GR86 BBK Deep Review After 7 Track Days

[@matthewwain9958]

Can I just say... thank you for NOT putting a clickbait title, and having such an in-depth review :) Didn't expect this level of detail.

[@oozk]

The uneven wear and hotter outside rotor might have happened due to the rotor being 1-piece. When it gets hot, it probably warps towards outside and runs the outside pads down. I'd not worry about those little cracks at all. On my Z06, I get them right away, but they never fail the rotor (but I'm using 2-piece rotor that reduces stresses).

[@TrackandBuild]

the 1-piece rotors could be a possible reason but it's hard to be sure before I try two-piece rotors. The video camera did not show the crack details very well. They look much worse in person. The biggest ones are about 1'' long and can catch fingernails. I've had rotors cracked to the edge and these ones are not far away from that after a few more track days.

[@rs3tuber425]

I currently have a GR86 and I am using Hawks DTC-60 with Castrol SRF which I always recommend but I also race other cars, in particular a 8th Gen SI with also the Wilwoods BBK. My Wilwoods are 6 pistons calipers and I am using the 2 piece rotors from them as well but the reason why I want to share my experience with you is because some of the issues that you had on your brakes I also had. So here are some of the similarities: 1) My wildwood calipers only leaked on the driver side 2) the caliper leaked from the big nut blenders (top and Botton) 3) new bleeders did not fix the issue quite right 4) Teflon is what ultimately fixed the leak. As far is brake pads my kit came with Wildwood BP-10 which are street(sport pads) but Wildwood also offers 3 trims of pads, (BP20 for autocross and light road course) and the BP30 full blown track pads. I use the BP10s for the street and I Switch to BP30. Wildwood has it flaws, like you have to put the two piece rotors. Their bleeder size are ridiculous, not that common(is not a 9mm and is not a 10mm) they use the 3/8s I think. The width of their pads is very narrow and their pads are not that much bigger than stock oem pads. I would say this though, I put about 8 track days on the wildwood and they look much better than your brake pads although the brake area got very hot, so much that it unglued the wheel weights. Your channel is great, so much to learn from you specially now that I just got the GR86 and I am starting to track it.

[@TrackandBuild]

Thanks for sharing! I'd say wilwood is still a functional BBK but it's just all these little things add up to hurt the end user experience.

[@kurtracer22]

Great info, thanks!

[@warrenlucier5796]

My perspective on this is as follows: The bleeder nipples and calipers should have a tapered seat, as that is what performs the sealing when the bleeder nipples are tightened. The threads are there so you can achieve a sealing tightness on the seating surfaces. Hope you got this figured out, as no thread sealant is necessary and the leaking may be some of the issues your having with pad wear, along with not using full floating disc rotors.

[@will_l]

Great video. Think I might go with AP Racing endurance kit when I get mine…

[@TrackandBuild]

Thanks. AP are great kits. My friend had success with them on his Gen1 car.

[@anthonymoy4471]

great review

[@jedifar]

I'm honestly surprised you didnt just give up on this kit. I had RR racing calipers on my gen 1 (because I didn't want to pay the premium for Brembos) and it was one of the worst regrettable decisions I made. Aside from the same leaking bleeder issue that you had (not nearly as bad as yours), the noise issue was intolerable for me...i tried 4-5 different sets of pads both street and track, with shims, and no matter what i did, i could not stop it from sounding like a locomotive banshee on a megaphone. I could barely drive the car any where. The quality of the kit was abysmal and I got fed up and sold it and picked up a set of OEM brembos which have been night and day in terms of quality and performance.

[@TrackandBuild]

This is my track car so noise is not an issue for me TBH. Plus other kits like AP racing also will have the noise issue so no difference. Regarding performance, I'm sure the OE Brembo and AP racing kits have better performance but this one gets the job done (maybe just barely) so I don't have much incentive to switch to another kit at the moment. However, if I can do it all over again, I probably will go for AP racing endurance kit once and for all.

[@jedifar]

@@TrackandBuild Got it, yeah it gets the job done but for the headache its not really worth it. I haven't heard of many if any complaints on the AP kit, i know plenty of people who use them on the 86. Only reason why its a contender is because of its price point but its quality is questionable. You get what you pay for

[@future_phonk]

Just an advice for the video. Could you leave more time for the text to be on screen? Even when I tried to pause the video to read, the text would disappear before I could pause. Other than that, great video and very informative.

[@stevenismybro]

Very interesting, I’ll have to keep a look out for bleeder leaks on my kit. I have ~10 track days on them so far, no issues. I wonder if your threads are slightly messed up on that caliper. I ended up with some taper on my R12’s. Probably similar to what you saw.

