I have a question and later I will deal with the complaint Recently I completed a 12 year build ( My 6th by the way and my avatar ) so It's not my first rodeo. 200 miles with unsatisfactory brake operation and my Wilwood front disc brakes are scored, severally. Both sides, all four pads the same. Discs ruined. No response from Willwood. I have cars in my garage with 10's of thousands of miles on them and the rotors are pretty smooth. I have rechecked the installation and they are exactly as required. Any thoughts. I'm stumped. I am also very disappointed with Wilwood
Any pics ? how deep is the scoring ? any bluing or signs of overheating ? sounds like hard pads or soft rotors .
What might be the problem? Do you think they might have been dragging, due to pressure build up in the system? perhaps no pushrod free play?
Sounds like too much pressure on the front disc, are you using a proportion valve? and are your rear brakes working properly? HRP
Need pictures, and what exactly was unsatisfactory with the brake operation before you saw the rotors were scored.
I had a similar situation about 40 years ago with Airheart brakes on my 5 window. We drove to the ‘83 SR Nats in OKC and by the time we got home the rotors were toast. I had ordered the calipers from a local speed shop and I think they must have selected the hard pucks which also had a relatively high metallic content. New rotors and softer pucks from Gene Scott’s PSI and that solved my problem with no other changes. Wilwood offers a number of different pads, could yours have been a more race oriented version? I have Wilwoods that are going on my Fordor and the pads have the part number engraved on the metal backing, if yours have that too it might offer some insight into what happened.
I have seen the metallic content pads really do a number on rotors on a lot of cars coming into the shop at work.
Wrong residual valves (if present), contaminated pads (were they kept clean and dry before going into service), or incorrect wheel bearing free play (four-piston non-floating calipers are much more sensitive to loose bearings) are a few more possibilities. A lot more detail is needed before a proper diagnosis could be given. With a failure within a few hundred miles, those had problems before they ever turned.
I'd have to believe that Fordors gave the correct answer in post 8. If you go back and search through the paperwork from when you purchased the pieces and do some research on the pads/pucks you will probably find that you ordered the high performance racing pads rather than softer street pads. The pads probably stop great once they are warmed up and don't fade after a number of hard stops/ slow downs but they eat rotors in the process. Rotors that are a disposable item on a race car. Years ago when I was doing several brake jobs a week, I found out that quite often the cheap brake shoes/ brake pads gave the least complaints about the brakes after a brake job even though they didn't stop as well on hard stops and didn't last as long. Less noise, less pulling to one side or the other.
Post a picture of all of the pads, showing the outsides of one pair, and the insides of the other pair.
You didn't do any driving on gravel roads or fresh chip sealed roads by chance? I had a hell of a time with a set of brakes on a customer's car in the late 70's. I was working in a dealership that primarily sold Pontiacs but also sold Fiats and Jags. A gal had bought a little Fiat sports car and was complaining about the noisy brakes and the brakes acting up. Swapped rotors and pads on warranty and test drove it up and down the back street behind the shop and it was good to go. A week later it is back with noisy brakes. Pulled the calipers and sanded the pads and test drove it and sent it out. Same thing a third time. Come to find out she lived 3 miles down a gravel road. I'm still betting on the pads being more race pads than street pads though..
Send a message with the phone closer to the car... But seriously we need a pic or 3 to help otherwise it's like playing the check pool on friday. And don't worry if it may be that ya picked the wrong pad, rotor, combo, I'd bet my hot rod you ain't the 1st and won't be the last. Still, what pads was my very 1st thought.
Just to answer a lot of the questions They were purchased 5 or 6 years ago, not high performance Wilwood #150-8850 pads which they say are soft, system has a delay valve in the front so as not to activate them too soon, even if they were dragging why are they scored, plenty of pedal free play, nothing has overheated, and the only other thing I can fess up to is I have been building cars for almost 70 years both street and race variety and I believe the pads are faulty- appear to have metallics in them- but Wilwood is not responding to questions except to say I installed the correct kit, the pads are correct. Here are pics
At 200 miles I would think they are still seating, or if you prefer, seasoning. Aside from the visual, what do they sound like? I would not do anything, but keep getting them hot, and enjoy the control. One thing to watch for is, when you have got them heated up, try to keep rolling to let them cool. Elsewise you can develop 'hot spots' from sitting still, with the brake applied.
That is NOT a soft pad. That is a medium-compound high-performance street, and race pad, with a 6 out of 10 rotor wear rate. Anything that lists lower pad wear rate and lower dust is a hard(er) pad. Unfortunately, there is no softer pad than that compound available from Wilwood.
Yes.....I tried a set of ceramic/aluminum pads on my OT (SL500AMG) roadster.......awful until they get hot, but then they are the best brakes I have ever had.......but, as you say, the pads eat the rotors quicker than organic pads.
Here is something for everyone to save and keep. Check page 25 for what looks likely to be The OP's problem. https://mintex.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Mintex_Fault_Diagnosis_ENG.pdf @Bert Kollar , were the rotors new as well? What material, make and part number? It looks to me that the pads are picking up metal from the rotors...... eating them alive.
I am beginning to understand. The article from twenty8 is interesting about distributing debris. Wilwoods new rotors are slotted apparently to clear debris. Looks like I got sacrificial brakes LOL. I think I will drive them as is just to see what happens. They do stop and work as supposed to. My bad stopping is probably elsewhere. Maybe I am expecting too much. Gimpy thanks for your comments. I would have expected to be more helpful
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