Are caliper "upgrades" worth it? Wilwood makes a static 4-piston caliper to replace factory 1-piston sliding caliper, for my Honda Fit.

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These are the kits they make for the 2012 Honda Fit: https://www.wilwood.com/BrakeKits/B...ke=Honda&model=Fit&option=Base&axle=Front+Kit

In particular, I'm looking at this one: https://www.wilwood.com/BrakeKits/B...-R&year=2012&make=Honda&model=Fit&option=Base

It's just the 4-piston forged STATIC caliper and brake pad. It can be found at some vendors for about 400 dollars. That's about 2.5X to 3X the cost of stock replacement (sliding 1-piston, cast metal, not forged) caliper + pad kits found at RockAuto, so it's borderline worth it IF AND IF it offers superior performance.

What do you think?

Wilwood makes a "big brake kit" for my car, but those won't clear my wheels and are frankly more than I'd like to spend..

On the other hand, for superior performance, I might just replace the OEM ceramic pads with semi-metallics for only 30 dollars and call it a day. I hear that semi-metallic offer greatly superior stopping power but eats rotors. I honestly don't care, the rotors can be replaced every 2 years for 60 bucks.

Thoughts?
 
Unless u track the car Willwood is a little bit of overkill. Maybe you can get bigger rotors and better calipers from a civic type R at a junkyard and rebuild them. Also you might have issues with you proportioning valve/bias and your ABS. I would hit a few of the Honda "Ricer" forums and see what parts will work with your set up.
 
Unless u track the car Willwood is a little bit of overkill. Maybe you can get bigger rotors and better calipers from a civic type R at a junkyard and rebuild them. Also you might have issues with you proportioning valve/bias and your ABS. I would hit a few of the Honda "Ricer" forums and see what parts will work with your set up.

Pretty much this. Unless you're beating the car to pieces on the track there's no need for those kinds of brakes. Even if you are tracking the car, at factory power levels you can likely get away with a set of track pads. Not that you would want to drive them on the street, but you could easily swap them out before the event and back to streets after (You'd want to swap rotors as well in that case).

As for superior performance. I'm pretty sure those factory brakes will get you deep into ABS territory even on dry pavement and sticky tires, so 'more' braking won't do anything for you.
 
The reason for ceramic pads on something like that is to not put so much brake dust all over the rims or hubcaps, which will cause them to degrade over time.

It's just not the right vehicle to bother with doing this, unless you frequently pass out while driving and suddenly wake up to be within milliseconds of crashing so every moment counts. Otherwise drive the vehicle appropriate for what it is and you don't need those upgrades at all.
 
While there is certainly nothing at all "wrong" with those brakes, they really aren't necessary for the street. And the money could most likely be spent on better, more suitable upgrades for your vehicle. But in the end, as the old saying goes, it's your money, and you should spend it as you see fit.

With that said, if you drive on the street to the degree where you actually require brakes of that magnitude, you'll most likely be spending A LOT more on speeding tickets and insurance as well.
 
Im sure you have abs but if the stock brakes can lock up the tires then it doesnt matter how much more powerful aftermarket brakes are because you are at the mercy of the frictional coefficient of the tires and road surface.
 
Thanks for the inputs, I'm wondering if static calipers are better than sliding ones though...

and also what about the piston count, does that really matter?
 
Yes & No. ^^^
In the most extreme conditions such as racetrack use.YES.
For everyday use, NO

I agree with others. Not for that particular car(FIT) unless you track your car. There are some brake pad upgrades that could help your FIT stop shorter for a ton le$$ money that the Wilwood Calipers. But only do this when you happen to be ready for new pads. Don't waste your money doing this early. Get your monies worth.

I mean, you may be able alter/tweak your stopping distance with something as easy as a friction change such as going from OE Ceramic to Semi-Mets. Or changing your pads Coefficient of Friction(CoF) by going from the factory CoF of "FF" to a "GG" next time you change your pads. Maybe even the drum brake shoes too. And as was mentioned, grippier tires(next time you need to replace tires). Don't waste you money now by changing parts too early. Get your monies worth.

Also, flush/bleed your brake system with new brake fluid. You don't need to upgrade to a different DOT fluid. Just new clean fluid is all you need.
 
Thanks for the inputs, I'm wondering if static calipers are better than sliding ones though...
Better? ehh, maybe? There's no sliding pins to seize, so I suppose that if you were in a high corrosion area you could call that better. I do quite like my 4 piston Brembo's on my Acura. If I want to do a pad slap it takes about 5 min a side and I don't need to remove anything other than a pin.

Otherwise. It's 4 pistons, so 4x the chances of something leaking if you're not careful with your brake job and 2 bleeders to deal with when you're bleeding the brakes.

I stand by my 'if you're going to track it, you might want them, but otherwise, spend the money elsewhere'
 
In my amateur calculations....
Caliper: higher piston count does typically move the effective/calculation point of contact/pressure outward, just a bit (center point of piston is calculation point for torque, use piston, not the pad, same force different area)
area of piston(s) becomes force applied in calculations, may not change just because count goes up
(yes, single times 2 - piston and back of bore force gets to other side)
higher piston count may require less fluid movement (cubic mm of fluid)
Rotor: effective diameter directly proportional to force applied (as caliper is moved outward also)
Tire: quickly becomes limit, not brakes, except below
Will your antilock ever kick in on dry pavement? For non-repetitive, you have enough brakes.

Do the math - it's fun!

For actual repetitive braking (straight BRAKE, straight BRAKE, straight BRAKE, endless repeat) mass and venting become the key for heat dissipation, then again tires, and torque.

I bet with the range of cheap, OEM parts you can find some vented rotors, maybe a bit larger (that then probably require different calipers, maybe knuckles/mounts) if you need to spend, could cycle them in as needed by wear. I find systems keep OE parts/'calibrations' regardless of torque because it is sensed by wheel movement/lockup in the end.
If you need to mod, work on venting.
 
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I would not spend the money on a Wilwood kit.

I would, however, adapt an OEM fixed caliper to your car. Plenty fixed piston Brembo calipers and other brands all over salvage yards and they are an upgrade regardless of what people here tell you.

For example the Cayenne/Touareg/Q7 come with standard Brembo 17z (330mm) 18z (350mm) 19z (360mm) and 20z (380mm) calipers.

I don't think they'd even fit under a wheel you could bolt to the Fit, but they're out there. The 350/370Z also come with fixed multi piston calipers.
 
As someone who lives in NY, more calipers pistons means more caliper pistons to seize up from road salt.

On something as small as a fit that's just asking for trouble.
 
People installing those do it 99% for looks, but Wilwood? I think of 60's muscle cars when that brand comes to mind and would find it odd on a sport compact Asian car. Maybe look at Akebono or Brembo instead.
 
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