Downside to upgraded rear brakes?

[2013kAB]

So I have the 14" Wildwood brakes, not the add core w6a but the forged narrow superlites. I was going to order new pads and stay with stock rears on my 13 gt. However out of 1 laziness and 2 hey I should have something cooler looking in the back now too... Lol. I looked at the forged narrow superlite 4 12.88" diameter rears 4 piston. I say laziness because it seems a lot easier to slide pads into the calipers than taking off the factory calipers.

I'm a little concerned about winter driving since even though I have street pads there's some initial bite compared to factory. I do have snow tires. I think ill really have to watch it this winter. From what I've read I should be OK with factory abs and not have to worry about adjustable bias. But I know mods can really make a car nearly undrivable in certain conditions.

So, are there any downsides that I'm not aware of when getting better rear brakes too?

I'm hoping to make the next track day in October at ra. But I can't see myself doing more than 3 or 4 a year. Thanks.

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[dontlifttoshift]

The biggest downside with the fixed caliper on the 8.8 rear end is pad knockback. You won't like it when you have no brake pedal because axle endplay pushed pistons back in your rear calipers.

 

[Lowfast]

^This. There is a reason Ford uses floating calipers on ever thier race stangs. Fixed rears on a non-floating axle is a bling mod that will most likely hurt performance.

 

[Whiskey11]

The biggest downside with the fixed caliper on the 8.8 rear end is pad knockback. You won't like it when you have no brake pedal because axle endplay pushed pistons back in your rear calipers.

Aren't the Wilwood rear fixed calipers on a floating setup to avoid this?

 

[dontlifttoshift]

Wilwood does a floating caliper kit but it would be a silly upgrade as I don't see any improvement over stock.

The FNSL (forged narrow superlite) is a fixed caliper with a radial mount. The rotor is fixed mounting as well. You could make it up with a floating rotor design but the cost is high by comparison. Instructions for the mentioned kit. http://www.wilwood.com/PDF/DataSheets/ds531.pdf

The axle endplay on the 8.8 is terrible, especially compared to a 9" which isn't great either under lateral loads.

 

[Lowfast]

^Yep. On my Falcon I an using a Wilwood floating caliper set-up (aluminum D154 caliper) for this very reason. I have the Wilwood 6-pots up front, and it would have been cool to go big out back but I am not ok with bling over function. Plus the rears do so little work it is not worth the cost as no performance is to be gained. The D154's do have a nice look to them and from behind the wheel appear to be a fixed caliper when in reality they are not. It makes for a nice looking front/rear set-up.

 

[Whiskey11]

Wilwood does a floating caliper kit but it would be a silly upgrade as I don't see any improvement over stock.

The FNSL (forged narrow superlite) is a fixed caliper with a radial mount. The rotor is fixed mounting as well. You could make it up with a floating rotor design but the cost is high by comparison. Instructions for the mentioned kit. http://www.wilwood.com/PDF/DataSheets/ds531.pdf

The axle endplay on the 8.8 is terrible, especially compared to a 9" which isn't great either under lateral loads.

Hmm... for some reason I thought this setup was designed with the caliper "floating" with the axle to reduce pad knockback. Guess I've learned something new!

 

[zeroescape]

Watch out for a drastic increase in weight if the parking brake is the drum style.

The rear hat on some wilwoods are used as a drum for the parking brake, so this needs to be made of steel and it weighs a butt load.

What kind of superlites are up front drilled/slotted?

 

[Lowfast]

Watch out for a drastic increase in weight if the parking brake is the drum style.

The rear hat on some wilwoods are used as a drum for the parking brake, so this needs to be made of steel and it weighs a butt load.

What kind of superlites are up front drilled/slotted?

Maybe some, the ones I used are a one piece rotor out back and they were not very heavy at all.

 

[dontlifttoshift]

Lowfast, as long as you are in Madison, you could swing down and I could set you up with a GMR floating hub setup. Bling and function for the win!

 

[Lowfast]

Lowfast, as long as you are in Madison, you could swing down and I could set you up with a GMR floating hub setup. Bling and function for the win!

