer it is.

Lucky we sell both!

PS, you may see Michaels Monte Carlo does have big Wilwoods and wonder why, we built those brackets, but to expensive to do it again.

[SicMonte]

Real simple decision on this one. Wilwood does not make a big brake kit for your car, so Baer it is.

Lucky we sell both!

PS, you may see Michaels Monte Carlo does have big Wilwoods and wonder why, we built those brackets, but to expensive to do it again.

well...that was simple enough!! Thanks Frank!!

[Fuelie Nova]

Even tho mine isn't a big brake setup I love my Baer system. Frank made the choice easy for you. Both of them are great companies and have great products.
Tom

[Bryce]

Frank hooked me up with the baer ss4 kit fo rmy mustang and it works great. I run a wilwood kit on my falcon and it is excellent as well.

The only thing i like better on the wilwood is the dust cap. Baer is a stamped steel piece like oem but is pressed into an aluminum hub. Wilwood has a nice screw on cap.

[kryptik]

One point to make....

In my 6-piston Superlite/Dynalite front kit for my '70, Wilwood decided to call-for/package 50's style Hecho-en-Mexico leather hub seals. Multiple professional mechanics who came to my house to see the car being built were shocked that a quality Made-in-USA rubber seal was not supplied! Both sides leaked with these leather seals...requiring me to replace them with quality rubber seals.

When I asked Wilwood why they used this cheapo seal on a $1046 brake kit with two-piece rotors, they said that it is: "original style because most guys prefer original style." Who in the world prefers "original style" and then uses this brake kit on their car?! Thank you Wilwood for hiring yet more bozo's who really are only salesmen, not experts.

Cheers,
Matt

[JRouche]

Hmm

[JRouche]

Real simple decision on this one. Wilwood does not make a big brake kit for your car, so Baer it is.

Lucky we sell both!

PS, you may see Michaels Monte Carlo does have big Wilwoods and wonder why, we built those brackets, but to expensive to do it again.

Hmmm Frank. I dont know what year the Monte is. Maybe you have more insight. The SS? Im assuming its a 1983-1988. So... A simple wilwood site check plugging in the numbers comes up with a couple of brake options. JR

http://www.wilwood.com/BrakeKits/Bra...rlo&modoption=

[ProdigyCustoms]

He is looking for a comparable set of brakes to the Track T4 and 10.75" and 11" are not exactly what we call Big Brakes.

[JRouche]

Hahahaha.. Yeah, I guess bigger is better. 11" rotor is prolly bigger then stock, Im not sure. But for me Big Brakes does not mean large rotors. Im sure it does for many folks. But there is more to Big Brakes than a large rotor. Massive or sturdy calipers are more to Big brakes for me than large discs. And yes, a proper MC is right up there.

Big Brakes for ME means Big Stopping. I see too many large rotor brakes that are just big rotors with weak calipers and master cylinders and weak pads. NOT a Big Brake system for me.

Guess it is all in the eye of the beholder. Kinda like Big wheels and tires. Some folks take it to the extreme not thinking about performance but just bigger is better. If 16" wheels are too small then lets go with 17s. 17s are too small so lets go 18, 19 hell!! 20" wheels all around.

Kinda true with brakes. An 11" rotor is pretty big. 12" rotor? Dont know of many. So its a jump to 13" rotors. Pretty common these days, even on many production cars. 14" rotor, YES, much better. So for you does it need to be a 14" rotor to be a "big brake" system?

If so then cool, now I know my nomenclature.

Now that I know the proper definitions I still say the 11" small rotor brake system that wilwood has available for the car is heads and shoulders above the stock setup. Big braking. We are talking about braking right and not just size? Im lost, is it size or braking?

And I have to ask. You made up the brackets for a large rotor wilwood caliper on what sounds like the same car from what you said. But you say its too expensive to sell now?

I dont get that. I get the cost of man hours to figure out the entire fitment. But after thats done you have the template for the brackets to run them out for nuthing right? Was it cut on a cnc water jet or plasma table? Or even if it was made and cut free hand from templates. The templates are the work involved, the money. After that is done its a simple matter of using a copy plasma table to crank out as many brackets as you need. Unless you really didnt like the brakes anyway, then no need to offer it. That would be for you to know.

Yeah, I dont like to play big brakes and big wheels or BIG anything. Terminology and wording doesnt mean much to me. Performance does.

And YES, Im a BIG fan of Baer products, I have some on my car (not brakes). I do have a lil sour taste in my mouth talking about what they offer because I see alot of their trend towards the newer cars and not as much piece meal stuff like what the older cars need, Im not a fan of KITS, I like a variety of components to build MY own system, I dont need the egg heads telling me what I need..

I, as a assembler/builder like to see more variety so I have more of a choice of what I want and not so much of a down yer throat this is what we have, take it or leave it.

Id love to hear more on the system you guys made up and why it didnt work. You said it was gonna be too expensive. Thats the part Id like to here about, the why.

But really, I think the Baer brakes are superb. And will also give a thumbs up to Prodigy Customs for any tech advice and purchasing needs, plain and simple. JR

[kryptik]

He makes a good point...bigger is not Always better. Sometimes it is more critical to match the components to the type of vehicle, weight of vehicle, driving style, etc.

[SicMonte]

He is looking for a comparable set of brakes to the Track T4 and 10.75" and 11" are not exactly what we call Big Brakes.

Thank you for the info Frank! Check your pm's...

[SicMonte]

well I ordered my Baer Track 4 kit tonight. This set up should work nice on my monte.

Thanks Frank!!!

[xxxturbo6]

well I ordered my Baer Track 4 kit tonight. This set up should work nice on my monte.

Thanks Frank!!!

Douglas,

I just put in the order for the Front & Rear Track 4 kit for my car too, are you doing a build thread on them?


Scot W.

[Tony_SS]

I caught this late... I would've went with an LS1 setup.. its a perfect match for the 17" wheels and hundreds cheaper.

[SicMonte]

Douglas,

I just put in the order for the Front & Rear Track 4 kit for my car too, are you doing a build thread on them?


Scot W.

Yeah Scott. Look in the Projects section for Project Sicmonte. I have my build thread there. I have not recieved my brakes yet so there isnt any info on it yet.

[Fuelie Nova]

I gotta give Baer a plug... I installed my new kit from them and had questions. There support was over the top, they even called me on a saturday to check in and make sure everything was ok... Love my Baer kit.
Tom

[SicMonte]

I recieved the kit in the mail on Saturday. Should be puting it in soon....