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Back to the baby scale, a complete Wilwood/UUC Spec 37 GT SV 14-in rotor weighs 20.2 lb. By contrast, our stock, well-worn 12.8-in M3 rotor weighed in at 16-lb. No need to worry, though. This gain is offset by a greater weight loss with the Wilwood calipers featured below.
Here’s an inside look at Wilwood’s newest 6-piston caliper design, the Forged Narrow Superlite 6 Radial Mount caliper. All pistons are stainless steel to maintain a low heat transfer. The trailing piston measures 1.62-in while the smaller leading pistons measure 1.12-in in diameter.Wilwood’s Superlite series calipers are CNC-machined from high-strength forged aluminum, offering extreme durability and light weight. The design is a product of computer-generated solid modeling and FEA stress analysis technology.
Full-length stiffening ribs and a reinforced radial transition from the piston bore housings to the closed end bridges have produced the strongest Superlite caliper bodies built by Wilwood to date. According to Wilwood, when compared to open-bridge calipers that use tube or stand spacers between the body halves, the closed-end bridge design is measurably stronger with less deflection under load. While additional strength and resistance to deflection comes from the standard four high-strength steel end bridge bolts, an optional fifth center bridge bolt provides even more overall strength, along with easier pad access.
Each Superlite caliper is also equipped with SRS bridge plates, which are designed to eliminate bridge wear caused by pad gouging, thus extending the life of the caliper. The spring-loaded action of the SRS plates also eliminates pad rattle and dampens the harmonic vibrations that contribute to pad squeal. We still coated the back of our pads with anti-seize grease to further prevent any pad squeal.
Other features of the Superlite caliper include the use of two-piece bleed screws, as well as recess-mounted, dampened fluid tubes to shield the bleed screws from road debris. Other notable features are high-temp square-faced bore seals providing a large sealing area, and a controlled piston retraction upon release.
Together with the UUC-supplied bracket, a Wilwood Superlite 6-piston caliper weighs just 6.9 lb. By itself, however, each front caliper only weighs 4.7 lb. Compare that to a stock front unit, which comes in at a hefty 12.0 lb!Even though we went with a significantly larger brake setup, when comparing to a stock front corner—including the rotor, caliper, pads and brake line—we achieved a 1 lb weight loss with the new UUC/Wilwood setup, which registered 29 lb.
Since the UUC brackets were originally designed for a 345mm Wilwood rotor, we sandwiched a couple of supplied shims between the bracket and the caliper to fit our 355mm rotor. Notice the recessed bleed screw, which stays protected against otherwise-potentially hazardous road debris.
