Caliper rebuilds

F

ferry

Member
Has anyone done a rebuild on a caliper lately?

The ones on my car are pretty crusty and having stripped the fronts off now I've swapped them for the larger 325mm set-up I don't just want to scrap them as they obviously have some value.

Rebuild kits are about a tenner, just wondering how trickier task it is as it doesn't look too bad watching YouTube vids.

Given how crusty the fronts are, I'm tempted to pull the rears and strip them, too. Refurbed calipers would be significantly more expensive than the rebuild.
 
ferry said:
Has anyone done a rebuild on a caliper lately?

The ones on my car are pretty crusty and having stripped the fronts off now I've swapped them for the larger 325mm set-up I don't just want to scrap them as they obviously have some value.

Rebuild kits are about a tenner, just wondering how trickier task it is as it doesn't look too bad watching YouTube vids.

Given how crusty the fronts are, I'm tempted to pull the rears and strip them, too. Refurbed calipers would be significantly more expensive than the rebuild.
Click to expand...

It is actually a easy task for a novice, the only tricky bit is getting out / pushing out the piston. Even with the bleed valve and the break line removed it wont just pop out freely.
There are loads of ways around this and no 1 specific specialist tool's are required. I used a small cheap G clamp. Plenty of tutorials on YouTube.
Just make sure you clean everything when it goes back together
:thumbsup:

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I got pistons out fine, had an old brake line which I hooked up to a foot pump (with some ingenuity) and pumped to around 2 bar. Comes out, keep the brake pad or a small bit of wood in place to keep it from hitting the calliper. Alternatively you could keep pressure on till it's out half way, then release pressure and work loose by hand.

Harder for me was removing the rubber boot. Had fused itself to the calliper. Ended up getting a small flat head in there and prising up all the way round. Used a small size, then medium, then large. That got it up enough to get some pliers on it to rip it off.
 
Removal of pistons usually works as as KIS says with a foot pump, or try a plug in compressor with a pointy attachment pushed in to the cut-off old brake hose (which is always worth replacing with a refurb anyway). The old-skool messy way is to drop the caliper off but with the hose and fluid in place, dangle it over a bucket, remove fluid filler cap and pump the pedal GENTLY.

Whichever method you use, to reduce fluid run-off and trapped air afterwards leave the pedal depressed and propped in place, stick some clingfilm over the filler reservoir and replace cap until it's time to re-fill and bleed :thumbsup:
 
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