PC the brake calipers??

[upncoming]

hey im looking for some help on coating my brake calipers with out having to rebuild them.

is there a way i could slow bake them so the rubber seals that drape the pistons in them keep from melting

[Noob2PC]

Now I am sure I will be corrected if wrong but I think they could handle baking. I mean Brakes can get rather hot and I hve seen them GLOW and they still work. I think the fluid inside would be the big concern.

[etyrrany]

I powder coated my rear calipers but I also had to rebuild them so I sort of killed two birds with one stone. But, if you think about it, breakes can be red hot and still work, but, that is mostly the brake disc, not the caliper.

Remember, as soon as the brake fluid starts boiling you get brake fade, and with regular brake fluid that is somewhere around 350 F (I might be corrected so anyone go ahead).

In my opinion I think you are risking burning up the rubber seals if you don't take them out before powder coating.

I still have my old rubber seals and such left over so if you want I can stick them in the oven at 400 F for 15 mintues and see if anything happens, but you'll have to wait till at least next Sunday for an answer.

Let me know.

etyrrany

[bzer1]

As a mechanic among other things...I do not recommend baking them with the seals in the caliper. The seals are neoprene, and will break down in sustained heat. Another thing to consider is the amount of contamination you will get with the break fluid still in there after cleaning. Rebuild kits are cheap to buy and easy to install. In my opinion, not worth the risk.


What are the calipers off of?

[upncoming]

91 rx7

a guy emailed me with this info on doing it.

"squeeze all the brake fluid out, sandblast em, tape alum foil around the rubber boots/piston area, and you should be fine... just be sure you leave the threaded hole that the brake line threads into vented while its in the oven, you can plug it for powdercoating, but remove it when its on the oven."

[dagobert]

Aluminum foil? That might be great, IF you are using IR to cure the part as it would reflect the IR waves (although the part would still heat soak into the seals) but I doubt it would make much difference in a convection oven. For what little trouble it would be, why not just pop out the piston and change the seals or at least inspect them? Otherwise, the risk of brake fluid leaking out and ruining the coating just seems too much for my liking.

[skiddz]

Seing as brake calipers are almost ridiculously easy to tear down and rebuild, I'd completely take the things apart, clean the hell out of 'em, bead blast 'em, clean 'em again and then PC and not worry about rubber parts cooking off. (just make sure you mask off/plug the cylinders and all the bolt holes.)

Doing the job half-a**ed will net you a half-a**ed looking job.

My $0.02

[Hemi-T]

I'm with bzer1 on this one. It's not worth the risk. Brakes are kind of an important safety item, and the liability in case of an accident could be very high. Tear the calipers down to the bare metal, powder coat them, then rebuild them. The kits are cheap and easy. Better yet, just powder coat them and let the buyer/user rebuild their own. No risk involved that way. Just my $.02

Hemi-T

[bzer1]

OK... I just found a price for the caliper kits for that car. Locally I would pay $16.00, on the net I would pay $9.00. Do a search for auto parts, and look up the price. If it's a customers calipers at the very least I would try to sell him/her the rebuild kits with the job. As a mechanic I would try to sell the whole rebuild job. you can buy the caliper hone for about $15.00. If you've never done it before let me know I can talk you through it.

The prices I found didn't include the dust seal. I did find a site that carries the kit with the piston though. $26.95. That would do both front calipers.

[remotestartdepot]

Originally Posted by bzer1

OK... I just found a price for the caliper kits for that car. Locally I would pay $16.00, on the net I would pay $9.00. Do a search for auto parts, and look up the price. If it's a customers calipers at the very least I would try to sell him/her the rebuild kits with the job. As a mechanic I would try to sell the whole rebuild job. you can buy the caliper hone for about $15.00. If you've never done it before let me know I can talk you through it.

The prices I found didn't include the dust seal. I did find a site that carries the kit with the piston though. $26.95. That would do both front calipers.

I would like a walk through if you could.

Thanks,
Kris