Brake caliper refurb, worth it?

[Kamys]

AceCobra1, you should be able to take the caliper out without removing the brackets.

[AceCobra1]

Cool - will any dot 4 brake fluid from halfords be good? Or is there a specific one you guys recommend ?

Was thinking of getting Mobil Brake Fluid DOT 4 SC 1L since it is on offer - £11.20

[PeteH]

If you're not going racing then any DOT4 fluid is as good as any other.

[AceCobra1]

Is copper grease just the same as the brake grease they use ? and I assume that I should be using SILICON grease instead of copper grease for those rubber bits around the sliding pins ?

[AceCobra1]

I wouldnt advise using copper grease....

viewtopic.php?f=19&t=74981&hilit=copper ... 5#p1117674

[AceCobra1]

I wouldnt advise using copper grease....

viewtopic.php?f=19&t=74981&hilit=copper ... 5#p1117674

Can't see the post as I am an ex member - i assume lithium grease is an alternative? I tried to search "brake grease" in halfords and it isn't showing anything other than copper grease ?

[AceCobra1]

This is what I was advised to use...

https://www.eurocarparts.com/ecp/p/car- ... &0&cc5_150

Although if it is specifically the slider pins the ones I bought came with their own grease - which I suspect is lithium grease

Reasons for not using copper (paraphrased from that thread):
Modern brake pads run much hotter. Copper grease cooks into a cake that no longer lubricates.
It can interfere with abs sensor.

[AceCobra1]

This is what I was advised to use...

https://www.eurocarparts.com/ecp/p/car- ... &0&cc5_150

Although if it is specifically the slider pins the ones I bought came with their own grease - which I suspect is lithium grease

Reasons for not using copper (paraphrased from that thread):
Modern brake pads run much hotter. Copper grease cooks into a cake that no longer lubricates.
It can interfere with abs sensor.

Thanks Pete

[AceCobra1]

Ceratek for the sliding pins and the backs of the pads.

Copper grease for the bolt threads.


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[Liam22]

Don't put copper grease on bolt threads. You will under-tighten or over-torque them.

A light threadlock willl keep out corrosion and allow correct torque.

Personally I always fit bolts dry.

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[ChrisHolmes]

Bring back the split pin I say!

[Kamys]

Ok guys...be ready to laugh. I started to put the caliper back together and...there's a sliding pin with a bit of rubber on it...and one without, and I can't remember which goes where.

[13Black]

Shouldn't matter.

But rubber on the bottom one.

[SeriousSam]

What's more important is that the one with the sleeve still slides freely. The rubber often swells up, leading to the calipers sticking. But if you've just replaced the sleeve with one from your rebuild kit, you shouldn't have that issue for a while

[Kamys]

I've got a complete kit: Cylinder, sliding bolts + rubber + grease, rubber boot for the cylinder and rubber seals for the slider bolts. I'm waiting for a nipple to be delivered. I will soon post pictures of the end product plus the left side caliper which seems to have been replaced recently (looks very shiny and new). Thank you all for advice in this project.

[AceCobra1]

Ok guys...be ready to laugh. I started to put the caliper back together and...there's a sliding pin with a bit of rubber on it...and one without, and I can't remember which goes where.

Did you have any problems trying to remove all the bolts holding the caliper/ bracket into that metal sheet covering the brake discs ?

[PeteH]

That's going to have people confused!

There's the caliper body. That connects to the cast iron caliper bracket via two sliding bolts. The caliper bracket connects to the aluminium hub carrier with two large but short fixed bolts. Pressed onto the hub carrier is the sheet steel dust cover that surrounds the brake disc. There are no bolts or fixings of any kind on the dust cover.

Which bolts are you struggling with? I assume it's the two short bolts holding the caliper bracket to the hub carrier?

[PeteH]

Ps. It was me that changed the spelling. It's become a long and useful thread, and if anyone searches in future it will be easier to find with brake rather than break.

[goodeggbob]

chris will be very pleased.

[13Black]

Now then now then.

I can assure you that the carrier doesn't bolt into anything aluminium.

Maybe on the posh cars you work on but not these.

[Kamys]

Update on the brake work: The right Caliper now looks like this:






For some reason its not extremely slidy, but i don't know what normal is to be honest. If i push it all the way in it returns about 4-5 mm ...if i pull it, i have to pull it just a little to return, if i pull it all the way it doesn't come back. Have I done it wrong?

And the left side caliper, which i think will only need new guiding pins.The rest looks fairly ok, I didn't check the body of the piston yet.

[SeriousSam]

If you've got the spares already with your rebuild kit, you may as well use them, it's only a few minutes to swap the seal and dust boot. The piston looks OK, wouldn't hurt to show it a wire brush but I'd guess from the condition of the inside that the barrel will be fine.

As for your first caliper, looks good. A bit of resistance is fine, you don't want it to fall apart but you do want to be able to move it along its full travel without too much effort. Easiest way to check it is to lie the caliper on its back and then move the carrier up and down, that way you're not introducing any diagonal loads that could increase the friction. What you want ideally is for the slide pins to naturally spring back slightly on their own when you release any pressure, that means the caliper will let off the pressure on the pads when you take your foot off the brake - good thing

[Kamys]

Hello again, [sigh] finished all the work...and even managed to put a thousand miles on the new disks. Now...maybe I'm a bit paranoid, but i think there is a slight difference in wear, and I wonder if I've fitter the pads wrong, or the disks...

So this is what they look like:

Right Front:


Left Front:


Right Rear:


Left Rear:



As an update of how the restoration went on the rear...well...the calipers are rusted to the level where you can hardly see the original shape of the parts, so in the near future I'll change the whole thing...and brake lines.

[SeriousSam]

Fire me a PM when you're looking at sorting your rears, I may be able to help you out.

As for the condition of your discs, I think those look OK, but you might want to run your fingernail over them - if you can feel any grooves on the disc surface you'll want to get that sorted. The front discs look a bit better than the rears, but usually with OEM discs I see no score marks at all. How did you bed in the new pads?

[Kamys]

There are shallow groves, this is what was worrying me. As for the bedding of the pad, I used Ceratec to lube the brackets, but...the brackets were not exactly perfect / brand new...I had to straighten them a bit.