Hi folks
I just took delivery of a set of wilwood dynalite single calipers. As advertised these are pretty & incredibly light. However the packaging is full of bold type disclaimers along the lines of "for track use only" and "not for street use".
What on earth is that about? I reckon I should take it with a pinch of salt & it's just to protect them from litigation in US, being a smaller piston area than most stock calipers. AFAIK SVA just measure brake performance don't they??
Any thoughts?
Cheers
Bob C

if you look at aeroquip or similar brake flexys they say the same but everyone uses them,its probly cos road car stuff is designed to last a long time with no maintanace and race car stuff is ment to be checked a lot more often.
if its good enough for a race track it should be good enough for road use assuming you check its wellbeing every so often

there's your warranty!
blame Conrod if it goes wrong

Here in the US alot of products say for off-road use only, this is mainly due to the fact that they dont want to go through the stringent and costly government mandated test policy for items like brakes, cost for gov't approval can be as high as $100,000, but most approvals are south of $5000.

Wilwood is a good company that makes high quality products, I wouldn't worry about it too much. Now if they were brakes from a company that was called wilweed I would worry.

Hi Bob:

Everything in the US seems to have similar disclaimers. Order a coffee at Startbucks and the cup disclaims that the contents are hot. Really? Both you and Derf are correct. Wilwood did not want to go through the Department of Transportation (DOT) certification. There are quite a few street cars over here that use the calipers and they are much heavier than ours.

--Enjoy, Chris

I thought there was a problem passing SVA as the pads only had one retaining pin and for sva it should have two as on all road cars, it's a safety issue i think

Jason

Isn't there an issue about some race brakes not having dust seals on the outside of the pistons? I don't know if that applies to wilwoods. I think I remember some mumblings that it might not be good for a road car to have non dust sealed brakes, cos they'd fill up with grit and get buggered, etc.

Thanks for the replies - the retaining pin thing is worth thinking about, I can't recall seeing that in the SVA manual, and I do have some APracing 4pots on another car with a single retaining screw, but it hasn't had an SVA test!
Cheers
Bob
PS - the pads can't come out - unless the wheel's fallen off!!!

Our mk2 escort quikrak had a similar sticker on it. It's just ass covering I think.

As for dust seals, the Ford Racing Puma has motorsport Alcon 4 pots that don't have dust seals so I assume they are legal for road use, just a pain in the ass to maintain.

[Edited on 21/10/04 by mackie]

Several years ago. after only a few weeks in use, the Wilwood clutch master cylinder on my TVR started to leak. I contacted Wilwood in California. Despite being very polite and co-operative, they refused to replace the part stating that their products are for racing only and have no warrantee. I replaced it with another Wilwood ($65.Cdn.)and have had no problems.
I will be using their Dynalite 4 piston calipers and mastercylinder on my Hayabusa powered Seven that I will be building this winter.

There is never a warranty on race components, just ask anyone that has owned a 4.5 cerbera, like there starter motors they do

i dont think that under english law you can sell anything without some kinda warranty.

also, 'fit for purpose' still applies. just cos its for racing doesnt mean its going to fail early.

its going to depend apon the view of a small claims court judge - you only have to prove 51% guilt. small claims courts cost about 60 quid to file a claim and you get it back if you win.

been there, done that. quite rewarding to present your own case.

atb

steve

I would personally not use Wilwood brakes on a road car. As was mentioned further up, they have NO dirt seals on, and will seize in short order if not cleaned regularly.

I know of a very prestigious kitcar manufacturer who strongly discourages their use because of the number of problems that customers have had with these calipers in road use.

Stick to calipers which have dirt seals (like AP racing) they may cost more initially but they are much better, mostly british made and totally reliable.

Good point re the dust seals - wilwood do claim "excellent corrosion resistance" & use stainless steel pistons. Anyway I've asked their tech dept the question, I'll post a precis of their answer!
Bob C
PS I don't fancy driving anywhere in the wet in the 7 anyway.......

I don't think it's just corrosion you have to worry about but also dust and grit working it's way into the main piston seals too.
For people that want aluminium 4 pots and don't want to spend mega bucks I'd look at the Outlaw M16s. They are direct replacement for the stock cortina calipers and have dust seals.

here's part of Wilwoods' email on the subject - so they are OK after all, they're just trying not to be liable if the customer screws up the engineering
Bob C


The statement "not for street use" is just
what
> you called it... A disclaimer. Wilwood manufactures brake components.
We
> do not install them. When a brake system is installed on a car, a certain
> amount of engineering must be done to insure that the proper sized brake
> system is installed on that particular vehicle. Wilwood has no control
what
> the components are installed on (especially if it is not part of one of
our
> pre-engineered kit), therefore, cannot accept any liability for it's use.
> These calipers do require additional maintainance in that the piston must
be
> cleaned before it is pushed back into the body during a brake pad change,
> but this has nothing to do with street use.
>
> Thanks
>
Rich
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Carter Robert
> To: 'customerreply@wilwood.com'
> Sent: Monday, October 25, 2004 2:35 AM
> Subject: dynalite single
>
>
> Hi
> I just took delivery of a set of dynalite single calipers.
> The packaging was covered in disclaimers saying "not for street use". Why?
> It has been suggested this may be due to the fact that a more intensive
> maintenance and cleaning schedule may be required than a stock street
> caliper due to the lack of piston dust seals, if this is the case can you
> make recommendations? The application is a "lotus 7" style car which will
> only be used in good weather!!!
> Thanks
> Bob C
>