New brake calipers from euro car parts

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Jatin
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Sat Mar 15, 2014 10:37 am

Hello all
I sorting out my 325i sport and have got to the brakes.
The extremely rusty. The stuff is literally flaking off. So I decided to get some new Oem calipers from euro car parts. About £60 a corner. Problem is they only sell the piston part rather than the whole lot.

Where can I get the entire caliper from without going to the stealer.

Thanks
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harry_p
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Sat Mar 15, 2014 10:48 am

Pretty sure the carriers will be bmw only, and probably not cheap.
cheers,

harry
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Sat Mar 15, 2014 10:52 am

I found that my local Unipart(used to be called Partco)were able to sell me refurbished calipers for about £60 each.
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Grrrmachine
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Sat Mar 15, 2014 10:58 am

My calipers were very rusty. A weekend in an electrolysis tank, followed by a light scrubbing with a wire brush and a coat of hammerite, brought them back to a decent finish. Total cost was a fiver for the hammerite, 50p for the baking soda and a tenner for two caliper rebuild kits.
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Jatin
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Sat Mar 15, 2014 11:13 am

Electrolysis - sounds good if a seal the brake line input, do you think I would be able to fully submerge the caliper
Grrrmachine
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Sat Mar 15, 2014 11:41 am

If you're replacing the calipers you'll probably want new hoses too, so screw the old hose into the caliper and keep the other end out of the water. Works a charm.

I think I did mine unsealed with the piston removed - there's nothing to worry about because the process only affects the rust, not the shiny bore inside the caliper.
jimmyspeed
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Sat Mar 15, 2014 11:46 am

tenner for two caliper rebuild kits.

Hey Grr, where did you get these so cheap ? last time i bought an oem I'm sure it was about £20
Grrrmachine
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Sat Mar 15, 2014 12:05 pm

The kits were for touring rear calipers, by a company called Seinsa. Seems they're about a tenner each in the UK, but sometimes things in Poland are cheaper.
milescook
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Sat Mar 15, 2014 12:20 pm

Either way check if you have ATE or Girling (they'll be stamped if you can make it out) and use different brackets connecting to the strut/hub.
The story so far... http://www.cookracing.co.uk/

Also please help the race budget by watching some videos :) https://www.youtube.com/cookracinguk
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Jatin
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Sat Mar 15, 2014 4:03 pm

Thanks guys
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Jatin
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Sat Mar 15, 2014 4:03 pm

Thanks guys
G-Bear
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Sat Mar 15, 2014 7:55 pm

Bigg Red do seal kits for about £45-£50 for all four callipers. As already mentioned just check to see if you have Girling or ATE as the kits differ for each.

http://www.biggred.co.uk/catalogue.php

Edit: ATE are attached via torx bolts. Girling have normal 13mm bolts.
DanThe
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Sat Mar 15, 2014 8:45 pm

I do my own -

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Polished -

Image

Or gold finish -

Image
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Jozi
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Sun Mar 16, 2014 6:24 pm

There's a calliper refurb page in the wiki if you want to know how its done. It's not hard at all, I would either get them blasted clean or electrolyses
G-Bear
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Sun Mar 16, 2014 6:52 pm

Jozi wrote:There's a calliper refurb page in the wiki if you want to know how its done. It's not hard at all, I would either get them blasted clean or electrolyses
That's what I followed, along with x-works' thread. I'd be interested to have a play with electrolysis if I did it again. Dan's polished calipers in the pics above look spanking....
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Jatin
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Sun Mar 16, 2014 8:04 pm

I did the Electrolysis for the carrier. Absolutely bloody amazing. They're as good as new. I'm gonna be stripping the subframe back to replace all the bushes. I'm going to probably Electrolysis for everything rusty. I'll post some pictures soon.
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Jatin
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Sun Mar 16, 2014 8:05 pm

I did the Electrolysis for the carrier. Absolutely bloody amazing. They're as good as new. I'm gonna be stripping the subframe back to replace all the bushes. I'm going to probably Electrolysis for everything rusty. I'll post some pictures soon.
Jamie8GTi
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Sun Mar 16, 2014 9:00 pm

I've recently finished mine, got these off a car which had been stood up for 5 years.
Image

Image
new bleed nipples, seal kits +dust boots, rear spring clips and Three coats of High temperature paint.
All in all the calliper bodies cost about £85 to do all four, not including pads and hoses.

They aren't that bad of a job if you take your time :D
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