Enthusiasts have been looking for more performance for decades. Still, it is equally important to have a braking system that is capable of handling the same level of performance your car is reaching. Thankfully, Wilwood Engineering offers a variety of brake upgrade kit options that can be tailored to your specific driving style. Wilwood’s Kaleb Hagy took a few minutes to explain Wilwood’s approach to customizing a brake system that not only fits the vehicle but also fits perfectly with the way a car is to be driven.
“That is literally what Wilwood is here for,” Kaleb explained. “We have so many brake upgrade kit options; from 11-inch to 14-inch rotor kits, upgrade kits for suspension swaps, and kits designed for specific wheel sizes and driving styles. We’re here to dial in that brake system for your needs.”
Wilwood offers a variety of caliper and rotor sizes, as well as pad compounds and rotor designs to fit almost any driving style.
Of course, one major upgrade available with a Wilwood brake kit includes a larger rotor, but there’s more to a Wilwood brake upgrade than just size. Wilwood offers a variety of rotors in standard, curved-vane, slotted, and drilled and slotted styles. Also, depending on the intended driving style, rotors can come in one-piece OEM-style designs, lightweight aluminum hat-mounted, or full-floating, dynamically mounted braking systems featuring a bolt-free lug-drive ring-mount system.
Wilwood’s bolt-free, lug-style mounting system utilizes lugs on the rotor that are held in place with a large snap ring. This dynamic mounting of the rotor allows for radial expansion under extreme braking.
Another upgrade includes a larger caliper. Kaleb explains, “Calipers get larger, not for more clamping force, but to hold a larger pad so it can be more thermally efficient and last longer.” Even the pads used in a particular Wilwood kit are designed for a specific driving style. Wilwood offers pads in 12 different compounds for many of its kits.
Wilwood’s electric parking brake was adapted from the company’s OEM offering for the street performance market.
There are even brake kits for when your vehicle is parked! Wilwood has adapted electronic parking brake assemblies from its OEM market and adapted them to specifically fit the street performance and hot rod market. There are electronic parking brake kits for many popular applications and Wilwood even has secondary mechanical, and drum brake upgrade options as well!
If you’re planning to make your car faster, don’t forget to upgrade its stopping potential. Check out the many offerings from Wilwood and see how your vehicle’s performance can increase when at speed, or coming to a complete stop.