Hah, I would love to have a GMR set-up, but this project does not have the budget for it. This is my first "full" build so I have to keep the costs down to make sure it is one day my first "completed full build".

My hope is on future builds the budgets will increase and I will be able to go with the premium stuff. For now I will have to be happy with my budget explorer/moser/wilwood set-up.

 

[dontlifttoshift]

This is my first "full" build so I have to keep the costs down to make sure it is one day my first "completed full build".

My hope is on future builds the budgets will increase and I will be able to go with the premium stuff.

I get that, believe me.

 

[2013kAB]

So. Is knock back equally prevalent front and rear when going to a fixed mount? In one YouTube video I saw they used a strange engineering 9" kit along with the wilwood dynalite rear and the fixed up front. They said the strange kit was used to help eliminate or reduce knock back.

Why would that particular video would they seemed concerned enough about knock back on the rears vs the fronts to use that strange engineering kit but nothing was done with the brake kit they installed on the front?

I used to hear about "confidence taps" on the pedal before entering a corner, and it looks like the origins of this might be due to knock back.

Are upgraded kits like the brembos for current gen mustangs and gt500 upgrade kits(brembos also) fixed or floating?

My options seem to be either spend some money mostly which would be cosmetic or keep the factory rears ( which was my original plan).

Thanks.





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[Lowfast]

No knockback on the front because the rotors are attached to the hub which does not have end-play. Or if it does, you have maintinance issues to attend to.

Knockback is when the rotor can move in and out and pushes the pads compressing the pistons in the caliper, leaving a dead space for the piston/pad to take up when you first push the pedal, effectively meaning no brakes for the first bit of travel. When you go to a floater, like what GMR, Speedway, Moser and others build the axle can no longer shift side to side under hard corner loads and thus it is ok to go with a rigid mount caliper. Truthfully if your car will never see a track or hard cornering (you live your life a 1/4 mile at a time, sorry had to say it) it really does not matter.

 

[Lowfast]

FYI, Brembo fronts are rigid mount calipers.

 

[2013kAB]

Thanks. I've only done one track day and disparately want to do more. There's one coming up Oct 12-13 I'd like to do. Thought I'd try to add new rear brakes before then. But I think its going to be too late. So I'll just grab some pads, figure out how to efficiently change the factory rear pads (the bolt or cotter pin design of the kits I've mentioned appeals to me)

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[csamsh]

Thanks. I've only done one track day and disparately want to do more. There's one coming up Oct 12-13 I'd like to do. Thought I'd try to add new rear brakes before then. But I think its going to be too late. So I'll just grab some pads, figure out how to efficiently change the factory rear pads (the bolt or cotter pin design of the kits I've mentioned appeals to me)

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I hear you on the rear pads being a pain. I would kill for some pinned and clipped calipers on the rear that don't cost an arm and a leg and are floating to prevent knockback, but....well yeah. It's annoying to take the piston compressor tool along to the track. One more thing to forget.

What brakes do you have on the front? The stock rears are just fine from a performance point of view.

 

[2013kAB]

I hear you on the rear pads being a pain. I would kill for some pinned and clipped calipers on the rear that don't cost an arm and a leg and are floating to prevent knockback, but....well yeah. It's annoying to take the piston compressor tool along to the track. One more thing to forget.

What brakes do you have on the front? The stock rears are just fine from a performance point of view.

The forged narrow superlite 6 on the front.

Not to change the subject but I've been searching for a little black plastic puck-like thing that we can put over the pinch points to jack the car up without bending the pinch points. Does anyone know what those are called?

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[csamsh]

The forged narrow superlite 6 on the front.

Not to change the subject but I've been searching for a little black plastic puck-like thing that we can put over the pinch points to jack the car up without bending the pinch points. Does anyone know what those are called?

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Not to be a smartass, but I believe that's called a hockey puck

 

[2013kAB]

Not to be a smartass, but I believe that's called a hockey puck

Ha! Is that really what you can use? It makes sense I guess. Would u have to cut a slit in it. Probably not.

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