Cleaning brake calipers

Guest · Jan 12, 2005

I am removing them at the weekend to see if i requre to fit the plates, i want to clean them and paint them up before i refit. Whats the best product for cleaning without effecting the rubber seals etc?

I have just ordered my new pads, EBC redstuff Ceramic for the fron and greenstuff for the rear. Hope to get increased braking and reduced dust...Probably will finish off the disks mind but thay are not too dear to replace or difficult to fit.

Cheers.

mik_ok · Jan 12, 2005

Tried your MC2 on them?

Andy Tims · Jan 12, 2005

ORIGINAL: slim_boy_fat

Whats the best product for cleaning without effecting the rubber seals etc?

They may be more suitable products, but M&P carry the Muc-Off brake cleaner

http://www.mandp.co.uk/productInfo.aspx?catRef=547287

OK it's designed for bikes, but I've not seen a car specific equivalent. This is pretty good for when your leaving the calipers on.

If your taking them off though I'd think dropping them in a bucket of nice hot water with some car shampoo, followed by a bit of elbow grease would do the trick.

tim court · Jan 12, 2005

If your taking them off though I'd think dropping them in a bucket of nice hot water with some car shampoo, followed by a bit of elbow grease would do the trick

Yeah, just shake em off a bit and stick em back on... The fairy liquid should clean the inside of your brake lines as it pumps its way round....[

]

Andy Tims · Jan 12, 2005

ORIGINAL: tim court

The fairy liquid should clean the inside of your brake lines as it pumps its way round....[]

Not half - who wants dirty brake line internals? [

]

But seriously, I was assuming you (Slim Boy Fat) mean't you were completely removing the calipers so as to paint them in which case you will be bleeding the system in any case.

eastendr · Jan 12, 2005

ORIGINAL: slim_boy_fat

I am removing them at the weekend to see if i requre to fit the plates, i want to clean them and paint them up before i refit. Whats the best product for cleaning without effecting the rubber seals etc?

Try Jizer or preferably a proper parts washer (cheap from Machine Mart etc) That should clean them enough or make them ready to paint.

HERE are my old set from the Turbot on their way to be shot blasted, reconditioned and powder coated before they go on the 944S. More pictures when they're done.

Drilled discs from Euro Car Parts are probably the best deal around when yours eventually wear out. I've had several sets now between the 's' and the Turbot and can thoroughly recommend them.

Guest · Jan 12, 2005

Cheers guys, yes they are getting removed to get the caliper plate re-done and gererally tidied up and painted.

Only thing i was worried about was the seals, using products that might be a bit too corrosive for them.

Guest · Jan 12, 2005

Like mik said i think mc2 would be fine, its not solvent based so shouldn't dry/weeken seals.

Don't forget your tooth brush - extra firm [

]

Guest · Jan 14, 2005

Got the pads today, in the end EBC suggested that i should use the same type all round. So i plumped for Redstuff Ceramic all round.

Boy are they heavy. You would never think but there must be about 4 or 5kg for the pair.

Not sure how the disks will take to them but its going to be April before i find out.

Will post the findings in due course.

Diver944 · Jan 14, 2005

Hope to get increased braking and reduced dust

I've only just read this properly so I hope I'm not raining on your parade [&:] I 'think' that it's only the Greens that are advertised as having reduced dusting. I had a set of Greens a few years ago and they were infinitely less dusty [

] Alas I found no difference in braking so went back to OEM

Guest · Jan 14, 2005

ORIGINAL: Diver944

Hope to get increased braking and reduced dust

Click to expand...

I've only just read this properly so I hope I'm not raining on your parade [&:] I 'think' that it's only the Greens that are advertised as having reduced dusting. I had a set of Greens a few years ago and they were infinitely less dusty [] Alas I found no difference in braking so went back to OEM

Pretty sure that the Red Ceramic will have significantly less dust. Have read quite a few articles/reports and they seen to function very well.

Not sure how rotor friendly they will be, but i gather that the braking performance should be spectacular. Will tell it how it is in due course.

I think the Greens have been changed recently, they seem to be getting a better write-up now. But the porker is a bit of a porker so the Reds should rock.

Paul190H · Feb 19, 2014

I had the same issue and used similar products and shed loads of elbow grease. As for the domed nuts, I soaked mine in penetrating oil and then used a sharp chisel and hammer to get them started, followed by lots of patience.

I have made a concious desicion to clean mine yearly to prevent the same issues happening again.
Good luck.

spyderman · Feb 19, 2014

Send them away to have them properly refurbished. Bet the seals are all knackered too, so worth doing.

zcacogp · Feb 19, 2014

M3,

Can't help much with the cleaning but I use copious amounts of Bilt Hamber Surfex on the greasy bits of my car and it has yet to let me down. Link here:

http://www.bilthamber.com/surfex-hd

I notice you are in Sweden so don't know how available such stuff is out there.

If you are rebuilding the calipers then this page may be helpful;

http://www.porscheclubgbforum.com/tm.asp?m=626776&mpage=1&key=caliper

All the best. When working correctly, the brakes on an S2 are astonishingly effective.

Oli.

Monkeythree · Feb 19, 2014

Oli,
Thanks for the link to your earlier thread on the subject. I actually ended up taking my calipers to a local re-con specialist in Goteborg this afternoon because my dome headed bolts weren't shifting. The calipers are actually in really good condition so I didn't want to risk damaging them whilst trying to remove those bolts.

So the specialist is just going to remove the bolts ( not sure how but he seemed totallty unfazed by them), do a bit of local shot blasting of the corrosion under the plates, straighten the plates and put it all back together with a 24hr turnaround. All for £100 which seems acceptable.

And if they come back clean, that will be two jobs in one!

zcacogp · Feb 19, 2014

M3,

Great. It seems that engineering shops have magical powers they can call upon to remove badly stuck bolts that us mere mortals don't have. They will probably weld a bolt to the head of the existing one, which will both give them something to get a purchase on to twist it out and also the localised heat will free the remains of the existing bolt.

Shot blasting can be a bit aggressive for a (comparatively) soft aluminium caliper. I hope they go gently. More normal would be a sand or bead blast.

£100 is a good price for doing that to two calipers.

Oli.

Monkeythree · Feb 19, 2014

I could have welded on a bolt (actually i would have sacrificed eight 4mm allen bits) but it took me 30 minutes of picking and scraping and flushing amd brushing to expose the allen head on the first bolt before establishing it was seized - i would have been there for days!

The guy said he was going to split the calipers to get better access to the bolt heads. Not sure how he will do that when the two halves are joined by the ss plates but lets see. He does nothing except reconditoning calipers so i'm hopeful he knows what he is doing. He had certainly seen Porsche brembos with plate lift before!

Eldavo · Feb 20, 2014

I'm just reconstituting things I've read here but I'm pretty sure that there was a thread recently about this and the advice was NOT to split the calipers!

Monkeythree · Feb 20, 2014

I was a bit worried about that too but the calipers are in the hands of these guys:

http://www.bromsok.com/

A professional outfit and when I discussed the job with the owner, he was perfectly confident about it.

I'm not concerned that there will be any functional issue resulting from splitting the calipers, but the irritation for me now will be that it will disturb the paint around the bolt heads and along the join which will inevitably lead to corrosion starting.

Monkeythree · Feb 21, 2014

Got my calipers back from the specialist and my plates now look like this:

Took a plate off to have a look at how bad it had got underneath before my intervention:

Will be removing all the plates and give the exposed areas some suitable protection before re-assembling. As a bonus, the calipers also came back entirely clean of all the grot that had proved so stubborn to remove in the first place!