getZ Posted February 4, 2008 Share Posted February 4, 2008 I guess I got lucky having talked to couple of guys who had installed theirs already and warned me of the problem, although I'm pretty sure Dave warned me about it a year before I finally got around to installing them. Part of the clearance depends on how much you have the car lowered. I grinded off the lip (bottom three mm of the arm at and angle) and have had no issues. I double checked it by raising one front wheel up to where it was just past parallel with the ground to see if it had a chance to bind and it looked fine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nope Posted February 5, 2008 Author Share Posted February 5, 2008 hey guys, thanks for posting about your experience with these brakes. it may not have been what i wanted to hear, but at least i know what's up now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HB280ZT Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 Nope, Like Mikelly said I do track events and autocross when I get the chance and have had no problems at all with the LCA's. So you should be good to go with your LCA looking like mine. Hope this helps. Also a few pictures of the car at VIR with this setup. Running throught turn 3 between 60 and 70 I think! Coming out of Oaktree on the throttle 30+. HB280ZT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nope Posted February 5, 2008 Author Share Posted February 5, 2008 I'm primarily concerned with turns like turn2 at Streets of Willow. (~100mph into a hard decreasing radius with an eatshit drop if you go wide) Eh, but it'll be a while before I take this car to the track. By then I should have some good evidence of what's going on with my own LCAs. Thanks for the info HB280ZT. Nice pics too. Man, that's gotta be so fun.. actually driving your Z. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HB280ZT Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 I wish I had a picture of Hog Pen at VIR it is something like you are talking about at Willow. It is a hard right hand turn that is at the bottom of a basically drop and that is very high speed. If any one (Mikelly and the gang from NC) can explain Hog Pen go for it because it is a crazy hang on and turn right type of turn that I still have problems with, but it is a blast!! As for driving the Z I really wish I could get more seat time. But it has been almost 1 year since I was at the track and it is killing me. But with now coming 2 moves and car tuning issues it looks like a few more mounts before I can get to the track again. Enjoy and you should not have any problems with this just do it and run the daylights out of it! HB280ZT Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 Yea, Harry's right. The stress put on his car during a track weekend at VIR Full course is enough to show any flaws. Far as I'm concerned if the "fall" down thru rollercoaster and into hogpen doesn't snap something, you're good to go! Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsommer Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 I've seen several sets of LCA that have the ends ground off and look very similar to the billet LCAs as shown above. It really doesn't affect them by cutting off the end, as they are attached with the 4 bolts, so you'd have to have loose bolts to ever really have an issue and you'd most like hear or feel that. I'd grind them way back, if I had that issue, but that's just me. That's what Dave told me to do, just remove the ends completely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel Posted July 5, 2013 Share Posted July 5, 2013 I just fell into this trap, and I'm now burning in hell as a consequence. Two events missed and two weeks lost so far trying to get it sorted out. I read through the Typical Install page a number of times, but by the time I actually got to the install, this particular issue didn't stick in my memory for some reason. Probably because one single sentence stating that the end of the control arm "MAY" need to be trimmed down and a tiny picture of what appears to be an unmodified control arm is hardly adequate to draw attention to what is a HUGE interference issue that will seriously damage the rotors if you so much as try to move the car, never mind drive it! All I did was back the car up ten feet out of the garage. It started out ok, but as the suspension settled the car was getting harder to move and I started to hear a grinding sound. I initially thought it was the parking brake hanging up on my rear disk conversion that I had just designed and installed. But after investigating that thoroughly, I finally realized that it must be the front brakes. Sure enough, with the car on the ground, I now noticed that the front control arms were jammed into the rotors, and there was a groove worn into the rotors. I then found this thread and others like it and discovered the lengths to which people have had to go to ensure adequate rotor clearance. We're not talking about skimming a bit of material off the control arm as a precaution, but rather lopping off everything beyond the ball joint in some cases. If I'd seen pictures of how much work people have actually had to do, I would have remembered that. I was meticulous about every other part of the installation. I've since had to cut away almost all of the ends of the control arms to be absolutely sure nothing will interfere. I've also had the inner face of both rotors turned to remove the grooves by a friend in the machine shop at work. Both needed about 0.010" cut from the inner face. Unfortunately, to add insult to injury, the rotors apparently didn't go on the lathe right, because the inner face of one rotor ended up with 0.005" runout, and the other had 0.003". So, today I had them cut again on an actual brake lathe. Hopefully that finally does it. But I don't know if I've exceeded the limit of how much can be removed. Wilwood says zero, but that seems extreme, and I'm not buying another set of brand new rotors. I accept responsibility for overlooking a particular step in the process shown on the Install page. But a much, much better job could be done to bring this to peoples attention in the first place. Some large, clear pictures showing the extremes to which you may have to go to get adequate clearance, and some highlighted text are a must. Heck, I'd say including a warning sheet in the box of parts wouldn't be excessive. The consequences of missing this step are severe and it's well outside of the scope of a typical brake job. This whole experience has been infuriating. Nigel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oaklandjester Posted July 15, 2013 Share Posted July 15, 2013 I cut off the ends and have run the car in a 24 hour race no issues. I tried progressive grinding but didn't like the minimal clearance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RebekahsZ Posted July 16, 2013 Share Posted July 16, 2013 Can either of you fellas post a pic that shows how much you cut off? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel Posted July 16, 2013 Share Posted July 16, 2013 Can either of you fellas post a pic that shows how much you cut off? I pretty much did what HB280ZT shows on page one of this thread. Nigel Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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