Power or Manual Brakes?

[jtravisbayne]

I'm at the early stages of building my MKIV. I opted for the Wilwood front and rear brakes. I wasn't planning on adding power brakes to this set up, but from what I've gathered, it would be a nightmare at least, if not nearly impossible, to upgrade to power brakes on a finished car. What route did you guys with Wilwood brakes go? And, if you did go with power brakes, what system did you use?

Thanks,

Travis

[Paul2STL]

With Wilwood set up most people stay manual, those calipers have plenty of grab without an assist. Most used power brakes when using stock Mustang Calipers. I plan on using 04 Mustang Cobra brakes up front and 15 Mustang IRS brakes in rear.

[John4337]

I'm using the manual brakes with the standard Wilwood set up, twin piston up front and the old IRS out back. I wasn't totally pleased until I switched to the Hawk pads, which made a big difference. 15,000 miles in, they work fine.

John

[JIMOCO]

Hi John, What version of the Hawk pads are you using and how is your car being driven (street/track)?

[John4337]

Hi John, What version of the Hawk pads are you using and how is your car being driven (street/track)?

Mine is a pure street car, so I'm using the HPS pads, which I ordered thru Mike Forte. I'd call him to ensure you get the correct pads, took me a couple of tries to get the right ones as I didn't specify that I had vented roters on the rears.

John

[Bob Cowan]

When I purchased my Wilwood kit from Gordon, he told me to stay away from the power boosters. The wilwood calipers are so good, that adding the booster makes them like an on-off switch. They become very difficult to modulate. Manual Wilwoods are so good, that I could out brake almost any car on the track.

[wareaglescott]

I have the wilwoods front and rear with manual brakes. Car stops very nicely. Really the only difference is this is the first car I have ever driven with manual brakes so the pedal feel and required force took a little getting used to. I'm approaching 500 miles on my build and have become quite comfortable with them. Up until now at least I haven't ever wished I had power brakes.

[BEAR-AvHistory]

I'm using the manual brakes with the standard Wilwood set up, twin piston up front and the old IRS out back. I wasn't totally pleased until I switched to the Hawk pads, which made a big difference. 15,000 miles in, they work fine.

John

Agree on the pad switch big improvement in stopping. Do street & Auto=X with the HPS+. A bit dirtier than the HPS but the seem to stop quicker.

[JIMOCO]

Thanks all, I have dealt with Mike Forte in the past and will call him when I am ready to make the switch.

[jtravisbayne]

I have the wilwoods front and rear with manual brakes. Car stops very nicely. Really the only difference is this is the first car I have ever driven with manual brakes so the pedal feel and required force took a little getting used to. I'm approaching 500 miles on my build and have become quite comfortable with them. Up until now at least I haven't ever wished I had power brakes.

Thanks Scott. Everyone needs to follow this dude on Instagram (@scottscobra). He takes some great pictures and he one bad a** Roadster.

[2bking]

I have the up-graded Wilwood front 6 piston and rear 2 piston. Mine came with .75" diameter masters for front and rear which I switched out for .70" diameters and reduced pedal effort about 10% without any noticeable pedal movement change when stopping. Like wareaglescott said, once you get used to the extra pedal effort, they work very good. Dialing in the balance bar makes a lot of difference in stopping distance and pedal effort.

[JRL16]

I have the Wilwood 6 piston on mine purchased with the kit from FFR and the Whitby power brake booster. No regrets. Pedal is easy for me and my wife. A little work installing it in but once it's in your done. I would not want to do it on a finished car.

[edwardb]

I've done the Wilwood pedal box and brakes with and without power. My #7750 build had hydroboost power with the Wilwood pedal box and the Wilwood 6 piston fronts and 2 piston rears. The Wilwood pedal box was a modded unit from Mike Forte. The brakes in that car are nice and for street use easy to drive. They are definitely not an "on-off switch" like several cautioned me about. But the hydroboost setup is not cheap or particularly simple, and you lose the front/back balance bar setup from the Wilwood pedal box. Plus it requires a pump. Not a big deal if you also have power steering. But does add more plumbing.

The vacuum boost approach, which Whitby has for the Wilwood pedal box, is another option. But similar in that you lose the front/back balance plus does require a minor frame mod. I used that setup on my Mk3 build, but with a Mustang pedal box. It also worked very well. But I can't actual experience using it with the Wilwood pedal box.

I have the Wilwood pedal box and Wilwood 6 piston front and rear setup on my Anniversary build and left the stock manual arrangement. As others have said, other than the somewhat higher pedal pressure required, they work great. I'm very happy with them and now that I'm a little more used to them, don't regret at all not having power brakes.

[JRL16]

Sir Edward is correct about losing the balance front and rear with the Whitby power brakes. You do need to install a proportioning valve. Pretty easy and not expensive. I installed an adjustable one in mine.

[DaveS53]

Those who have found Wilwood brakes with a power assist to be too sensitive may have used a pedal with too much mechanical advantage and/or a too powerful booster. If a pedal with a ratio of 5 or 6:1 is used along with a vacuum booster, it could indeed produce brakes that are too sensitive. There are many levels of power boost, starting with the minimum 7" single diaphragm, then a 7" dual diaphragm (adds about 25%), then an 8 inch single diaphragm or an 8 inch dual diaphragm. Of course, even larger sizes are used on modern production cars.

I have a car with Wilwood 6 pistons in front and 4 pistons in the rear with 12.19" discs. With a 4/1 pedal, I used an 8" dual diaphragm with a 7/8" tandem master to get a pedal force similar to a new production car (fairly light). I may change to a 1" master to increase the force, sometime in the future. A proportioning valve at the rear, set to full pressure did not result in premature lock-up of the rear tires, so it was of no value. I removed it and placed it in the front. It does result in a more balanced braking feel, but I've never restricted the front pressure enough to create a rear wheel lock-up yet.