Time to rebuild calipers? (pic)

[usurpah]

Hi everyone,
I've had some noises and a lot of bearing play (after a couple adjustments) on the front wheels. I did some research here and decided to replace/repack the front wheel bearings. I'm sure they are the originals. Easy enough.

While I was in there, I thought I would give the brakes a look. The rotors are definitly shot, and when I pulled the calipers, they looked kind of, well, beat up. The rubber seals look a little messed up. On that one caliper, it looks like it's folded over on itself. Pictures are below.

Sorry that they're a little out of focus, I guess my digital doesn't zoom in quite that far.

Question is, do these look normal? Is it worth to do, or could my inexperience create problems?

This would be my first caliper rebuild, but looking through Wayne's book and post/articles here, it doesn't sound too difficult. The caliper rebuild kits are cheap as well.

Thoughts? Btw, the car is an '88 Carrera w/ 93k miles

Thanks!
- Eric

[Sigurd]

If ever in doubt, do an overhaul. The cost for the parts needed, including main cylinder and all the hoses, is relatively low.

If you however, wait untill you have braking problems, cost and work involved most likely will be much higher.

[dickster]

yes, i'd say your diagnoses was correct and, well, personally i wouldn't put them back on!

imo they need cleaning first, then strip and rebuild.

theres plenty of info here, and its pretty straightforward.

take your time and get it right, you don't wanna be f*****g with brakes!!

[Jdub]

While there appears to be rust or something on the piston puck that may clean up nicely. What will be important is how the side of the pucks look in the bore of the caliper.

If there is little to no rust or crap in the caliper bore, then you are home free. Take your time, grab some hi-temp paint or something that resists caustic chemicals, paint it up, and go from there. Lots of good information via Search.

You might go for new brake hoses now; not a bad idea. Also, since you are looking at new rotors, maybe now is the time to repack/replace the wheel bearings.

John

[usurpah]

Thanks for the replies!

I'll get the caliper rebuild parts ordered from Pelican and get on it. I was just planning on taking a wire brush to the calipers to clean them up, but maybe I'll take this opportunity to paint them as well.

- Eric

[RAM]

I just rebuilt my calipers and they looked the same. I was lucky to fond that the cylinder had no rust on the sides but the exposed end had a significant amount. I obviously wanted to clean them as much as possible before reinstalling and I wanted to let you know what worked for me.

Basically I removed the cylinders cleaned as much of the rust as I could with steel wool, without touching the sides. After I removed as much of the loose rust I submersed the tips of the cylinders (only the oxidized portion) in a solution called Branson. It's a light citric acid solution that attacks only oxide and not the metal. About 1 hour in solution should do. Then I rinsed off the solution and dried with air. Once the cylinders were dry I took some very fine steel wool and took off any remaining junk off the walls of the cylinders. Cleaned once again in soap and water and dried immediately.

The cylinder was a bit corroded on the end but still worked very well.

Hope that helps.

[KTL]

Definitely time to reseal those suckers.

I'd pop the pistons out first and then decide if you want to rebuild them. I had a dragging right front, and the piston bore looked a little strange to me.



The pistons themselves cleaned up nice, but I didn't like the look of the bores. Decided to bite the bullet and get new front calipers. Since one of them was dragging, I didn't want to take a chance. Rears were okay so I just resealed them.

I think what you'll find on yours is that the very outer part of the bore will have some corrosion on it. That's what happens when the dust boots are torn open and the outer edge of the piston bore is exposed to the water, brake dust, road grime, etc. If you can clean up the outer edge with some fine abrasive material, you should be fine.

[MBAtarga]

From the second picture, it looks like the piston is not oriented at the 20 degree angle as it should be. When rebuilding and reinstalling, follow the instructions for orientation of the caliper pistons. This might explain the torn rubber dust seal.