caliper stripping/cleaning

[dazleeds]

ok am stripping the rear discs etc off my breaker to go on my car

thinking to maybe get the calipers serviced while there off

whats the best way to get em mint??

sandblasting?? if so wherecan i get em done

also what should it cost to overhaul them properly

will be doing the fronts too

cheers

Daz

[Cava]

Might be worth looking in to the cost of new calipers from somewhere like euro car parts. I think the rear calipers are not that expensive and you get a surcharge refund if you give your old calipers in exchange. This may work out just as cheap as getting the old ones reconditioned.

[dazleeds]

hmmm didnt think of that

are the ecp/gsf ones still genuine??
and not some substandard copies??

will have to look into this i think

[Cava]

The ecp ones I got for the front of my car were identical to the originals - I think they must get them from the original suppliers (they were german!).

[Simon]

Are the ones from GSF/ECP new? Or are they just refurbished, with new seals etc?

[Cava]

To be honest, I assumed they were reconditioned when i bought them, but they look absolutely mint (repainted, new seals etc), so if they are, they do a better job at sorting out old ones than I could ever do!

[dazleeds]

how much were they mate??

[Cava]

I needed the ate type for the front (which are a bit more expensive - typical!) which worked out to be about Ԛ£60 each. I think the girling type fronts were about Ԛ£40 and the rears are about Ԛ£50.

[Jon_Bmw]

Are the ones from GSF/ECP new? Or are they just refurbished, with new seals etc?

I don't know for sure...

but as logic goes you are handing them back your old ones...so they arn't going to through them away as they have effectively given you money for them...so i'm almost certain any surcharge products such as calipers, steering racks etc etc are re-conned.

Nothing wrong with re-con stuff usually.

[Simon]

Yes, this is why I suspected they were reconditioned, not that I'm saying there's anything wrong with this though...

I'm just thinking you can DIY refurb yourself for less, I doubt you'd get the same finish though, you'd have to get them blasted.

I've only ever done one set, and they were quite easy to do.

[dazleeds]

yeah im thinking same si

no point spending 100plus

may as well get mine blasted and painted

shouldnt cost much more i doubt
and i get the finish of my choice then

right who knows a sandblaster in leeds /surrounding???

[Cava]

Changing the seals did'nt bother me to much but there was no way I could get the caliper body to the same condition as the replacement unit - plus if anything is wrong with them, you can take them back!

[jaistanley]

I recently refurbed a set of M3 front calipers and plan to do it to all the M Roadster calipers I'm going to use.

First I attacked the bulk of the calipers with a grinder and flap disks. This got off all the scale and junk.

Then I blasted them with a spot blaster in a storage box with some clear plastic bag stretched over (not fun and slow but it worked).

The re-painted them with 2 pac high temperature paint.

Fitted new seals and slider kits from BMW.

Simple. The finish is excellent.

To finish the job I bought some new disks and panited the non braking surfaces (not where the face meets the hub or the wheels though)

It's not hard to do the same. You could also buy a re-hone tool for brake cylinders if you really want to go to town but I didn't see the need. The bores on mine were fine.

Jai

[Cava]

I should add that the reason I changed the calipers was due to a mechanical problem (rather than a cosmetic revamp). After 16 years good service, they decided to cook a set of new discs. After checking them over, the caliper body and piston were pretty bad, so I took the safe option and changed them. Can't really complain after using them for so long.

[dazleeds]

its purely a cosmetic thing

calipers are working fine

but may do seals anyway

cheers

[E30cabrioman]

Rear caliper seals are about Ԛ£8 from stealers....

Try any local engineering factorys near you for a sandblasting cage, then just ask if they will blast them for you ,just negotiate a price with them ,shudn't be to expensive

then paint and fit new seals

job done

[Brianmoooore]

Kit car fraternity use electricity, sodium carbonate solution and an iron electrode for cleaning off this kind of thing.