My project for the Easter Bank Holiday - Caliper rebuilding

[GreatOldOne]

And boy, do they need it!

I started on one last night, and they're so caked in cack and rust it beggers belief! They're sound under all of that though, so I've ordered the rebuild kits from the local Beemer garage (ouch - expensive, but still cheaper than buying 4 refurbed calipers), and some essential supplies from Frosts (brake cleaner, some new wire brushes and some aluminum caliper paint)

Now all I need is an endless supply of tea and hot-cross buns and I'll be set!

[JG]

It's worth it in the end though knowing that you've gone from a caked up lump of iron to a gleaming, almost new item and that your blood and sweat has gone into it.

This thread will definately need before and after pictures though

John

[Patrick]

I've still not decided what do do with my calipers - How much did the refurb kits cost you?

Please take lots of piccy

[GreatOldOne]

Quite a bit in the end... I bought:

Front Calipers:
Bleed Nipples and Dust Caps (Parts 4 & 5)
Guide Sleeve Repair Kit (Part 10)
Caliper Repair Set (Part 9)

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...42&hg=34&fg=05

Rear Calipers:
Bleed Nipples and Dust Caps (Parts 5 & 6)
Guide Sleave Repair Kit (Part 21)
Caliper Repair Set (Part 20)

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...96&hg=34&fg=10

Of course, there's two lots of each to repair all the calipers, and that lot came to just over £115 with Mr Brown's cut - so about £28 a corner... Seems steep, but thats vs £44 each for refurb calipers from GSF.

Besides, where's the fun in having someone else do it?

[GreatOldOne]

Did a bit of prep work on the calipers tonight. Broke them down ready for cleaning at the weekend:

They're pretty cruddy, like I said earlier



I made up a handy tool for popping out the pots from the calipers - it's a bit of air line with a couple of fittings that I had in my spares box



The air line is screwed into the brake pipe port on the caliper, and the caliper is put inside a container so that when the pot comes out, it doesn't shoot across the room!



A short burst of compressed air, et voila! one pot removed with the minimum of fuss.



After removing the pot, I removed the old seals and the rusty old bleed nipples.

So now I have four piles of cruddy parts that should, after the weekend, be gleaming refurbed calipers. The pots don't seem to be in bad nick - the cylinders & pots are rust free, so they shouldn't go tearing the new seals once they're in.



All I have to do is clean the buggers!

[Patrick]

Looking good so far, i like you tool-i-ma-jig for getting the pot out

[GreatOldOne]

Ever wondered what over a ton's worth of genuine BMW brake rebuild part looks like?

Well now that I've picked them up, I can show you:



Hmmm - not a lot to show for the outlay, eh? Ah well - at least I got a nice BMW bag for my trouble...

[GreatOldOne]

After a lot of grinding away with the wire brushes and liberal use of brake cleaner, the parts came up pretty good:



whist I had the angle grinder and drill out, I also cleaned up the rear hubs:



After what seemed like hours of masking up and stopping holes that didn't need paint, the brake parts got a couple of coats of aluminium calliper paint.



I also painted the tops of the pots, and the backs and insides of the hubs. Once it's all dried tomorow, I'll start assembling

[Patrick]

Looking good

[GreatOldOne]

Finished off the calipers today. If you plan on doing this yourself, here's a few tips:

1: Be very careful when you lube up the pots and the cylinders with brake fluid - The paint can may say it's resistant to the damn stuff, but they're lies, I tell you!

2: On the front brakes, slide the dust shield onto the pot, down to the bottom. then fit the rubber into the body of the caliper. Then slide the pot in, and push it all the way home until the dust shield engages with the groove on the pot.

3: The guide pins on the front brakes need lubing with the grease provided in the kit. It's so gloopy that if you put too much in the bore, it acts like an air tight seal and the pin won't go all the way in.

Any way, here's some pics showing the fruits of my labours:



All in all, I'm pretty chuffed how they turned out.

[Patrick]

They look better than new