Sup fellas.....I just recently got some brembos and want to powder coat em but I don't know how your guy's local powder coaters are but they want them empty so I don't mind buying new seals and what not but what concerns me is.....is this something I can do myself or should I take em to somebody to get done? Also I just have this feeling that if I open them up and put the new seals in or whatever that they won't work properly....I don't know...its just a feeling I have. Oh and some may say just reuse the seals but if I'm gonna open them up ill just buy new seals. I rebuilt Z32 calipers when I was gonna put them on my s13 but ended up selling the car and never got to see how they would of worked out but I had the same feelings about those as I do the brembo's. Any info is appreciated thanks!

 

for good piece of mind, i personally would have someone experienced with brake rebuilds do this. no reason to even have a doubt when messing with the brake system.

 

Subscribed. I am in a similar situation. I was planning on having a shop rebuild mine, but, am curious about other's experience or opinion.

 

what type of shop would rebuild them?? Just a regular mechanics shop or maybe brake masters??

 

It looks like the shop that I took mine to used this local company -

http://www.cambroproducts.com/default.htm

Mind you - My calipers were a mess. They were used on a T2 race car, the paint/color was completely distorted, there were nicks in the calipers, the piston seals were visibly worn/damaged, and they were Very dirty..

The remanufactured calipers are grey (ready to be washed, sanded and painted) But, they look great. Cost me $69.95 each for the two front Brembo calipers. I didn't know it, but the company seems to also offer powder-coating service. I probably could have had that done too to save myself the effort in painting.

If you want pics I can get them posted up..

 

^post them up please

 

Here are before and after pics - I only had the fronts remanufactured. The rears are still in good shape (plus budget is tight).

**Before**





***After***

 

imo they look badass just like that, raw and unpainted.

 

Well, I finally got to the point of installing these and found out that the pads do not fit in the rebuilt caliper. The pad is the correct size (119mm).. the inside of the caliper is not (119mm). There are metal brackets screwed into the caliper on the inside - and the pad hits these.. I'd have to hammer them in. The rears are fine, fronts are jacked. I hope the rebuild place will fix them 6 months after they did the work.

 

what kind of pads are you using?
you can always grind a bit of the steel on the pad to make them fit

the brackets you are talking about are guide plates, maybe they put them on wrong?

 

The pads are Hawk HB181U.590 DTC-70. These pads came off of these calipers before I sent them off to be rebuilt. I compared the size to another pad for the Brembo calipers and they are the same 119mm.

You can sort of see the guide plates in the pics I posted... I'm not going to mess with them just yet; in the event that the rebuilder will fix them for me.

I don't have access to a grinder.

 

Not much luck.. I think they tried to push those plates in some.. 2 out of 4 sides are better, but they are still tight and very tight on the other 2. The rears are great - there is about a 1mm gap.

I'm either going to go back to them again or I'll have to file down the pads on both sides to get them to have room.

Looking for any advise/experience with this...?

front, no gap pad is shoved in and sticks there


front



rear has about 1mm gap

 

so these are the same calipers you sent them?
did they blast them or burn them?
if they were burnt i wonder if something changed (expanded), but then chances are the pistons would have never fit back in the bores.

 

from their website...

Every Remanufactured Disc Brake Caliper undergoes the following vigorous remanufacturing process:

* Complete Disassembly
* Baked in Burn-Off Oven For 8 hours @700 degrees
* Blasted with 110 steel shot
* Dipped in rust-inhibitor solution
* Painted with Stainless Steel Paint

Building Process

Every Remanufactured Disc Brake Caliper undergoes the following building process:

* Completely Chase all Threads
* Seat new new OEM specified Bleeder Screw
* Install new OEM specified piston seal
* Install OEM specified piston with heavy body silicone grease
* Install new OEM specified piston boots
* Replace all rubber components with new
* Equipped with new crush washers/seats
* Visual Inspection and Leak Pressure Tested
* Lined with VCI paper and boxed with a barcode

They were able to grind down the metal brackets that the pads were getting stuck on. Maybe this is how they are brand new and the brackets wear down with use - I may never know.. but, I'm comfortable with how the pads sit in the caliper now. Just have to get them installed.

EDIT - But I see that the dtc-70 pads I have are 119mm wide, while other pads for the Brembo Z are 120mm wide. I'm hoping to try some other pads this weekend to make sure they fit.

 

I know it's an old thread, but did you ever figure out why your pads didn't fit like before after the remanufacturing process?

 

..only that some aftermarket pads are a little wider than others. Some just seem to require a little shaving to fit better.

 

It's really weird that you couldn't fit the same brake pads street the process. Did you run into any other problems with the brake calipers?

 

I did have issues .. it has been a few years now. I ended up selling them for cheap (with full disclosure of the issues I was having). I bought a new set of stoptechs and had similar issues with pads rubbing on the metal glide plates. I guess it just seems normal to have to file down the sides of new pads

 

Were the issues with your specific brake calipers or from the remanufacturing process? I'm thinking about possibly getting it done but not if it's going to cause problems.

 

I honestly think that something got messed up during the remanufacture process. Do I have hard evidence for proof? No. But, in the end, I was not happy with the results.