Who here speaks Wilwood brakes

I'm planning a big brake upgrade for the LS3 powered TR8 and I'm having a hard time deciding what to use on the front. Rears are settled. Its getting forged Dynalites with 1.38 pistons and 11.75X.81 discs. I want to go 12.19 X.81 discs in the front. My question is whats the difference between the various calipers available. My choices are another set of Dynalites with 1.75 pistons at $124 each, Dynapro with 1.75 pistons at $148 each, Superlite 4 pistons with 1.75 pistons at $165 each, and dynapro 6pistons with 1.62 1.38 and 1.38 pistons at $277 each. The Dynamite, and Dynapro use similar pads with the same thickness and close to the same contact area. The superlite uses huge pads that are half again as thick and have over twice the contact area. I have read multiple times that the only advantage to 6 piston over 4 piston is pad wear, so that is the only real consideration between 4 and 6 and the cost factor of the two Dynapro calipers. So apples to Apples, whats the advantages of the $148 caliper over the $124 caliper, and likewise the $165 caliper over the $124 caliper? My gut is telling me to go with the $165 Supernates, but I've only ever used the $124 Dynalites. Confused? I am, and I wrote this.

Some of the wilwood calipers are designed for racing only and don't have the seals you would want on a road going car to keep contamination out from between the pistons and their housings. I don't remember which models are which, but it would explain the difference in price.

Old Opel stole my answer. Some have better dust seals.

It seems like you might be going at this backwards -- 1.75 vs 1.38 piston size is going to make an enormous difference in the pedal feel and brake balance, AFAIK there's pretty much no case in which both of them can be an acceptable choice for a car with the same master cylinder and rear caliper. Shouldn't you be starting with piston size and then seeing what calipers will fit under the wheels and have acceptable mounting pattens within that size?

What master cylinder is in the car? What size wheels? Dynalites in the rear sounds pretty aggressive to me, a TR8 with an LS motor sounds pretty similar in braking needs to a high-powered Miata (high boost turbo or a V8 like Keith's car) and I don't know anyone who runs that much rear brake in a Miata. What tracks are you running it on?

Car has a Wilwood reverse hung triple master setup. The planned brakes I'm running on the back are what I usually run in the front, but with 1.38 piston bores instead of the usual 1.75. The rear usually gets some form of solid Mustang rear disc and caliper with built in Ebrake depending on where I grabbed the 8.8 from. Everything you just mentioned, I'm familiar with. Just don't know what the differences between the calipers are, because all I have ever run is the Dynalites. I'm shooting for somewhere around 65% front 35% rear total braking force as a starting point. The adjuster on the pedals will give me wiggle beyond that. Once I settle on the calipers, and know the total piston volume, I can work backwards and order the masters I need to get to my magic 65-35. Yea, if Keith would chime in and divulge exactly what he puts on his really fast Miatas, that would be an easy button. I'm looking for 500hp in a 2500 pound car. If its not enough, I can add a turbo, but I think it will be enough. FWIW, the only things triumph left on this thing, are body related and steering related. Everything else is LS, aftermarket, or custom made. Think pro touring Triumph and you get the picture.

Call a Willwood dealer to sort it all out. Todd Cook at TCE Performance will take care of you.

www.tceperformanceproducts.com

480-967-7901

Spent several hours reading up this stuff. Read what the V8 Miata guys are running, and what the 240SX drift guys are running. Here is what I settled on. Front is getting Dynapro 6 piston calipers with 1.75-1.38-1.38 pistons. Total piston area 5.06 sq" per caliper. Going with a 7/8" master. Rears are getting Dynalites with 1.38-1.38 pistons for a total piston area of 3.0 sq" per caliper, and a 1" master. This setup with the balance bar adjusted in the middle, giving equal force on both circuits, will yield a 63% to 37% split in braking force.(actually slightly higher front force because the rotors are larger in the front and the force is acting farther away from the rotational center of the rotor) Good a place as any to start. I can fine tune it from there by swapping out one or the other masters. Looks like my rotor sizing choices are slightly bigger than the Miata kits commonly available, and slightly smaller than the ones the drift guys run. Time to wipe out my paypal account.

I've found the best source for Wilwood application info to be Wilwood. Give them a call.