cal44

Hello Lads, just got back from a nice ride and noticed I have dragging brake pad. Soooo I am now looking for the best place to have my calipers done. Yes, I will be removing them. In the past I sent calipers off of American muscle cars to White Post back east but am curious if the West Coast has a good shop to send them to. Thanks in advance, Mike

deep_uv

If you can remove them, you can probably rebuild them I would think.

http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarti...er_rebuild.htm

rbcsaver

As was stated, if you can remove them, you can build them! I have a thread posted here somewhere in the past about making a seating tool for the rubber booties. The embedded metal ring is a bear and I would almost suggest that you order a few extra sets, just encase they tear. DO NOT SEPARATE the caliper halves and watch your fingers when using compressed air to push out the calipers after removal from the car.....I share that learned, painful experience
to spare you from the same. Kind of like catching a bullet with your finger tip.
Use Flare Nut wrenches on the brake fitting lines (available from sears and others).
It is a task you can (and Should) do! I have to re-do my 84's and this time I am considering buying some of the SS after-market pistons that are available. If any of the brake caliper pistons have pitting or rust, then they need to be replaced.
regards,
Steve

cal44

Well here is my position. I was a pipeline welder for 25 years. Now, for the guys that rebuild calipers, thats what they do. They know the shortcuts and have all of the tooling necessary to do it right the first time. Chances are the caliper guy doesn't know how to put in a stringer downhill, grind, hot pass, grind, fill and cap with an end result of passing xray and welds that will hold 850 psi of natural gas, that is what I do.
I can learn but as a very smart friend of mine said, "Mike, if you learn somethin' new, you're gonna hav to forget somethin' old cuz your brain ain't that big".

justinsrx7

Well said, not to mention that yoiu are dealing with the very things that are designed to save your life. Having said that, I might learn how to do my own one day. I love a good challenge.

callipygian 911

I'll be rebuilding all four of mine (for the first time) in about a month's time. If you're interested, we could use a little teamwork and mutual learning on these suckers. I live right next to Balboa Park in Banker's Hill.

Josh Kaufman
scientistofevil at gmail dot com

Proud owner of an 84 3.2

Edward

I can understand "paying" because you don't have the time or inclination ...BTDT. But in terms of "difficulty," honestly there is no magic technique or expertise that is required to putting new seals on your existing calipers. Now if you have your heart set on paying a pro to do such, that's fine, and certainly your perogative. But if you simply orient yourself to the straightforward task at hand (of which there is much help/advice both here and in the plethora of manuals out there, Bentley being the best), then this job truly is an easy one.

IMHO, the word "rebuilding" the caliper has far too complex a connotation ...like "rebuilding" your engine. You are just replacing a pair of seals per piston that literally come out with a small screwdriver; new ones go in with your fingers. Maybe a better word than "rebuilding" is "fixing" them

Edward

cal44

So am I to understand that in SoCal, the Porsche capital of the world, does not have a caliper rebuilder that someone can recommend? Unbelievable. O.K maybe I will do it myself now that Edward has shamed me into it.

Edward

Cal,

Hergeheimers is in Lake Forest (Irvine area) and Mind Over Motorsports is in SD, IIRC. Either would certainly accomodate you, and I personally have had superb dealing with Hergeheimers. Hope that helps you

Edward

theiceman

shhh..don't tell him ..you had him shamed into our Club !!!

GothingNC

I rebuilt my front calipers on the kitchen table (1st time)

Only special technique I used was reattaching the brake line to the caliper and using a "C" clamp with a small piece of wood to hold one piston in and depressed the brake pedal to pop out one piston at a time.

If I can do it without bending my doors and chasing cars down the driveway , anybody can

John

KC911

If your rubber brake lines are old, they "could" be the cause of your sticking caliper, and the calipers might not even require a "rebuild". Personally, on a 20+ year old car, I'd do it once and do it all at the same time, but you might find that simply replacing your rubber lines "fixes" the problem. Hope this helps...

Keith
'88 CE coupe

theiceman

heyyyy wait a miuuuute...!!!!

Edward

LOL!!!

Edward

r911

swap out the old lines for new rubber & change the brake fluid first

caliper rebuild is really not hard and the special tools consist primarily of a jar from a bottle of Coleman's mustard - lots of info on Pelican re doing this.