Avoid Wilwood brakes
 

So, today I went to racing school. There were only 5 of us so plenty of instructor time. A 911 Turbo, a BRZ, a supercharged S2000, a C6 Z06 and my car. The Honda had Wilwood 6 piston calipers and two piece rotors in the front. The Wilwoods were less than 3 months old and after the car started developing a grinding sound we took off the wheels. Turns out the inside pistons wore through the pads much faster than the outer pistons and gouged into the rotors,but not only that, the pistons on the outer side of the calipers didn't push equally so the outer pad was bent in the middle on both sides. I was told the same thing happened previously to another car and Wilwoods reply according to the owner was "You're braking too hard" WTF? Aren't they supposed to be high performance brakes? I'll see if I can get some photos to upload. I'd never seen a pad bent in the middle before. The S2000 isn't even a heavy car.

Good thing I opted for the OEM Brembos. The instructor said my car had the best brakes after the 911. The Z06 had brake fade after one lap, but I think that was due to fluid. Motul RBF600 is definitely the best.

I've used Wilwood brakes with no issues. Chances are they weren't installed properly. With fixed calipers, it is absolutely necessary to insure the rotor is dead center in the caliper. From your description, the pads seem to be the bigger problem as there is no way the pistons should have bored through the backing plates.

The pads are the ones that came with the Wilwood kit. Do you road race the car though? Because the strain is waaaay beyond anything you can muster on the street.

I drove the car in HPDE events.

DRIVER SIDE (LEFT)

http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d9...813-WA0063.jpg

PASSENGER SIDE (RIGHT)

​​​http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d9...813-WA0066.jpg

I think the calipers are clearly not mounted correctly. They are definitely not centered on the rotor. Can't tell for sure, but the pistons should be different sizes and apply force in a certain sequence.

Does that rotor exit out the bottom of that caliper? I'm assuming that it does as I think I'm looking at the left front on top and the right front on the bottom. If mounted correctly in that fashion, the only problems appear to be incorrect pads for the application and the calipers not centered on the rotor.

I think that's an optical illusion because of the wear in the pads. If you use two straight edges and align one with one side of the rotor and the other with the caliper on the same side of the rotor, the calipers appear aligned.

Anyways, it looks like one of the pistons was frozen (side where the weird wear occurred and the piston directly next to the area with the least wear on that side). You'd have to take the calipers off and test them to see if that's the case. But, that's my guess.

Depending on how the calipers are set up, i'm guess it's near the top of the caliper. If the they weren't bled properly or the fluid has too much moisture in it, you will get a pocket of air/water in that area which would keep the piston from working like it should or worse, seize it. Water doesn't compress and air/steam compresses at a different rate than brake fluid.

Just some thoughts.

In the top picture you can see the line in the middle of the caliper is off center to the vent hole in the rotor. What this should have done is wear one pad faster than the other, not necessarily tapered. If the rotor exits at the top of the caliper, the calipers are backward and the would cause the tapered wear. I think most of the fault lies in operator error. Having said that, I am a bigger fan of the Brembo and Stop Tech brake system.

If it was the installation that would account for the inner side wearing out faster than the outer, but the pads wearing out at the bottom point to a caliper issue. Those are the Pads that come with the Wilwood kit. I don't think it was air or moisture because the brakes did not fade at all. He only noticed the problem when they started grinding.

The Stoptechs are nice but with the Brembos available for much less why buy non-oem? Plus, there is a broader pad selection with the Brembos (as long as you stick with the 4 piston ones). I thought about getting the 6 piston Brembos but honestly they are overkill. Too big and heavy and no pads to choose from yet.