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Steeda/Wilwood brake testing
- Thread starter SteedaTech
- Start date
- Watchers 5
OP
OP
- Joined
- Aug 8, 2016
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- Location
- Pompano Beach, FL
- Vehicle(s)
- 2016 Mustang Q750
- Thread starter
- #17
Great information from the Wilwood tech team!
Since Wilwood started in 1977, we have run internal bore seal calipers on dirt tracks, off-road trucks at Baja, and the most extreme environments that exist. Seal location is not the problem. In more cases, external seals can be more troublesome. Everyone that races knows about the melting and even fires that have occurred when the boots get exposed to extreme heat. On top of that, anything that gets past a damaged external seal usually stays in there. Piston and bore corrosion then become the issue.
Most OE calipers that have an external bore seal also use what is referred to as a "seal-on-piston" design. This puts the pressure / fluid seal at the bottom of the piston. It eliminates having lubrication between the piston wall and caliper bore between the pressure seal and external dust boot. The seals in our calipers are in the bore, just inside the caliper body. They serve two purposes. They hold pressure and fluid back, and also do the same job of keeping external debris from migrating between the piston and caliper bore. It also maintains a boundary layer of fluid between the piston and caliper bore to keep it lubricated. The main reason that OE calipers have external dust boots is so that service mechanics can replace pads without cleaning the exposed portion of the piston first. It also meets the European TUV specifications and the vehicle laws in Australia. Regardless, of street or track, a properly designed internal bore seal caliper will be less troublesome over the long run.