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Pics of unboxing below. As you will probably note, my box was missing the seals, but I've got an email out to them and I'm confident they'll get here soon. They have great customer service. [EDIT: as I was typing this post, I got an email from their customer service - on a Sunday (Confirming how good their customer service is)!! The seals are in the dust boots. So - I found 'em. They were overlooked due to operator error!]
Project will start very soon. I'll try to take a lot of pics and do another write up for posterity.
Best of Luck! It is a royal pain getting all 6 of the old pistons out even with an air compressor. You will have to block off the open ports until all are out. Since you are replacing the old pistons it should be easier because you will not have to worry about hard pulling / scratching.
Just an FYI:
My car has 50K miles and I just bought 4 brand new calipers, EZ bolt on.
$3,200. Good to go.
Sold old ones for $600, so net $2,600, perfect as new, pretty red, ready to rock, and no hassle. Brakes are so important on track, why mess around?
Just my $ 2 cents....
Correct. These are upgraded parts and don't have the pucks.
I'm confident that I don't need new caliper. Mine were working just fine. The seals are old and worn, as are the dust boots. I was going to replace just those parts, but figured I'd get new pistons at the same time. Easy project to wrench on as well. And after this round of projects, I've paid for my lift . I suppose I could have gotten new calipers, but it seemed like overkill for my car - and no need to replace working parts IMO.
-td
Originally Posted by CanyonBlaster
No ceramic pucks incl in those kits?
Just an FYI:
My car has 50K miles and I just bought 4 brand new calipers, EZ bolt on.
$3,200. Good to go.
Sold old ones for $600, so net $2,600, perfect as new, pretty red, ready to rock, and no hassle. Brakes are so important on track, why mess around?
Just my $ 2 cents....
I'd buy a set of used calipers for $600, buy 2 sets of rebuild kits, rebuild the first, replace, rebuild the second and sell for $1,500, no out of pocket expense, just sweat and knowledge. Sounds good to me. Are there any used sets out there for $600? Please let me know.
Cheers!
Just checked the links above and find that a full set of rebuild kits for all 4 is $900, so with the price of a used set of calipers ($600) the total to do it yourself is $1,500 vs $3,200 for new, so really a $1,700 difference...
Track goers prefer to rebuild their calipers with RB rebuilding components to make their OE calipers work harder and last longer.
For the same functionality RB uses fewer component than OE's complicated set up, makes your rebuilding job easy and less confusion.
RB's stainless steel pistons transmit only about 1/10 of heat in comparison to OE's aluminum piston, keep your brake fluid temperature low and reduce the frequency of fluid replacement.
Join hundreds of other Porsche owners and tune your calipers for their peak performance.
Best of Luck! It is a royal pain getting all 6 of the old pistons out even with an air compressor. You will have to block off the open ports until all are out. Since you are replacing the old pistons it should be easier because you will not have to worry about hard pulling / scratching.
zeckhausen racing has specialty pliers specifically made for removing caliper pistons without marring them up.
I use a somewhat narrow piece of wood and compressed air. the wood goes in the center and is sized to prevent the pucks from falling out - so they are mostly extended and they can be pulled out the remaining way.
RB: I know that stainless conducts less quickly that AL, but what about the ceramic inserts, I would think that these are a better insulator than SS, then of course, there are Ti shims...
RB pistons are cut from one solid piece of Stainless Steel which works out better compare to some different OE piston set up (especially for two two piece construction which are supposed to lower the heat transfer; as they "glued", "screwed" or "press" together while they are not the same material, and with different heat expansion rate, so after some good heat cycles they tend to separate or crack.
BMW 135i piston cracked and most track people replaced them with RB rebuild kit w/SS pistons
Finished the caliper rebuild last weekend. I was actually surprised at how easy it ended up being - well, except for the very last part (see below). A few lessons learned that might be useful for others:
Getting the calipers disconnected from the car requires a flare nut wrench. It's virtually impossible without it (because you'll round off the nut)
Getting the pistons out is fairly easy with an air compressor and a blower nozzle. When you get one out, just put it back in a little and use a speed clamp to hold it there. Pop the next one out and repeat. Don't put them in too deep or they'll be hard to ultimately remove. If you get them jammed back in a little too far - you'll have to wiggle them pretty good to get them out.
use a couple shop towels over the top of the caliper and where you have the blower nozzle because some fluid will shoot out when each piston pops.
be sure you have enough pressure in the tank. If you don't you'll do what I did the first time and pressurize the caliper but none of the pistons will eject. When you remove the nozzle, the caliper will back-spew brake fluid everywhere.
the dust boots come out with a small flat head and a little leverage.
the internal seals come out with a small hook. I had a set of spring hooks that worked great.
getting the seals back in was also simple if you soaked them in a little brake fluid first and then pushed one side into the recess for the seal and hold it there while you push the opposite side into the caliper.
with the RB brake kit, getting the dust boots on was as simple as stretching them onto a piston and then pulling down.
getting the piston back into the caliper requires using a little force on oppsite sides of the piston and then rotating 90 degrees and pushing down on both sides again. When you get the piston started, it will go down pretty easily
I did one caliper in about 45 minutes - trying to do it very carefully and learning the process.
I then set up a little assembly line and did the other 3 calipers in about 45 minutes. Total rebuild time, 1.5 hours - not including a little time to simple green [soak/scrub] the calipers.
completely flushed brakes and then bled them twice.
All of the internals were in almost perfect shape. No marring or wear on the sides of the piston holes below the seals. And, all the seals looked like they were in perfect shape still. There were a couple holes that had a little spot of wear at the external side - above the seal and below the dust boot (like something got under the dust boot briefly). They didn't impact the piston movement, but you could see a little shiny area. I used a little 2000 grit sand paper and removed any high spots.
The big uh-oh came when I was reinstalling the last caliper. One of the caliper bolts starting spinning in the wheel carrier - stripped out the aluminum. Doh! I ordered the timesert kit and a caliper studs all the way around to take care of that issue forever. Tarret has awesome stuff!
Overall, the technical skill needed was less than 5 out of 10. Just a little patience and some basic tools. Racing Brake parts fit perfectly. Happy with the product and the results!
07-10-2016, 12:51 PM
(Another) Caliper rebuild thread
. I suppose I could have gotten new calipers, but it seemed like overkill for my car - and no need to replace working parts IMO.
