Re: Re: Re: wilwood kit
speed within reach said:
Hi Ken,
You made several good points perhaps we should address. I understand completely the perception that Wilwood's products are sub-par relative to other offerings that have out of the box features such as floating hats, dust seals, etc... not to mention the fact that Wilwood's products have not been marketed as well within the import market as they could have been in the past.
While I would never expect a $3000 product to preform as well under harsh track or pro use as a far more expensive offering like the Comptech Evo Kit... nor have the stigma that a name like "Brembo" brings to the table... it is our firm belief that for the majority of enthusiasts and applications our Wilwood kit will get the job done when coupled with the right pads, tires, etc...
Thus, I have corrected Mike's original statement above that you eluded to so as to eliminate any confusion. Also, it should be noted that our kit's rotors are available in a slotted only configuration as well.
Inevitably, it is our intention to prove our products worth and value to even the most skeptical of users- and we hope to do that going forward.
Their has been two magazine articles on Wilwood's BBK's performance in the last three months. The owner of Kawagen who tracks his car every weekend, and also competes in the racing circuit runs the Wilwood kit on his personal vehicle and we have sets on our own vehicles at this time.
Once we get some translators in here we will reprint the articles and perhaps just begin to change your mind about their track performance so our kits do not get relegated to use at hot import nights.
Ken at factor X just installed a kit for one of his fx500 customers and really liked the kit. We plan on really supporting this kit and garnering user feedback and reviews going forward so we can further develop the kit and make it the best bang for the buck out there within the NSX community.
Best Regards,
John
John,
Thanks for addressing the issues that I brought up.
FYI, I know that the owner of Route-KS runs Wilwood's on his NSX, there was a "time-attack" shootout of tuners at Tsukuba and there were several articles that were written about the Route-KS NSX, so I have read them in detail. I happen to be Japanese so that helps too
. He was attempting to break the Naturally Aspirated Engine car record of being able to go under a minute which was eventually broken by the ASM S2000 during the shootout.
I also know that Igor (Like007) switched to the Wilwoods on his NSX (front and rear kit), same thing for Craig down in SoCal. Both of them track or autocross their vehicles, and they are very happy with their products.
I don't have any problems with Wilwood's kits per se, since I have seen them on many cars at the track (both domestic as well as imports), even some of the Radicals (dedicated track cars) that are being sold in US make use of Wilwood's for their braking system.
I was just pointing out some of the differences that have been brought up in the past regarding the Wilwood kit, if briging these differences up makes the manufacturer address some of them then it's a good thing.
I personally believe that having multiple choices for braking systems on the NSX is good as long as the manufacturers stands by their products.
That being said, a lot of the products that are being aimed at the Import Car market by some of the manufacturers (I'm not referring to Wilwood BTW) are sub par when they encouter real life heavy track usage.
The feedback that I have seen about the Wilwood Kit has been very minimal, I have not seen or heard any feedback about the kit besides the initial impressions about the kit that were posted a while back. So either the folks who installed the kit never push them or the kit is so good that it does not have problems.
Ken
BTW: I've tried to share my experiences with the Stoptech BBK, addressing both the +'ve and the -'ve aspects of the kit, so that potential buyers are well informed.
Edit: Typos galore, hehe