Caliper Self-Rebuild vs Reman?

#1

Anyone had good luck with remanufactured calipers? Do they replace the guide bushing as well (Girling)? We are just about ready to order the parts and do it ourselves but since we need to do caliper seals as well as the guide bushings, a whole reman caliper might be cheaper. The guide bushings have noticeable slop so that can’t be helping brake wear/taper.

Also for those that have done their own guide bush rebuild, how does the guide bush outer sleeve from the caliper carrier come out? I’ve only worked with ATE parts in the past.

Thoughts on Rebuild vs Reman? Is one reman company better than the others?

#2

Here’s one data point, even if it only addresses a single aspect of this…I found that rebuilding calipers was harder then I thought it would be. I had a helova time getting the pistons back into the cylinders once I’d changed the orings. You have to get it exactly square and if you screw it up and force it, you’ll chew up the oring and have to buy another rebuild kit.

Also, it didn’t help that 101 Projects was flat-ass wrong about how to put the boots on. Here’s the right answer on that. http://www.Gress.org/Home/Cars/TrackTales/DIY/BrakeCaliperProject/ReplacingE30-E36BrakeCaliperBoots.htm

#3

FYI,
I’ve found that the tool you use for pushing the piston back when you’re changing brake pads also works well for putting the pistons back in when rebuilding. I’ve had more luck with the cheap screw version than with the fancy trigger version of the tool. FWIW…

#4

I’d be afraid of using the tool in case I had it crooked. How would you know?

I’ve found if you lube up the cylinder walls with brake fluid and have the piston lined up right, it’s pretty easy to push in with bare hands.

#5

ctbimmer wrote:

[quote]I’d be afraid of using the tool in case I had it crooked. How would you know?

I’ve found if you lube up the cylinder walls with brake fluid and have the piston lined up right, it’s pretty easy to push in with bare hands.[/quote]

You grow up milking cows?

I could no more pushed the cylinders in with my bare hands then fly to the moon. I spent hours trying to get them exactly square and then using a block of wood and gentle taps of a hammer. When I finally got all 4 done I put them on the car. onlyl to have one of them leak. I took the leaky one back apart to find that I’d damaged it’s Oring while fighting the piston in. So I had to get another rebuild kit and do it over.

For those that have never attempted to milk a cow, or shaken hands with a dairy farmer, they can crush iron with their hands.

#6

cheaper/easier to get them rebuilt from BMA.

#7

I’ve been working for race teams or rebuilding my own and friends track cars for 20 years… I rebuilt calipers about 3 times. I stopped trying after about 1996. I now go to the junkyard or beg for discounts on rebuilt calipers.

#8

I’ve unfortunately way too much experience rebuilding calipers and seal & piston are no issue but sometimes the remans are just so cheap it doesn’t make sense to do it yourself.

For those that have been on Girlings for a while, how long before the guide pin bushings start to develop slop? That’s our current situation and we are w eighing converting to ATE with brass bushings vs continuing to run rebuilt/reman Girlings.

Anybody with significant experience with both?

#9

I rebuilt the ATEs I got from Al a couple months back. I know I was easily able to get one of the cylinders back in, but I had to force the other one in. Now Ranger has me scared that I ruined the O-ring. I haven’t installed them yet, but I guess I will find out. I guess the question would be how cheap are remaned calipers? I thought they were around $100 each which to me makes rebuilding them a better solution.

#10

$50 from BMA + $35 core charge.

#11

Rebuilding my ATE Calipers was easy.

Unbolt them from the car, disconnect braided hose, compressed air line and a blower nozzle (small) down the hose connection hole, block of wood in front of the piston, and POP out comes the piston. Repeat process on other 3 calipers.

ATE or FTE rebuild kits, gently remove piston seal with tooth pick or similarly small wood (not metal) object. Clean bore with liberal amounts of brake cleaner and clean rags. Lightly lube new piston seal with new brake fluid, install. Install dust seal, then coat inside of dust seal and inserted end of piston with small amount of white petroleum jelly.

Insert air line into hose hole, apply light amount of air pressure to ‘bulge’ out the dust seal. Wiggle the piston (preferably new stainless items from BimmerWorld or similar) until it clears the dust seal, and then line it up gently with bore. Squeeze gently with large multi-grips or other tool as used to push back pistons during pad changes; preferably with a pad or block over the face of the piston. Repeat process on other 3 calipers.

Easy peasy, but getting the tip from a mate about using the air line to resintall the pistons was a god send!

#12

Ugh… why didn’t I think of that… Nice one mate… Thanks.

#13

Well,

When I was growing up working for my father, latter 60’ era. It was the norm to rebuild brake master cylinders, wheel cylinders, clutch master and slave cylinders, and of course as the technology progressed the “disc brake calipers”.

The air pressure method is the only way to remove the pistons with out damage. Once you master the technique, you’ll find it is easy and much less expensive to rebuild your own. You can also use silicone to lubricate new seals prior to assembly. If I recall, assembly lube is usually included in the rebuild kit.

