Baer or Wilwood?

[6togo]

Been looking at both brake setup's I know Baer's is top shelf but come with a big price tag now the Wilwood dynalite kits that are similar to the track 4 kits are about half the cost. I would like some real world input on both if possible it will be mostly street driven with some track time if that matters.
Chris

 

[6togo]

Anyone?

 

[Top Speed]

I went with the Baer 12" discs all the way around. They are not cheap, but do an excellent job over the stock brakes. I also did a vacuum conversion at the same time. Took a little while to dial in the proportioning valve for front/rear bias, but the car stops very well.

 

[mybuick]

all these kits are is corvette/camaro brakes so just go to the parts counter and ask for them. all you really need to make is a adapter for the caliper bracket to the spindle.

 

[lrayzer]

Been looking at both brake setup's I know Baer's is top shelf but come with a big price tag now the Wilwood dynalite kits that are similar to the track 4 kits are about half the cost. I would like some real world input on both if possible it will be mostly street driven with some track time if that matters.
Chris

I guess you need to figure out what rims you plan on running, do they need to fit in the stock rims ?
Will you ever re-install the 15" rims ?

 

[Dusty Bradford]

Baer is OEM quality or higher. No sacrifices like you get in the cheaper brakes. Wilwood, Aerospace, etc......

 

[T-CHRGD]

I don't think the Wilwood or Aerospace brakes are adequately sealed from the "elements" for a street driven car. That's why Baer's are more expensive. Put them on and drive in any weather.

 

[scot w.]

We carry all BAER brake kit's because we feel they are the best out there and that is what we want to offer to our customers. BAER brake kits are a complete bolt on kit that is the nicest kit we seen, the easiest to install, and everything comes included in the kit to complete the whole brake up grade.

Our GNS test car has the BAER track 4's up front and the SS4's in the rear on mine and proved at last years "BAER Speed / Stop challenge it can stop from 74 mph in about 2 seconds without breaking the tires loose! We have great experience with BAER brakes for the Buick Regals and can tell you anything you want to know about them and their performance. To me they are the best complete aftermarket bolt on kit available and there performance is simply incredible. Remember, You get what you pay for!

The late Todd Garthshore once said " BAER brakes don't work any better than anyone Else's brakes until you get the car out of the garage"....


Scot W.

 

[lrayzer]

I noticed no one mentioned Brembo's, the OEM's use them as an upgrade.

 

[lrayzer]

I noticed no one mentioned Brembo's, the OEM's use them as an upgrade.

Maybe off topic but I just noticed Wilwood makes a replacement front caliper in single or dual piston for our cars, should save some weight in the right place and damn sure look better, anybody got any feedback on them, just wondering ?

 

[6togo]

I will be running 17 or 18" wheels which i dont have yet until i get my suspension together and get proper measurements. I will probably not drive the car allot at all and it will not see any weather just nice days!
I hear so many mixed opinions on the Baer and Wilwood setups i have no doubt the Baer setup is great and had full intension of doing the same setup Scot did however money never go as far as you want it to! I do see allot of Wilwood on cars here which made me check them out and seach the google for any bads the worst i seen was some warped rotors and the lack of dust boots but no failure due to the boots and the warped were more than likely due to extreme driving!
I know the old saying you get what you pay for and firmly agree but Wilwood is not a new company and cant be that sub-par can they?
No 15" factory rims will ever go back on either!
Chris

 

[WHITE T]

Hey Chris,

You just have to make sure you are comparing apples to apples. Wilwood and Baer make a variety of different systems, with different options and rotor sizes.

I know early in this thread someone compared Baer's Track4 caliper to a dynalite. The Track4 is a totally different animal, with a much bigger 4 piston caliper. The SS4+ caliper is on par with the Dynalite size. The Track4 caliper is almost identical size to our 6P 6 piston caliper.

One other thing that many don't notice, and for some this is a big deal.. others not so much. The Track4 will come pre-assembled on modified stock spindles where the Wilwood require you to modify your own spindles.

