Brake Caliper Refurbishment

[SimonH]

Hi all,

Does anyone have any good places they can recommend that can do brake caliper refurbishment either on mine or on exchange?

I guess most Triumph type places could take care of the fronts but the rears are not usual for most cars. I would rather go somewhere that knows Elan ones.

I have seen that Chris Neils does both front and rear on exchange but they are not exactly cheap.

Cheers,
Simon

[mcclelland]

Hi Simon,

Try Classis Automotive, they are in Cheshire. Tel: 01625 860910. They will recondition your calipers or do an exchange service. They sell discs, pads etc. I have used them a few times over the years and found them to be of good service and helpful. I dont know if youll concider them cheaper or not. Hope this helps....

Regards George...

[nebogipfel]

Susan Miller - 01728 603307 (and no doubt others) can supply new pistons and seals from stock.

Reconditioning your own calipers is really not that difficult and would certainly be your cheapest option.

[SimonH]

Thanks, I'll give them a call.

Dont know if they will be for the fronts but I would hope they will be a bit less than ?140+theft each for the rears!

Cheers,
Simon

[ttaunton]

Has anyone successfully split their calipers and reassembled them and lived? There seems to be a taboo on this. The ring seal between the halves is apparently square section, but I have never seen them advertised by a UK supplier. The size will be critical to get the right amount of deformation and thus a reliable seal. Likewise the bolts, but these are presumably easily obtainable normal HT spec, and 3/8" dia so presumably about 50lb/ft. Has anyone who has split them ever seen any degradation of the seal? I would like to split mine so that I can more easily thoroughly clean 40 years of crap and rust out of them, clean up the bores and the seal grooves, and thoroughly de-grease them for painting. And then fit nice new plated bolts and stainless pistons. What do they do to refurbish calipers apart from splitting them and fitting new seals/pistons/bolts and cleaning and plating the bodies? Do they sleeve the bores and rebore them back to size?

[tower of strength]

Matt split his to refurb them, with no problems. I wouldn't recomend it though. Once I had got the rusty,siezed pistons out of my calipers, I had no problems cleaning them and re sealing them with new stainless pistons.

To get the pistons out, I used a grease gun as air pressure wouldnt budge them.

[mikealdren]

I agree, getting sized pistons out can be hard.
I put a small amount of water into the caliper and then sealed the caliper with a bolt with PTFE tape on the thread. Put a suitable block of wood between the pistons to stop them coming right out.
Put in a tray and cover with a cloth to stop brake fluid going everywhere and then cook in a moderate oven until the water boils and pushes the pistons out.
Mike

[Bruce Crowthorne]

Thoroughly reccomend Classicar Automotive 01625 860910.

Took my grotty S4 calipers - broken and siezed bleed nipple, dodgy handbrake actuator etc etc etc.
And give you back 4 works of art!
Nicely plated, everything replaced - pistons, springs, clips .....

If I knew how I would post a picture!

Not cheap at ?38 per front and ?125 per rear - but well worth the spend.

Rerards
Bruce

[Bruce Crowthorne]

OK I'll try attaching a couple of photos .....

[nebogipfel]

I split one of mine with no problem but reconditioned the other three without.

It's just a bit more of a fiddle to clean them properly.

A friend of mine routinely splits calipers to repair them - no problems so far.

[gerrym]

Re splitting calipers, please refer to my earlier post re sourcing square section seals between the two halves.
The other main issue is obtaining correct specification through bolts. These need to be high tensile (eg 12.9) or "T" rated. Grade 8.8 are not sufficient. You may need to settle for cap screws.
Of course with the calipers split, it is not possible to use pressure behind the piston to force out one that is seized. Instead drill and tap through the middle of the piston. Then screw in a bolt to jack out the piston. This is much safer and easily controlled.
Regards