Caliper Plates

[robwright]

Hi all was just wondering if anyone has ever dealy with plate lift on their turbo/S2 calipers? In particular how did they remove the tiny screws holding the plates on. It look to me as though the plates themselves should be reuseable once the underlying corrosion has been dealt with. Was it a case of removing the heads from the screws then removing the shank afterwards? If not what tool did you use. Are they a standard allen screw or a torx screw? I can't quite make it out. Thanks in advance guys.

 

[chrisg]

Rob

I've done the plate lift on both my S2 and Turbo with M030 brakes.

To answer your questions:

Yes, once you remove the crud from underneath you can usually reuse the plates, although they're not that expensive and common to lots of different Brembo brakes.

The screws are a standard allen key fitment (6mm IIRC), the problem you have is they're frequently very corroded and the allen key socket disintegrates.

To remove the bolts you have to apply a lot of heat to get them glowing cherry red. Apparently this burns off the loctite or thread lock.

I've never done this bit myself - I suspect that the only way to do it properly is with acetylene kit - DIY blow torches may not have enough ummph.

Once suitably heated apparently they will come undo fairly easily - I've heard some people slotting them with a hacksaw or dremel to get extra purchase if the allen key sockets get mashed.

Good luck !

 

[robwright]

Have you seen this done Chris? Given that the calipers are aluminium I personally would be a bit aprehensive about setting to them with a set of bottles.

 

[sulzeruk]

Build up the head of them to get a blob of weldso you can get a set of molegrips on them. Works eveytime. You will have all 4 plates off in 20 minutes. Get the calipers blasted and give them a coat of paint. Bigg red does seal kits for them,
Alasdair

 

[robwright]

Thanks for the offer of the screws Al. What size are they incidentally? The pstons are actually fine so not too bothered about seals and dust seals at the mo but the plate lift is defo on the list of stuff to do. And yes would be silly not to blast them and give them a coat of caliper paint while they were out.

 

[chrisg]

Rob

Regarding applying the heat, no I've actually seen it done but I trust the chap who's done 8x calipers for me in the past.

Yes you have to be careful applying heat to the caliper but in essence you've got a small steel screw sitting a large block of aluminium - so notwithstanding direct heat application, you will get a huge heat sink effect where the heat dissapates into the ali.

You may be able heat up the screws sufficiently with a DIY torch with a fine nozzle on - I recently swapped to a fine nozzle and it makes a substantial difference to pinpointing the heat.

Chris

 

[GPF]

ORIGINAL: chrisg
Once suitably heated apparently they will come undo fairly easily - I've heard some people slotting them with a hacksaw or dremel to get extra purchase if the allen key sockets get mashed.

I did this when I did my m030 fronts - makes it very easy.

Put a big slot across them and then use a big flat bit from an impact driver set or screwdriver set and put a socket/adapter on the end of the bit.

I heated them up with one of those miniature blow torches first - you don't need too much heat.

 

[diabloam]

I tried building them up with MIG and also trying to weld a nut on and had no joy shifting them. What I did (cowboy I know) was to get a metal hand nail file (yes the ones woman use on thier finger, I Procured my from the bird when her back was turned, lol) and get between the plqte and caliper with that, this get rid of all the white corrosion and that. Then I took the pads to a bench grinder and gave them a wee grind down either side and they then went in with ok'ish. Not the best route and I realise all I have I done is a temp fix and I am still going to have to face this at some point again. However I have to say its worked great. My problem is I am getting brake squel at low speeds as I never put on the wee inset into the pistons as mine wee all kaput and hadnt ordered any replacements. You might as well have a go at the methods suggested before you try my dodgy method.

 

[blease]

This is a frequent topic in 911 and Porscheworld. Although they used to advocate heat, the latest 4 page full coulour 'how to do it' article showed it being done with a centre punch hitting the edge of the screw on a tangent to shock it loose and then just unscrewing it normally.

 

[Chrishazle]

Be worth a look on the 968 site and on porsche968uk.co.uk as it's a common problem on 968's too. I'm sure I've seen posts about plate lift on one or both of those.

 

[sulzeruk]

The mig welding version has worked every time for me no exception and there has been a few times! I have about 4 sets of calipers to refurb very soon so will do a small tutorial. Will try and do some Thursday for you,
Alasdair

 

[Oct]

Try one of those chef's blowtorches if you want to be accurate with the heat, I used one to get my brake caliper bolts off.Worked a treat and the flame is very accurate.

 

[GPF]

ORIGINAL: sulzeruk
The mig welding version has worked every time for me no exception and there has been a few times! I have about 4 sets of calipers to refurb very soon so will do a small tutorial. Will try and do some Thursday for you,
Alasdair

I'm sure it works great - but not everyone has a welding set...[8|]

Out of interest, do you always replace the seals when you do this - just wondering if they survive the heat from welding?

 

[sulzeruk]

Hi Graham, the heat is so localised it never gets anywhere near the seals. Most tyre shops will have a MIG of some form or other, bung them a tenner to do it, I am sure most would oblige,
Alasdair

 

[robwright]

ORIGINAL: diabloam

I tried building them up with MIG and also trying to weld a nut on and had no joy shifting them. What I did (cowboy I know) was to get a metal hand nail file (yes the ones woman use on thier finger, I Procured my from the bird when her back was turned, lol) and get between the plqte and caliper with that, this get rid of all the white corrosion and that. Then I took the pads to a bench grinder and gave them a wee grind down either side and they then went in with ok'ish. Not the best route and I realise all I have I done is a temp fix and I am still going to have to face this at some point again. However I have to say its worked great. My problem is I am getting brake squel at low speeds as I never put on the wee inset into the pistons as mine wee all kaput and hadnt ordered any replacements. You might as well have a go at the methods suggested before you try my dodgy method.

Already ground the pads down yesterday mate as a temp fix for the driving soundtrack []

 

[chrisg]

Rob

If you get stuck I'm in Huntingdon and have a fine nozzle Butane gas blow torch,

Chris

 

[robwright]

Thanks Chris that is a very kind offer. Thankfully work supply me with all the tools I need lol. So I would extend the same offer to you if you ever get stuck and need a helping hand with anything.

 

[chrisg]

Cheers Rob, I may take you up on that one day, as although I gain a number of perks through work, garage equipment and tools is not one of them !

 

[craig2105]

ORIGINAL: blease

This is a frequent topic in 911 and Porscheworld. Although they used to advocate heat, the latest 4 page full coulour 'how to do it' article showed it being done with a centre punch hitting the edge of the screw on a tangent to shock it loose and then just unscrewing it normally.

+1. How I did mine and it worked a treat. Get a set of new screws and you're away.

 

[os951]

During the years i have restored dozens of Brembo calipers. Factory used several different kind of screws, Torx, ZXN, etc. etc. They also put some kind of blue stuff to threads, so you can be sure removing 20 years old screws are PITA to remove. The best way to remove them is to MIG weld another screws on them. I normally use cheap 13mm bolts which can be bought from every hardware store. When you weld new screws to the old ones, the heat will help a great deal in this process, and then you can easliy remove the old stuff.