Brake kits: 4 piston or One ??

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Princess Valiant

A.K.A. Rainy Day Auto
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so I am shopping around for a disk brake kit for a 63 Valiant and I notice Wilwood has four piston kits. They seem a bit fancy for what I am going to use the car for but with a coupon some of their kits are comparably priced to some other kits out there.

So far the ram man seems to be the best value.

Scarebird looks good but a lot of leg work to put it all together.

any thoughts ?
 
wilwood stuff is a safe bet but can be a little pricey but if you have the money you can't do much better. for good bang for your buck you can always look into Dr. Diff, good stuff good prices, especially if you don't plan on racing your stuff really hard
 
I think that four piston brakes distribute the load more evenly across the pad than the single piston brakes...
 
wilwood stuff is a safe bet but can be a little pricey but if you have the money you can't do much better. for good bang for your buck you can always look into Dr. Diff, good stuff good prices, especially if you don't plan on racing your stuff really hard

I don't plan to run the car very hard at all.

the standard 11 inch factory rotors should be plenty.
 
I have met the Ram man, and he talked me threw everything, parts kit showed up and even after the sale I had no problems, but I did call to check if I could talk to someone if I had any kind of problem, His first site was hacked by someone !! I can't and will not say who and what site did it.. I had zero problems with the man.. We all have our own opinion and I am happy to see them here, never have dealt with Doctor Diff, so I have no Idea :thumbsup:
 
Same kit the ram man sells looks like to me. The Ram man was a bit lower priced, you can by the rotors at any auto parts store so I saved a bunch buying my own and saving on shipping. Did you look at my restoration thread Rainy ?

they all offer free shipping on all the different kits even the one that includes rotors, so how does that save on shipping ??
 
they all offer free shipping on all the different kits even the one that includes rotors, so how does that save on shipping ??
Those rotors are heavy, and you can buy them cheaper at Napa or Orielies, or the zone' Heavy brings up the shipping cost.. There price is higher for the rotors.. then the price we can walk in an auto parts store and buy them, They will sell you the kit cheaper with out rotors, the ram man told me this and saved me a bunch
 
I like the four piston Kelsey-Hayes brakes, they have a nice progressive pedal feel without power assist. The pedal force can be high in panic stops (so selecting the right cylinder bore of master cylinder is important) and they have a reputation of fading a bit after numerous hard stops. If you look at the high performance super bikes they use six piston calipers for modulation feel.

These guys have the K-H calipers with stainless pistons:
Calipers Online

I thought the Wilwood kits were for drag race applications and weren’t really sealed for all 12 months of weather conditions.
 
Are you staying 5x4 or going 5x4.5? That will greatly alter your path to the right brakes. Plus are you going to larger wheels?
 
the best braking will be provided by the piston / pistons which have the largest surface area and will provide the highest psi on the rotor with the same master cylinder.
When new or in good repair they are all fine.
 
For a streeter
I like the fixed calipers, cuz they are zero maintenance, and the pads pop right out for replacement.And they continue to work maybe forever, as well as they did/do when new.
I don't like the floating calipers in 4-season cars and I bet you can guess why.
Cuz :
the pins hang up and grind off the one pad.
And the pads often bang out the anchors, then rattle, or the pads get stuck in the grooves and grind off the one pad
and the pads almost invariably wear at an angle, requiring early replacement.
There is only one good thing about floating calipers; The rotor can be waay out of spec as to warpage, and you may never know it....... cuz the caliper floats from side to side while the pads are scrubbing the anchors , oh wait you mean the same rutted anchors and stuck or seized pins we already talked about,lol.........
Ok; they work really nice when they are new.
Just my opinion
 
I put Wilwood on my Cuda and not happy about it. My old stuff stopped better and the Wilwoods are loud. I might go back and buy the year one stuff for the one piston setup.
 
Single piston, sliding calipers work great. Nothing in the world wrong with them. How many millions of vehicles have come with them? With everything right, they wear pads even all day long.
 
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