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DIY Caliper Refurbishment

Its always amazed me that the weld itself is strong enough to withstand the pressure necessary to drive the nuts out. I mean if they are that stuck you need real leverage to shift them won't the weld break?
Presumably not but it still surprises me.
 
This is a great post, thanks guys. I wish I had done a better job of repainting my calipers after the rebuild, but I was in a rush at the time and used inadequate spray paint - I don't think I realised I could have got such a decent finish using paint in a tin and a brush (that's what you did right?)

Just a word of caution to others looking to do this - my caliper retaining bolts were seized extremely fast. If yours are similar then you may have to resort to taking the hubs off the lower wishbones and the struts to get the calipers off (via a mechanics workshop to get the bolts drilled out). If your caliper bolts are that tight its entirely likely that all the others to get the hubs off will be well a bitch to remove too, so what I thought would be a 'couple of weekends' job ended up taking four (and car was obviously unusable throughout) - so just beware and check that those caliper bolts will come out before committing to the full job if you lack time. - I only just got finished in time for holiday I had booked to go to the 'ring last summer, hence the slightly rushed job on the re-paint, which was a shame after a lot of effort.

I will probably strip and re-do later this summer once the other work on my car is done, in prep. for another European summer tour. I can't wait :)
 
ORIGINAL: DavidL

Its always amazed me that the weld itself is strong enough to withstand the pressure necessary to drive the nuts out. I mean if they are that stuck you need real leverage to shift them won't the weld break?
Presumably not but it still surprises me.
Click to expand...

The allen key doesn't afford you much leverage at all especially if the heads are corroded. Once you get a decent enough weld on the head of the screw, being careful not to weld to the caliper plate as well [&:] it is quite easy to crack them with a small spanner.
 
ORIGINAL: EddySpaghetti

This is a great post, thanks guys. I wish I had done a better job of repainting my calipers after the rebuild, but I was in a rush at the time and used inadequate spray paint - I don't think I realised I could have got such a decent finish using paint in a tin and a brush (that's what you did right?)
Click to expand...

The first caliper I brushed the base coat on hoping it would give a deaper finish before spraying them. The other three I just sprayed at least three coats on them. Got the same result but with a smoother finish. If you have the proper spray equipment it's a lot better than using rattle cans.
 
I just used a brush and tin of smoothrite, and baked them in the oven to speed the drying process (and give a harder finish). Very un-exotic, and the finish is passable. I am sure it could be a lot better had I taken more time over it, but they are only calipers and almost entirely hidden behind the wheel.

DavidL - I had similar thoughts to you about the strength of the weld when trying to get badly corroded screws out. Rob, thanks for answering the question.


Oli.
 
ORIGINAL: zcacogp fronts.
I used a small (kitchen) butane blowtorch with a fine pencil flame to toast the heads of the bolts and destroy the loctite - like this one, but there are hundreds available:

storm-kitchen-blow-torch.jpg


The small flame allows you to locally heat just the head of the bolt - you need to avoid toasting the piston seals which are very close by. I cleaned the bolts carefully (allows better heat transfer to them) and then heated them good and hard - four or five minutes with a good flame, until they started making a faint crackling noise. Some didn't respond to this, so I cut a notch in the top of them and used a hammer and cold chisel to hit them 'round until they were free. (This is quite a lot more brutal tho' and best avoided if you can.)
Click to expand...

I just spent half an hour heating ONE bolt with a domestic blowtorch - epic fail [>:]

At this point the brutal method sounded tempting but the metal is so soft that the head will self destroy if I keep hitting it.
 
It only takes about a minute to mig weld another bolt on original screw. Heat will surely melt all locking fluids and screw can be take of easliy. Works every time for me.
 
I personally wouldn't use S/S screws for calliper fixing either. I prefer capscrews which have a much greater tensile strength, applying a smear of Optimum TA paste on the threads, to prevent corrosion and ease future disassembly. There should be no need for locking fluid on correctly torqued calliper fasteners.

Regards,

Clive.
 
I'm afraid a couple of calipers won't be enough to justify investing in a MIG installation ;-(
 
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