[@ImTheBestListen]

Hey! First, thank you for your time in spreading this information and making these videos! I am currently deciding between a DIY BBK kit that uses a Wilwood FSL 4 piston and an AP Racing Endurance kit. How is your RR Racing BBK holding up for track use? I'm leaning towards the Wilwood kit because of cost but as my DD I would like to minimize downtime in case things break. I'm willing to pay a premium for the Endurance kit if the Wilwood calipers have reliability issues.

[@TrackandBuild]

It's holding up very well after 20+ track days. AP endurance is for sure a better overall kit but the RR Racing kit also works if you fix that leaking issue in advance.

[@ImTheBestListen]

@@TrackandBuild just what I wanted to hear!

[@rs3tuber425]

AP racing is better than Willwood.

[@1125shogun]

Thank you again for the deep dive! I see you switched wheels. Just for looks or more brake clearance?

[@TrackandBuild]

I switched to 17x8 wheels to compete in 86DC stock class (maximum wheel width 8''). And they do have much better BBK clearance than the 17x9 RPF1's lol

[@throker]

did you ever reach out to Wilwood over your incessant issues? If so what was their response?

[@TrackandBuild]

I did. They sent me new bleed screws with thread locker for free. But I ended up using teflon tapes and never had a leaking issue since then.

[@vadimmolla4858]

THoughts on this BBK for a daily that's taken to the track? Live in NE, quite worried about rust

[@TrackandBuild]

I don't see a problem with this bbk in particular in that regard. They are quiet on street pads

[@superonionman]

Excellent information. I'm not an engineer, I work in cyber security. Could it be that the driver side leaked because it's closer to the master cylinder and has less distance to travel? I imagine the teflon tape will denigrate over time from the heat, maybe try some of the speed bleeder brand brake bleeders or a high temp tread sealant. A friend that used to track an s2000 had a leak problem like this only on the front pass side and swapping to the speed bleeders with the thread sealant fixed it. I haven't researched this but it seems strange to me that there's 4 bleeder screws. Maybe could try locking out 3 out of 4 positions with a normal bolt that doesn't have a valve and run one bleeder screw on the top?

[@TrackandBuild]

the pressure should be the same everywhere in the hydraulic system so I'm not really sure. It could be a coincidence. Nevertheless, this should not happen at the first place given the bleeders came pre-assembled from factory. I also tried to search for a high temp hydraulic system sealant but failed to anything that have a higher working temp than the teflon tape. I used teflon tape on one bleeder for a few track days and it seemed holding up pretty well. I'll see how they last.

[@oozk]

Also, Teflon tape starts deteriorating at around 400 degrees F, so if might not be the best solution in the long term. I wonder if Wilwood would replace that caliper for you (or just buy one; caliper itself is very cheap).

[@nostreetracing86]

I am wondering why wilwood use 2 piece bleeder valve., they seem to have more failure point. Wilwood seems to be the only manufacture that has this design. How the valve is sealed is also questionable. AP CP8350 caliper uses O ring in the bleeder screw instead of thread seal.

[@TrackandBuild]

I also read that before using teflon but they really did not give me any problems after a few track days (I assume the temperature must have been well over 400F and they've been holding up just fine). Wilwood suggests me to replace the leaking bleeders with new ones but unfortunately that did not work for me. It seems to me the culprit is the sealing on threads design of the bleeders. And I feel I would be just trying my luck if I buy a new caliper.

[@404nobrakes]

@@TrackandBuild I bought speedbleeders for my oe calipers that use thread sealant as well. After just 2 track days, the sealant on the front right bleeder failed and it no longer worked to bleed properly. But that's ok because it only fails while bleeding. Using silicone to seal hot brake fluid under pressure is extremely stupid.

[@TheDriversPerspective]

I hate to say it but, this seems like typical Wilwood problems. Always used Teflon tape or paste on every fitting with them in the past.

[@TrackandBuild]

The caliper came with the bleeders pre-assembled so I didn't expect that they would leak. Wilwood should definitely consider fixing this failure point.

[@anthonymoy4471]

scary is those oem wheelstuds and lug nuts still on😳 they fail just by looking at them

[@boblast5582]

was the pad wear the same on both sides of the car? outer pad wearing more than inner pad?

[@TrackandBuild]

yes they are the same on the other side of the car. so it's a pattern instead of coincidence

[@massimilianozeni1848]

@@TrackandBuild on my S2000 I also noticed the same pattern so there must be a technical reason even though it sounds counter intuitive. Maybe some wheel bearing slight deflection or more pad contact with the disc with high Gs through the bends? I still have an OEM sliding caliper though, looking to move to a BBK soon

[@tonykartracer8032]

Nissin calipers are best!

[@TrackandBuild]

there are definitely better caliper options out there in the market. Despite the issues (which can be fixed), Wilwood BBK still has a great value given the price.

[@stangtrax]

So the aftermarket stuff failed. Why not just had RBF dot 4 brake fluid and track pads to the stock brake system?