Front and Rear Calipers Refurb Winter Project

[thunderstarter]

Hi all, just thought I'd share some photos of the rebuild of my front and rear calipers.

As most of you probably already know, the rear calipers on our cars are an identical Citroen Bendix unit fitted to the front axle of the XM amongst other Citroen models. They have an odd handbrake mechanism that Ive never seen before, but then I'm used to working on motorcycle calipers and they don't tend to have handbrakes!

On my Vee, one caliper was partially seized and the other side was starting to leak fluid through the back of the caliper and out of the handbrake mechanism... time for an overhaul I think!

I thought about sending them to a company called 'biggred' (caliper specialist re-manufacturer) but in the end I thought I'd have a go at it myself and just bought the seal kit from them.

Starting to strip one of the calipers down...

Showing Rear side of caliper and the handbrake mechanism exposed...

Starting to take handbrake mechanism apart...

Carrier and slider bolt...

All seals, dust seals, and rubber boots removed ready to be shot blasted and painted...

 

[thunderstarter]

Just got the rears back from the painters today!.. blasted and powdercoated:

I think I must have been a magpie in a previous life, I just love picking shiney things up from the powdercoaters!

 

[Matt]

Good job there mate

 

[Brembov6]

Great job.

How easy is it just to take the calipers off for blasting then painting?

 

[thunderstarter]

Great job.

How easy is it just to take the calipers off for blasting then painting?

Hi fella, its easy enough to get them off, unbolt them from the mounts, disconnect the brake line/hose. (Im replacing all the felxible hoses on the car with Braided lines), then catch the brake fluid in a container.

The difficulty if you want to blast and paint them is that the caliper(s) will need to be stripped down. That means taking all the seals, dust covers etc off. quite a time consuming process. If you are not too confident attempting this then there are places that can do it for you.

If you want to do a quick job then you can mask off all the rubber parts and just clean the calipers in situ, then spray paint them, but for me that wouldn't be a propper job.

 

[Kett]

Put on the 'how to' members' section me thinks! Re-assembly first...

 

[Ali]

Good work.

 

[ColinG]

They look tip top!!

Wouldn't be brave enough to attempt that personally lol

 

[thunderstarter]

Just got the fronts back from the painters. I went a differnt route with these. The rears were shot blasted and powdercoated, the fronts were etch primed, painted with 2 pack, decals applied then laquered. Im very pleased with the results. Here are a few before and afters...

Before:

After:

 

[Matt]

Look great mate :approve:

 

[looch]

If you're gonna do the job, do it proper... :approve:


Good work

 

[Duncan]

fantastic job! they look great. :approve:

 

[JimA]

Nice! & shiny, shiny...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwzaifhSw2c

Really liking your refurb, top notch job [smilie=yay.gif]

 

[Ali]

Dan, when you had the rears painted how did you ensure no paint went inside the calipers??

 

[roystinho]

Where did you send them? My rears need doing and with being local...

Though I think I'd just send them off as a whole though

 

[thunderstarter]

Dan, when you had the rears painted how did you ensure no paint went inside the calipers??

Hi Ali, not sure when you posted this, only just seen it! I had my rears painted by a place in Nottingham, I think they use a metalic/foil like masking tape to ensure the internal bore of the caliper does not get any paint inside.

cheers Dan

 

[thunderstarter]

Where did you send them? My rears need doing and with being local...

Though I think I'd just send them off as a whole though

Hi, I sent my rears off to this guy in Nottingham.

http://www.notjustwheels.co.uk/

A few other people on this forum have used him and got worried that he was dodgy, but Its because hes a one man band, and his communication is not fantastic! I delivered and picked up my calipers from him, so I wasnt too stressed. I had a complete mare with mine as I tried to do them myself originally, had them painted, bought the seal kits and then promtly f@@ked the new seals on reasembly, about £60 worth of seals down the pan. I was so pissed off I just got this guy to do them for me.

The rear calipers are standard cast metal items off a citroen XM, and are easy to paint. The front ap racing calipers are alloy and have a special anodized finish that is wrecked if they are shot blast, so thats why I opted to have them etch primed, spray painted and laquered. a local paint specialist in Brighouse did these for me. I sourced the AP decals off ebay! They are heat resistant specific ones for brake calipers. (sorry I have probably already posted this above, but its so long ago and I cant be arsed to read it all again

The whole job was a steep learning curve, and with seal kits, painting etc, cost more than I originally set out to spend!

Give me a shout if you need any more help,

cheers
Dan

ps when is your car ready from Rick's? Still waiting for parts or is he still closed for xmas/new year? He will be doing my cam belt some time in the new year.

 

[roystinho]

Thanks for that

My fronts are perfect, looks like they've been done recently in black, the rears just look a bit rough in comparison hence why I want them doing. Might do a bit of research into finding a local firm that can do them.

Mine is waiting for parts. They've closed between xmas and new year so hopefully they'll get cracking on it from the 2nd and it'll be ready soon

Cheers

Danny :approve: