Thread: b13 11" Fastbrakes (Wilwood) Kit Help/Opinions...

The kit is designed to be unbalanced. For "safety" stock brakes and most upgrades are balanced to the front. That doesn't mean that is right. I was amazed when I was testing where I ended up with the balance.

You may be right about the MC or air. Or maybe the rear pads are just complete shiat.

I guess what I meant was, you should expect braking to be at least as good as stock when upgrading to the 11" Fastbrakes kit up front, without doing anything else. Something is wrong. And finding the root of the problem first and fixing that I think is important. More important than trying to "fix" it with other stuff like proportioning valves, etc.

Those should be added after the true problem is found.

Edit: I just read the first post again and I thought he was comparing it to a stock setup, but he's comparing it to an NX front / Maxima rear / Altima MC setup.

Well yah, it's not going to be as good as that. My bad. The proportioning might be the true issue. However is does sound really bad, like something else is wrong too.

Thanks for pointing out my errors!! I have been under this impression for some time and I went back and re-read my books (as well as your link) and I will address them here

1) The idea I pointed out of being a bigger rotor is correct (in addition to Ben' correction)

2) The pistons in monoblock, fixed (4 piston willwoods, etc) calipers are generally "SMALLER" per piston area than an single piston sliding caliper, and here is why. First, their smaller overall piston area uses less fluid than the single large piston found in stock-style calipers, meaning that the brake pedal must travel less distance to apply them fully. Add this in addition to Ben's above corrections. Also, keeping in line with the idea of larger rotor = more surface area for heat dissipation, the same goes for a bigger caliper body. The reason behind this is to support
a) Increased number of pistons
b) More mass to dissipate heat (again, in line with Ben's corrections above)

3) The idea behind the MC is correct, so no correction is needed

4) (Addition to above): Brake fade is also caused by gases from the vaporization of pad material becoming trapped between the rotor and the pad, hence lifting the pad away from the rotor.

5) (Addition to above): Another reason why bigger rotors aid in brake torque is "the larger rotors mean that the brake pads make contact further away from the axle of rotation". Also, pads for multi piston calipers are generally "larger" in area than for a sliding, singl piston setup, again aiding in leverage or torque

Sorry for the derail, but just as much as I hate misinformation, I would like to be corrected to not give out misinformation myself

Thanks Ben!! . If there are any more holes, please exploit them!! If this is too much of a derail, please let me know (I figured this would be a good place for such a debate)

Back to your regularly scheduled program.

If this is in your book, it is wrong. It seems to make sense, and I think it is considered "common sense" but it is wrong. Larger pads create slightly less braking force than smaller pads all else being equal.

It's almost as if we could really use a dedicated brake section of the forum.

As it stands, maybe this belongs in a new thread.

This thread is turning into a pissing match

never!1!

Which thread are you reading? Apparently still not this one.

It definitely feels worse than a stock B13 brake setup... It's not "I'm doing to die crazy" but but no matter if the brakes are cold or warm there is no initial bite... and the pressure applied to the rotors vs. the brake pedal is not linear, its exponential and twitchy.

The current mc isn't leaking (dealt with that issue on my last s13) as the fluid level is stable, but air in the lines is definitely a culprit.

This will be taken care of when I install the mc and rear g20 brakes I purchased from Nathan... I feex. Still looking for the right mc. I'll grab it this week at the yard or on here if possible. Until then I am just going to have to take it easy.

I've got to replace an axle here this evening so I will look under there to see if I see anything silly.

Giggity

The pads Fastbrakes supplies with the kits are (or have been in the past) racing compound Willwood grade "D" pads which can be a bit slippery until warmed up, and need to be bed in properly obviously. It sounds like you might be experiencing some of that too. Unless you've switched to some other pads?