Brake caliper refurb

N

Newbers

Active member
 St Albans (one days march from London)
After recent issues with a seized caliperhttp://www.z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=98292&p=1440598&hilit=brakes#p1440598 which I think was actually due to the pads not sliding freely because of corrosion / dirt I thought I'd take the opportunity of not needing the car whilst on holiday to get all the calipers refurbed and painted.

I believe the only real problems were that the piston seals very deteriorated however the fact that the calipers were corroded and both looked a mess and were impeding the pads from moving freely all added up to justifying whipping them off and sending to BiggRed.

Rightly or wrongly I took an angle grinder to the front of the calipers to remove the casting marks and generally fettle. I was really pushed for time and forgot to take a before picture but I've removed the casting seam lines and polished as well as I can with a wire brush attachment. Hopefully they'll come back looking like 6 pot Brembos......
IMG_0830.JPG
IMG_0832.JPG
IMG_0833.JPG

If anyone is interested I have gone for BiggRed's longest lasting finish in their standard Gun Metal grey colour which with refurb & return shipping cost £266. I'll post a picture when I get them back.

I'll also be ordering new discs, pads and springs. I thought I'd give M-Tec a go (for discs at least)...
 
If you managed to get them off yourself you should have just refurbed them yourself? I bought the kit fro, big red for the 330's. Pretty straightforward :)
 
kis said:
If you managed to get them off yourself you should have just refurbed them yourself? I bought the kit fro, big red for the 330's. Pretty straightforward :)
Click to expand...

That was my first inclination but I am so pushed for time at the moment the opportunity to get them done whilst on holiday seemed sufficiently attractive. I reckoned that by the time i'd bought the seals & sliders & paint i was probably over £60 so considering that they will be finished to a much higher standard than I could achieve and with better paint and a lot less mucking about it was justifiable.

I've also ordered MTec discs & Textar Epads (I've been using these for a while and like that my wheels stay cleaner). Hopefully will be back on the road by Wednesday night...
 
would be interested in your opinion of the refurb with pic when you get them back, considering doing the same to mine but need to find a week or two when I dont need the car!
 
Newbers said:
kis said:
If you managed to get them off yourself you should have just refurbed them yourself? I bought the kit fro, big red for the 330's. Pretty straightforward :)
Click to expand...

That was my first inclination but I am so pushed for time at the moment the opportunity to get them done whilst on holiday seemed sufficiently attractive. I reckoned that by the time i'd bought the seals & sliders & paint i was probably over £60 so considering that they will be finished to a much higher standard than I could achieve and with better paint and a lot less mucking about it was justifiable.

I've also ordered MTec discs & Textar Epads (I've been using these for a while and like that my wheels stay cleaner). Hopefully will be back on the road by Wednesday night...
Click to expand...

Fair enough! I have time on my side as I'll be replacing my stock ones with 330's. So it's a "second set". If I ever need to do the rears then I'll grab a set of eBay, gives me the time.

Also unless they're really bad I'd wait till the pads are nearing end of life. That way I can replace everything in one go. May seem silly I guess but decent pads do cost money and I like to be as economical as possible :wink:
 
Got the calipers back from BiggRed today. I was hoping to get them on tonight but spent most of it on the M25 instead and then didn't fancy going out in the rain. Anyway I unwrapped one and it looks pretty nice (for a brake caliper). I think my work with the angle grinder came out quite well:

IMG_1070.JPGIMG_1071.JPGIMG_1072.JPG

I resisted going for anything too flamboyant colour wise (I feel that would be inappropriate for bog standard brakes).
 
I didn't bother buying new springs as I figured they'd just corrode again in a year or so but I did just give the old ones a spruce up (now hardening in the airing cupboard....)IMG_1075[1].JPG
 
Cracking job! Very tempted to have mine done. If you don't mind me asking what was the ball park figure to have the complete set refurbished?
 
s.m.456 said:
Cracking job! Very tempted to have mine done. If you don't mind me asking what was the ball park figure to have the complete set refurbished?
Click to expand...

I think it's on the first post, £266 all in from what I can see
 
A5 VRX said:
s.m.456 said:
Cracking job! Very tempted to have mine done. If you don't mind me asking what was the ball park figure to have the complete set refurbished?
Click to expand...

