Stock Caliper Rebuild

[sfdon]

I dont understand why you would zinc the Pistons?
I don't believe PMB does and you really don't want to add a soft metal on top of the hardened metal of the piston sides.

 

[Markos]

You can buy rebuild kits from BMW and rebuild them yourself.
Not difficult.
Just need a cylinder hone. $20 or so.
This is per wheel and retail price. Easily do better.
34111158692 SET: REPAIR BRAKE CALIPER - ATE 0.08 2 $40.02

Or you could buy Centric rebuild kits from Rockauto for less than $10 per set. Part #14334002

Or rebuilt calipers from Rock Auto for $103 ea. Part #14134058

Just saying.................

Agreed. This isn't rocket science. You can also zinc plate things yourself.

Example 1 out of 4,540 (no joke)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nyp7vtNUQQ

 

[damienh]

Caliper rebuild

I'm just about to send my calipers off, in the UK, following a thorough read of this, and other threads. Many thanks to all contributers so far.

One outfit I've spoken to will do the yellow zinc treatment, (which includes plating the pistons ??). The other outfit swears that plating will corrode within weeks, that I'm better off letting them use their secret recipe Vht paint. Now of course the guys who don't offer the plating service have a vested interest in being against plating, but, the guys who ARE offering the plating service, also say it doesn't last long these days due to "health and safety" regulations in the UK. PMB's incredibly informative posts indicate that although zinc plating is excellent at protecting your calipers, it is "self sacrificing", which could be taken to mean they do the rusting for your calipers. Aesthetically it would bother me if they were rust encrusted just a few months after spending the money to have them refurbished. I've seen plenty of great pictures of newly plated and painted calipers, but none after a year's worth of driving !

What to do ? Anyone ? The gold paint finish looks fine to me to be really honest, I'm not that fussy, and comes with a 4 year warranty. Not sure how the bores will be protected from future rust though.

I'm veering towards the plating route, there's not a huge difference in cost really.

Damien

 

[teahead]

Ya, doesn't zinc attract salty moisture from the air? Thinking of zinc anodes on a boat motor.

Maybe paint over the zinc for extra protection???

 

[bluecoupe30!]

rebuilt front calipers

Back in '08, Mesa Performance rebuilt my front callipers for $86.50 each. Still working perfectly.
Mike

 

[damienh]

Guess it depends how much driving you do. I've no doubt either option would function well, but I'm just thinking about paying for a nice plating job and it looks all rusty after a few months. Any screw you buy from a diy shop are zinc coated, you can never use those screws outdoors.

 

[Peter Coomaraswamy]

my 2 cents

I rebuilt the calipers on my 1970 2800, they were really dirty (and seized). I soaked them in solvent and 90% of the original gold/zinc plating was still there. On my 74 I painted the calipers with "caliper paint" 2 years later they are still silver the only issue being that where I leaked fluid from the bleeding process it did remove a little paint and the rust shows in that area. Depending on the cost I think plating them and then spraying with "caliper paint" would provide the most rust protection but if there is any serious budget differences I would just go with the paint-

 

[m_thompson]

I tried to buy rebuilt calipers, but the ones that I received from several sources were all missing the spacers and would not fit.

I ended up rebuilding mine, for the third time. Hard to believe that they only last 10 years before the pistons get sticky. This time I painted them with gold high temperature paint from Pep Boys. It actually had a higher temperature rating than their caliper paint. They look very pretty.

 

[Gary Knox]

I too have used 'caliper paint' on calipers, but have found only ONE product that fully withstands both brake fluid and spray can brake cleaner.

It is the 'G2 epoxy caliper paint' https://www.g2usa.com/ . I've used it on 4 different sets of Porsche brake calipers over the past 10 years, and they all still looked like new after anywhere from 4-8 years (when I sold the cars). It is 2 part component, and is brushed on. It flows very smooth before drying, and is very hard and chemically resistant. Preparation is KEY to getting both a good and a durable result. Surfaces should be scrupulously clean. One of their items does four large calipers, like a 928 GTS or 993 Turbo have (might do 8 e9 calipers!). One of these cars was my track car for 8 years, so LOTS of hot brake dust. Those calipers also still looked freshly painted after 6 years of tracking 12-16 days a year.

Quite a few 'stock' colors, but for some additional $ they will custom blend a color (match your car color??)