Wilwood Superlite 6R Front Big Brake Kit with 13-Inch Drilled and Slotted Rotors; Red Calipers (05-14 Mustang)

Video Review & Installation

Hey, guys, Stephanie with americanmuscle.com here with the Wilwood Superlite front brake kit for 2005 to 2014 Mustangs.The Wilwood Superlite front brake kit is a good kit for those guys out there that are looking for a big brake upgrade kit that'll bump them up to a six-piston caliper and two-piece rotors, but without having to spend a ton of money. Big brake kits are an excellent upgrade, even if your car mostly sees street time. But they do tend to be very costly, as in at least $1,000, sometimes closer to $5,000, depending on what you're looking for. With this kit, Wilwood's offering a definite upgrade and a lighter setup at one of the most affordable prices.There are a ton of things to consider when you're shopping for a brake upgrade kit. You need to determine the level of performance that you want out of the brakes, what you'll be doing with your car, track, drag strip, or just a street car, your wheel setup, you wanna make sure that the brakes will fit, and some smaller things like dust levels. And, of course, your budget is going to play a big role in this.As far as brake kits go, bigger does tend to be better. Braking performance depends on surface area, and by this, I mean how much surface area the brake pads have to bite into. Larger discs and larger pads have more surface area and, therefore, will allow for shorter, faster stops, simply because of the bite the brakes will have. On top of that, increased surface area means better heat dispersal. And with brakes, you want as little heat as possible if you want highly effective stopping power.This is a bolt-on front brake kit that's going to come complete with all of the items that you'll need for the upgrade, and that's too many things to list here. The kit offers these big boy six-piston calipers, some high-performance BP-10 smart brake pads, which will bite hard, but won't leave a large amount of dust on your wheels, and two-piece rotors. Now, the rotors are just over 13 inches, and they're drilled and slotted, which will help to dissipate heat quickly. They're also black electrocoated. So let's break that down some, if you will.Six-piston calipers are going to be an upgrade over the factory four-piston calipers. And that's going to be another two pistons for each side, pushing that pad and creating a greater, wider clamping force. The upgrade in pistons does mean a tip in brake bias, though. So that's just something to keep in mind. And these front calipers are going to require a greater amount of fluid as well.Moving on to the brake pads, the pads are an important piece of the puzzle here. They're a component that's going to be directly in contact with the friction surface. So you wanna make sure that you're getting the right brake pads for your application and your rotors. The BP-10 pads are a medium-friction pad. They're made from a high-performance street use compound, which means improved friction, longer wear, and lower dust levels than a standard replacement pad. They're made to provide a fast response without high-rotor abrasion, and they're manufactured for smooth engagement. The abrasion level is important, because you want to make sure the pads aren't going to chew up your rotors. These pads are okay for street use, which is a factor that you will need to consider if your car sees street time. You don't wanna be running a track-only pad on the street. That just gets dangerous.Looking at the rotors, they're iron rotors to work with the pads that we just talked about, and they're slotted and drilled two-piece rotors. The slotted portion of the rotor is the grooves that are cut along the face here where the pad makes contact. When there's repeated heavy braking, a layer of gas and dust forms from the material transfer that's caused by the friction, and the slots give a place for the gases to escape to. This means more contact surface area for the brake pad, which we all know is a good thing. So by creating more contact surface area, the slots work to fight against brake fade.As far as the cross-drilling, the thought behind drilling rotors is that it offers a way to cool the rotor. Much like slotting a rotor, the drilling gives the gases a place to escape to. Well, with all of the advances and improvements in brake systems today, drilled rotors offer more of a cool appearance than anything else. They do help some with cooling, and they will reduce pad glaze with the help of the slotting, but I will say that a drilled rotor does tend to be more eye-catching. Either way, Wilwood's got you covered with both a slotted and cross-drilled rotor.There are a handful of benefits in moving to a two-piece rotor like these are. First of all, they're lighter than the original one-piece rotor. A lighter rotor means lower spinning weight. The two-piece also has better heat dissipation, and a two-piece design means the disc is going to be able to expand and contract freely without stressing the hat. This is a true sliding design and will help prevent the disc from warping. Another thing to consider is that when it comes time for replacements, you only need to replace the rotor ring instead of the entire piece.The last piece of the rotor is the electrocoating. The electrocoat is a form of painting that's actually pretty cool, but it results in a perfectly level coating even on uneven surfaces and especially on items that have a complex shape. And I know that a brake upgrade kit is for performance, but it's hard to deny that big brakes look killer behind a set of nice wheels. There's a custom appeal to them, a cool look. And, honestly, they aren't cheap, so they better look good. And you can see that the Wilwoods do that.As far as price, you're looking at spending about $1,600 for this kit. This is a complete kit that'll come with everything you need for the upgrade, which is too much to list here. They only thing you'll need to consider is upgrading brake lines since this kit will not work with the OE lines. Wilwood does offer a set of flexible front brake lines that'll work with these calipers, and you'll see them in the drop-down menu on the Product page.In the world of brake upgrade kits, though, this is one of the most affordable kits, especially since you're bumping up to a six-piston caliper and a two-piece rotor that's both drilled and slotted. You can find a larger rotor out there in other kits, but you are going to be spending a lot more money. Like I said before, it really all depends on what you're looking for and your budget.One other thing to consider when it comes to the price is that with a two-piece rotor, down the road, when it comes time to replace the rotors, you'll only need to replace the rotor rings and not the entire rotor. And as far as fitment, you will need a 17-inch wheel or larger to clear these brakes.So when it comes time for the install, it's not extremely time-consuming, but you're going to wanna have a little bit of knowledge in order to do this yourself. And that comes down to a safety thing. If you aren't sure, I'd side on letting a shop perform the install. But otherwise, you're looking at a two-hour project and a three out of three wrenches on the scale.To give a general overview of the install, you're first gonna wanna double-check that you won't have any clearance issues with your wheels. And Wilwood gives you directions on how to do this. Then you can move on to disassembling the OE front brakes, so your calipers and your rotors. And as far as assembling the new setup, you're looking at things like a new caliper mounting bracket assembly, the rotor and hat assembly, mounting the new calipers, and having the knowledge to adjust and shim things as needed with the calipers. You also need to make sure that the rotor and caliper are properly aligned by adding or subtracting shims. Then there's always the bleeding process, as well at the end of the install. And don't forget about the break-in period with the new brakes. You wanna make sure they're safe and have a long life.Overall, the Wilwood Superlite front brake kit will upgrade your front brakes to a six-piston caliper with two-piece rotors that are drilled and slotted. The stiffer calipers will give more of a consistent pedal feel and improve responsiveness, and the larger rotors increase heat capacity, so you can brake harder with less fade. All together, the kit gives superior braking performance with a custom look and appeal, so you can expect improvements like shorter stopping distances, less fade, and a more aggressive pedal feel.As always, I suggest you check this kit out more online. And for all things Mustang, keep it right here at americanmuscle.com.