I think it's on the first post, £266 all in from what I can see
Click to expand...

When i contacted them recently for prices they gave me the below prices depending on finish per pair of calipers;

Standard, grey or gold paint (A basic paint finish normally chosen by the trade when cosmetics are academic) £89.00 2/3 day turnaround
Electroplate, silver or gold (Industry standard plating, as used by most manufacturers) £109.00 12/14 day turnaround
Premium, Red, Blue, Black, Green, Bright Green, BRG, Purple, Silver, Gold, Bronze and Pink (Anti-corrosive undercoat, followed by 2 top coats oven cured. Providing a premium durable gloss finish) £139.00 7/9 day turnaround

Return carriage 2 calipers £9.90
Return carriage 4 calipers £16.00

If 4 calipers are sent you get 10% off. Think the OP went for premuim with gray finish so (£139.00 x 2 -10% + £16.00) which is about £266
 
Big red don't mazzer ones
Great job every single time.

Looking good buddy
 
[/quote]

When i contacted them recently for prices they gave me the below prices depending on finish per pair of calipers;

Standard, grey or gold paint (A basic paint finish normally chosen by the trade when cosmetics are academic) £89.00 2/3 day turnaround
Electroplate, silver or gold (Industry standard plating, as used by most manufacturers) £109.00 12/14 day turnaround
Premium, Red, Blue, Black, Green, Bright Green, BRG, Purple, Silver, Gold, Bronze and Pink (Anti-corrosive undercoat, followed by 2 top coats oven cured. Providing a premium durable gloss finish) £139.00 7/9 day turnaround

Return carriage 2 calipers £9.90
Return carriage 4 calipers £16.00

If 4 calipers are sent you get 10% off. Think the OP went for premuim with gray finish so (£139.00 x 2 -10% + £16.00) which is about £266
[/quote]

Exactly this!

Rear:
IMG_1088[1].JPG

Front:
IMG_1090.JPG
Just got to bleed them now (wish me luck....)
 
:cry: B___ocks! It never occurred to me they are handed - what a plum!

Unfortunately they are not going to get switched over until I've decorated the hall, dug a soakaway and sorted out my drive......

In the meantime here's a pic with a dirty wheel fitted. Tidy if not eye-catching.
IMG_1092[1].JPG
 
Newbers said:
:cry: B___ocks! It never occurred to me they are handed - what a plum!

Unfortunately they are not going to get switched over until I've decorated the hall, dug a soakaway and sorted out my drive......

In the meantime here's a pic with a dirty wheel fitted. Tidy if not eye-catching.
IMG_1092[1].JPG
Click to expand...

Lol re the handing..

Just a point, on the pic, it looks like the pad is only sweeping around half the disc. Looks like you've done a few miles as the coating has gone from the outer part. I'd be checking that out.

Mike
 
It's done about 2 miles (went out without my wallet and zero petrol). I was going to check again (inside and outside) when I'd had a chance to do a few more miles.

I'm reckoning that with all new discs and pads, paint on the carriers where they bolt to the hub and possibly inconsistent coating thickness on the discs it was never all going to wear off completely evenly.

What I was more mindful of was that the rears still have quite a bit more coating still intact than the fronts. I had been wondering about the bias as the rear discs have always worn slower and it did wriggle about a bit under heavy (ABS) braking. They used to say you should reverse fast and slam brakes on every now and then to move the bias compensator. Not sure if the Z4 as a 2 seater has one though?
 
The other thing to try would be to heavily laden the boot with something. On a recent trip to Cornwall with the boot as full as the misses could get it i noticed that the rear discs were getting hotter than the fronts with some spirited driving.
Got a little concerend so looked it up and BMWs, starting i think with e46, have an electronic brake proportioning valve meaning that it can adjust front and rear bias according to various circumstances.
IIRC whichever axle slows faster the valve increases the bias towards the other axle. So if your fully laden over the rear axle more braking can be done with the rears

Following link mentions the brake bias under EBV http://www.unixnerd.demon.co.uk/e46mechanics.html
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom