Wilwood brake upgrade unbalanced?
 

So I've had my wilwood brakes for a couple months now and I feel comfortable with them but lately I've noticed when I really stomp on them the passenger front always locks up before the drivers side even when I have a passenger. So is there anything I can do about this? I have the front to rear prop valve but side to side? Also, when I installed them I thoroughly bled all four corners so they should be good but I'm just not sure why that one side seems to be grabbing harder than the drivers side. Any ideas?

Only other thing I can think of is actual tire contact patch if the alignment is off or camber is greater on that side? opinions?

It might just be that it is a lot easier to lock the right front now that you have a nice flat spot on your tire.

Could also be a corner weight issue I guess.

Bob

IIRC, stock Miata brake systems tend to lock the front right tire first as well.

--Ian

I would imagine it has something to do with weight distribution. More weight over the driver's side than the passenger side

I used to have this problem with my stock brakes on my old suspension. Since I put in the new suspension and corner-weighted the car, the problem is gone.

My front right is always the first to lock up as well. Stock sport brakes here.

If you have coilovers, try "lowering" the right front or left rear by half a turn at a time, or "raising" the left front or right rear.

Looks like its time to 4 corner scale the car and even her out and re-bleed just to be safe.

Pre-load on the front sway maybe. Disconnect and endlink and see if the problem is better.

I'm just thinking out loud here, but could it be as simple as the driver's weight being on the driver's side? I have never had occasion to lock up a tire with a passenger, but their weight might balance things out. I should also specify that the corner-weighting that solved the problem on my car was ballasted to my weight.

Which can be fixed by adjusting the coilovers as I described above.

Which can be fixed by adjusting the coilovers as I described above.

Sounds like there is too much front bias too. Very common with Miatas.

No doubt about this....I have stock 1.6 rears. I'll be upgrading to sport rears soon.

True, but for a quick and dirty diagnosis removing one end of and endlink is easier to do and reverse.

In the end an adjustable endlink might be necessary.

How about some datalogs…from an iPod/iPhone, Blackberry, or racing logger? Then you can see where you are now, how much the sport rears help (they are +30% stronger than 1.8 brakes which are in turn stronger than 1.6 rears). Plus you can get the balance maxed and confirm stability via trail braking tests / G-G.

Prop valves only cut braking…if you go adjustable and cut less…you are still stuck with the inherent limitations of the basic F/R balance. It's not unusual to be able to set the prop valve to full rear (little or no reduction) and still front-lock…this is where actual braking hardware clearly needs changing out if you want optimized braking and handling.

Yup…you can test in a zero bar preload state by just pulling one bolt from one link at each axle.

No because adjusting a coilover perch does the same thing.

Except adjusting the end link has no effect on ride height.