When researching here are some of the benefits we put into our brake system. Ask around and see if the others do the same:

-Systems are vehicle specific and include all fittings and stainless braided hoses (we use banjo fittings not pipe thread fittings)
-All Baer systems use directionally vaned rotors (specific left and right) to help cool the brake down.
-All Baer systems use stainless steel pistons that are pressure and dust sealed. Baer uses square cut seals to retract pistons for less drag. We never use O-rings as a piston seal.
-All Baer systems use deep stainless pistons. This might make it slightly harder to fit wheels, but if you ever run the pad down to the backing plate you will never (ever) loose a piston and cause brake failure.
-The Track4 uses a factory 98-02 Camaro pad, and has stainless pad abutments and noise springs
-All Baer systems come fully assembled. Hubs are already assembled with timken or SKF bearings and packed with redline synthetic grease.

Plus Baer supports TB.com and has many GREAT TurboBuick vendors that sell these systems! (had to throw that in!)

There are a lot of good choices out there for brakes, just make sure for the money you have to spend you get what you are looking for and get all the features you want!

PM me with any questions!
Thx!

 

[WHITE T]

oh.. one more thing.

MyBuick mentioned that all we offer is Camaro/Corvette brakes, and I wanted to clear this up. Baer for years was the North American distributor for PBR our of Australia. PBR also manufactures the calipers used on Corvettes, Camaros, GTO, GM Trucks etc. Baer quit offering/listing PBR parts roughly 2 years ago. Now all of our calipers are 100& machined in house in Arizona. Not finish machined, partially machined, 100% machined and built.

PBR has gone through changes, they were bought by Bosch, and now they are being sold again. We still have 100's of PBR parts, brackets etc in stock. If anybody is looking to piece together or build their own brake system using PBR parts I guarantee I can beat any parts guys price on these pieces. So call or PM me.

Hope that makes sense

 

[rmar]

And Baer is a vendor here who still supports our cars.....

 

[Nick Micale]

I am not sure about the cost difference, but I first put on a Wilwood system, then changed over to Baer and do remember the cost not being very much?

One thing I do know is that there is a LARGE difference in performance of the Baer system over the Wilwood.

At 140 MPH there was no difference is stopping distance between my stock brakes and the Wilwoods. I was very disappointed, and needed something better.

After installing the Baer system, my stopping distance was cut by 1/2 and never any fade. Also, the front Wilwood brakes would NOT hold my car when doing a burnout, but no issue after the Baer's were on the front.

I know of 2 other racers that have burned up their Aerospace front brakes trying to stop from high speeds.

If you are doing this conversion for better braking performance, Baer makes the best G-Body replacement set.

 

[Nick Micale]

.....................................

-All Baer systems use stainless steel pistons that are pressure and dust sealed. Baer uses square cut seals to retract pistons for less drag. We never use O-rings as a piston seal.
..................................

I should have read Rick's post more closely before I posted as he pointed out another problem I was having with the Wilwoods, the pistons would not fully retract after a few months of hard use. This would heat the rotors excessively, and braking effiency was reduced with each run.

After trying what the Wilwood tech guy suggested, still had the problem with lots drag on the front wheels.

With many 140 MPH hard stops, the Baer's are still great.

When you are at the track and need to be sure you stop at high speed in a confined distance 5 or 6 times in a couple hours, it is great to have confidence in your brakes even if it does cost a few $$$ more!

 

[6togo]

Thanks for all the input guys it's what i was looking for! As for modding the spindles no problem here with that either way and the lines are probably better no coming with the brakes as everything will need to be custom lenght at least in the rear! Like i stated price is a object or we would probably not be discussing this thats why i was looking at the Wilwood setups that basically give you the foundation and you have to add some toppings where Baer is a complete deal but some of the parts will probably not used I need a build a Baer kit no pun intended!
Chris

 

[jdpolzin]

Make sure you think about what you are going to run for rims. I have gone rounds dealing with different brakes for my 9" rear because I need brakes that will not only do the job on the road course but I also need something to fit my 15" rims that are custom made to match my 18's.

 

[6togo]

Jeremy,
I am going to have Budnik make a set of wheels for me right after the suspension and brakes are done! What your choice in brakes?
Chris

 

[jdpolzin]

Do you happen to know what the inside diameter of the hoop will be? My circumstance is a little different because of the 9" rear so I cant give you any ideas if you still have the 8.5.