Reply to "Upgrading brakes"

Ron,
First of all, I do believe most Pantera owners use a torque wrench to tighten their lug nuts. No, that doesn't mean that I think they carry one around in their trunks.

There is no technical advantage to mounting brake rotors on the inboard side of the hub. I'm not sure what De Tomaso was thinking in 1970 when they were designing the Pantera but I do know what they (and Brembo) were thinking when they designed the brakes for the 1990's version of the Pantera (the Si); with outboard mounted rotors. I guess Porsche, BMW, Mercedes, Ferrari, etc. are all thinking the same thing, or perhaps Brembo is doing their thinking for them!

Outboard mounted rotors don't move your tires closer to the fender if you purchase wheels with an appropriate offset, that takes into account the added thickness of the hat. Bearing loads are not increased for the same reason. If you don't believe me, ask Dennis Quella.

My original set of Wilwood hats were all un-true but that was about 15 years ago, so maybe they've cleaned-up their act. Furthermore, I'm not blaming Wilwood for anything. My hats were "off" so I trued them up in a metal lathe. End of story. I only mentioned this because Marino Perna told me (also 15 years ago) that he had found the same problem. The bottom line is: any brake hats should be checked for run-out BEFORE bolting rotors onto them, not just Wilwood hats.

I checked the run-out of my rotors with a dial indicator. I don't know of any other way to do it. I suppose you assumed I had the wheel mounted at the same time !!! Nope, just two lug nuts to snug the rotor to the hub.