Good question, safety, reliability, and less maintenance just to name a few. Drum brakes can not meet today’s driving conditions. If you need to stop on a dime, drums are not going to cut it. Disc brakes are the best alternative.

The biggest differences are the rotors. The rotors are made of three parts; hub, the bolt pattern and the rotor. All these parts are made in the USA with high end CNC machines. These rotors allow you to use year specific bearing seals and dust caps. The BAD Series rotors have a lifetime warranty as well. If you wear one out, we will send you a new one free, just pay shipping & handling. These hubs allow the interchanging of bolt patterns. What does this mean? If you order them with a Chevrolet 5x4.75 bolt pattern and a few months later you want to install Porsche wheels, you can! All it takes is removing the bolt patterns from the rotors and installing the new ones. Each pattern is sold separately and is available here! The last difference is the ability to add a performance caliper to your car. When choosing a Wilwood Caliper, we designed a hub that will work with these calipers. Now you have the ability to upgrade!

Warranty, weight, options, made in the USA and the ability to use any spindle, dropped or stock height. A lifetime warranty on our rotors as well. Some of our competitor’s disc brake kits can be in excess of 76lbs per axle. Our heaviest kit weighs in at 48lbs. Our rotors, Wilwood calipers, brackets, etc. are made in the USA. No one else can say that. If you already have a drop spindle, whether it is a drop drum or drop disc spindle, we can put together a kit for you. We are the only company who offers a disc brake kit for any spindle.

The answer is YES! If you have stock spindles, our stock height kit will work. If you have drop drum spindles, our kit will work for you. If you have disc spindles, your options in calipers are limited to Ghia style only. Other than that, we are golden!

A lug pattern, also known as PCD, is the pattern of studs that a drum or rotor is available in. Early VW's, 49-67, from factory have what is called wide 5 or 5x205mm. Late VW's, 68-79, come with 4x130mm. To measure your bolt pattern, set the first stud at 12:00. Going left to right, measure from the outside edge of the 12:00 stud, skipping the next stud to the middle of the third stud. If you are trying to find out MM, you will need a MM gauge. If you are trying to figure out in Inches, a tape measure will do. We offer these 5x100mm, 5x130mm, 5x4.50, 5x4.75, 5x5.00 and 5x205mm lug patterns in stock. All studs are 14mm x 1.5 threads besides the 5x100mm are 12mm x1.5 thread. We can also custom build them in any pattern as long as it is a 5 lug for a fee.

Here is a gauge that I go by. If you have a stock motor up to 1914cc, the standard caliper will work perfect. If you like the looks of them, great, but its over kill. If you have a small 2.0 liter engine, the Wilwood calipers wouldn't hurt, still not needed but you now have the ability to get performance pads if you so desire. If you have a 2300cc, turbo or injected motor and you plan on burning up the hides, the 4 piston calipers are a no brainer. These will stop you! The standard calipers, along with the 2 piston will do okay, but the fours will allow you to test how good you mounted those seat belts!

and what are the differences in the options you offer? We recommend changing out the master cylinder in all applications. Some people say run a dual circuit master from a 69 and later. Sure, those worked in the 90's and the turn of the century, but now there is a dual circuit DISC master cylinder. This has all the brake biased solved for you. Whether you run disc up front, drum in the rear or 4 wheels disc, you can not go wrong with the new master cylinder. There are three options available. The first one is for just the master cylinder by itself. You will need to get a plug or another brake light sender along with a tee for this system to work with your stock reservoir. The next option comes with the master cylinder, 2 brake light senders and a dual reservoir bottle designed to be a remote fill location. The last version is a disc master cylinder with a dual reservoir bottle that sits right on top of the master.

All small 5 lug pattern do NOT add track width. If you decide to run the Wilwood calipers, it WILL add 2.5MM of track width on each side. Also, any drop spindle application will add 3/8" to each side.

If funds allow, have a trained technician install them. Better to have them make sure everything is right and you will not be second guessing yourself. If you are educated and have the correct tools, a back yard mechanic can install them but we do recommend you have a professional take a look after you are done.

Ver. T1F - 1.05 on 8/09 Updated rotors to be Black Oxide coated for rust prevention, heat treated
Ver. T1F -1.04 on1/09 Debuted our slotted rotor design
Ver. T1F -1.03 on 11/08 Introduced the Wilwood 1 piston caliper to BAD Series Brakes
Ver. T1F -1.02 on 8/08 Updated rotors by radiusing the outer diameter for a better finish
Ver. T1F -1.01 on 6/07 Debuted Wilwood 2 and 4 piston calipers to our BAD Series Brakes
Ver. T1F -1.00 on 11/05 Debuted the BAD Series Brakes