I like your info djs325

Markus Karl M. BoschB)

#14

Advanced Auto sells Cardone Girling remans @ $39.99/front corner after Core, $49.99/rear corner after Core.

Auto Zone sells Fenco Girling remans @ $37.99/front corner after Core, $41.99/rear corner after Core.

I did a little research and all I could find was the hardware wasn’t included with the Fenco’s. I think the same person had an installed seal problem with a Fenco purchase. After going over to the Cardone’s they felt the overall appearance was better, plus hardware was included.

Both of the above reman’s do not include the mounting/pad retaining bracket.

Any one else have experience with Cardone/Fenco remans?

KB

#15

You guys that are buying rebuilt calipers, are you getting new guides with these? I have the Girling and rebuild myself all the time. I do it just about every break change. As my pads wear down I have a tendincy for the piston to stick so when I replace pads I just push the piston out with the brake pedal and repalce the O-ring. I don’t worry about the dust boot anymore. Most if not all racing calipers do not have the dust boot anyway. It is a 5 min job when changing pads.

But back to the reason for this post, do you get new guides?

Thanks,

Michael

#36
Great Lakes Region

#16

To answer the nearly 2 year old question, yes, the advance auto reman calipers I just picked up do have new guides. For about 40 bucks with the core return, this seemed well worth it to me.

Problem now is I have a stripped out rotor hold on bolt that I stupidly tried to drill, and now it’s just a mess :sick: (I gave up for the day and the rotor is still on). I haven’t yet touched or damaged the hub, so tomorrow I am going to go try and buy some sort of bolt extractor kit with little drill bits, and a blow torch, and see what I can do.
Anyone have a sure fire way of removing a totall stripped out rotor bolt without damaging the hub threads?

#17

[quote=“Gilles” post=61322]To answer the nearly 2 year old question, yes, the advance auto reman calipers I just picked up do have new guides. For about 40 bucks with the core return, this seemed well worth it to me.

Problem now is I have a stripped out rotor hold on bolt that I stupidly tried to drill, and now it’s just a mess :sick: (I gave up for the day and the rotor is still on). I haven’t yet touched or damaged the hub, so tomorrow I am going to go try and buy some sort of bolt extractor kit with little drill bits, and a blow torch, and see what I can do.
Anyone have a sure fire way of removing a totall stripped out rotor bolt without damaging the hub threads?[/quote]

There aren’t too many ways to remove a bolt with an EZ-Out so either you get it out w/o damaging the threads or you don’t. It’s not a big deal tho. The purpose of the bolt is to hold on the rotor only to make it stay put while you put on the wheel. It’s the wheel and studs that really hold the rotor in place. If the threads are hosed and you have to go boltless, you’ll be fine. Just make sure that the rotor “locates” correctly each time you put on a wheel.

#18

Don’t waste time and money with extractors. I got remans from advance after breaking a couple extractors trying to get the bleed screws out. When you get wheel studs those bolts won’t do a lot anyway. Drill them out if you have to and use the money to buy a hub and bearing to put in your spares box. Not that our wheel bearing don’t give you notice of going out well in advance.

#19

[quote=“Gilles” post=61322]
Problem now is I have a stripped out rotor hold on bolt that I stupidly tried to drill, and now it’s just a mess :sick: (I gave up for the day and the rotor is still on). [/quote]
Wes, so the rotor is still on the hub, and the little allen head bolt is stripped, right? This is one of the most satisfying quick-fix jobs on the planet.

Of course you have removed the caliper. Rotate the rotor so that the stripped bolt is pointing forward (away from where the caliper would be) – This gives you max leverage.

Take a BFH (5-lb sledge is about right) and smack the crap out of the inside of the rear edge of the rotor. Basically you are driving the rotor outwards away from the car.

May take 2 or 3 whacks, but the rotor WILL come off, and the remains of the bolt will still be threaded into hub, but now there will be a nub you can grab with vice grips to remove what is left over.

Enjoy!

PS this pretty much is guaranteed to damage or destroy rotor, but you are planning to replace it anyway, correct?

On reassembly, if you use a new bolt (I do) liberally coat with anti-seize, and in the future, i.e. the next time you plan to remove the rotor, before you attempt to loosen the allen bolt, you might want to put an Allen socket (not a wrench) on the bolt and give it a few light taps with a regular hammer to shock it a little loose before attempting to turn. Be careful when you do this; it’s easy to snap off the business end of the Allen socket if you hit crooked or too hard.

#20

Re. using the money to buy a spare bearing and hub. That’s a good idea. In fact, if your bearings were not replaced as part of the car’s build, I’d go ahead and replace all 4 this winter. Sure, worn bearings are likely to give you some warning before they fail entirely, but they are going to fail. It’s too much to ask to require 25yr old high mileage bearings to make it thru a half dozen seasons of racing.