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Caliper rebuild

Posted: Sat Feb 27, 2010 6:34 pm
by Timo
Decided to change my old warped discs today and whilst I am at it am thinking of rebuilding my calipers, can anyone point me in the direction of a good how to or guide?

Posted: Sat Feb 27, 2010 7:43 pm
by Gary71
Other than take them apart, clean thoroughly, fit new seals and put back together there is not much more you can do in your garage.

Having done just that many times, with varying success, I did it again on my 911 and the brakes still felt rubbish (although a lot of that turned out to be the pads!) So I took the calipers to the place below and never regretted the money.

Classic Car Automotive
Unit A, Alderley Road
Chelford, Macclesfield, Cheshire, SK11 9AP
01625 860 910

sales@classicbrakes.co.uk

New pistons, shot blasted, plated, new seals, rebuilt and pressure tested for £120 for the pair.

I would normally hesitate to recommend spending money on something you can DIY in the garage, but this really is worth it :) I suddenly found that an early 911 (or 912!) has really good brakes and I could stop blaming '70's technology!

Posted: Sun Feb 28, 2010 12:31 am
by 210bhp

Posted: Sun Feb 28, 2010 9:39 pm
by Timo
Excellent, thank you both.

Gary do you have any pics of yours after refurb?

I'd really like to do them myself if possible but don't want it to be a wasted effort! Although my brakes seem to work quite well when applied the biggest problem I've had was pulling to the one side or chatter due to the warped discs, however I thought I might as well sort the whole lot out at once, save tearing them apart again in the future.

Posted: Sun Feb 28, 2010 10:37 pm
by mullerice
Hi Tim,


I've also had my calipers refurbed by Classicar. I agree with the above that they did a great job. I got them done as I was having problems with fluid boiling over as a result of the calipers sticking. I didn't send them directly to Classicar, but through local Porsche specialists at the time.

Don't have any pics of a before and after, and it's difficult to get a great pic with them on, but I can say they are very shiny 8) (even two years or so on).

I remember seeing some old posts where other DDKers have taken pics - so here are some links:

http://www.ddk-online.com/phpBB2/viewto ... ht=caliper

http://www.ddk-online.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=19971

http://www.ddk-online.com/phpBB2/viewto ... =classicar

HTH

Cheers

Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 7:04 am
by Gary71
They look like brand new ones! I don't have any pics unfortunately.

They are slightly gold in colour.

...or at least they used to be. Now they are black and covered in dirt :)

Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2010 5:21 pm
by Timo
Cheers guys, think I've just made my mind up.

Classic Car Automotive it is :)

Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2010 6:26 pm
by Barry
I agree with Gary on this.

I rebuilt my own 911 calipers, and it was a doddle.

However, when I did the TR4 I sent them up to Classic Car, and was ultra impressed. Not only did they do a perfect job, they also phoned me to ask whether I was aware that I actually didn't have a matched pair, but two slightly different calipers. As it happened, they had the opposite pair up there (would you believe), and so swapped one of mine for one of their's, and hey-presto, we both ended up with a matched pair each.

They didn't charge anything extra, and the rebuilt capilers were back to me within five working days :) .

Frankly by time you buy some seals, and perhaps a piston, it's just not worth DIY'ing them, and that's before you consider the finish they get on them.

Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2010 9:16 pm
by Matt black70
Hi Timo.
I'm also thinking of sending mine in the near future. Do you want to send both pairs together?

Matt

Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2010 1:23 pm
by Timo
Depends on how near in the future you are thinking? Mine are off and ready to go, I was thinking of sending them this week.

Posted: Wed Mar 10, 2010 2:20 pm
by Matt black70
Don't worry Tim, i'll send mine later.

Matt

Posted: Mon Apr 19, 2010 9:14 am
by early_911
I posted mine off last week . . . . said they'd give me a call when they're done. Can't wait to get them back and on the car (with new discs/pads).

Phil

Posted: Mon Apr 19, 2010 11:30 pm
by Timo
Mine are back on now, they look superb. I can't praise classic car enough. When the calipers arrived although they had been really well packaged one of the bleed nipples had broken off (careless couriers most likely!) classic car had the caliper back and sorted the it for me F.O.C within a couple of days and even covered the postage costs! Great people to do business with.

Posted: Tue Apr 20, 2010 12:50 pm
by Gary71
Glad they worked out for you :)

I even locked a wheel this morning (didn't know it was possible before!) avoiding a coach.... :shock:

Posted: Wed Apr 21, 2010 11:42 pm
by PMB Performance
Hi Timo,

Long time (if it's the same Timo).

Bleeders break off "often". You should let the guys know at Classic Car to "never" install them. We always put them in a plastic bag in the box. I have 2 customer cores that need bleeder extractions this week alone.

Eric