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-   -   Look at your brake caliper dust covers (http://986forum.com/forums/boxster-racing-forum/36404-look-your-brake-caliper-dust-covers.html)

ChrisZang 07-18-2012 07:04 PM

Look at your brake caliper dust covers
 
Just a little thing to add to your maintenance list:
I had great 2 track days in Thunderhill last weekend and by now I have 92k miles on the chassis and about 40 track days (+ 20 A/X)
Yesterday night I was switching the brake pads back to street pads and while doing this one of the brake caliper dust covers came apart. I checked all of them and all the front covers are practically done for. The rears are still fine.
I guess the constant heat on the front brakes (my calipers are almost turning brown by now) has "cooked" the covers and made them brittle.
I would have never checked this and just happened to notice by accident.
Relatively cheap part to replace, by the way.
Just though I'd let you fellow racers know ....

ekam 07-20-2012 09:40 AM

I'm curious to see if the inner seals are still in good shape if the calipers are cooked to brown color...

thstone 07-20-2012 08:15 PM

Good hint on the dust covers. Fairly normal for a tracked car to have the caliper color fade. I've seen quite a few "S" models at the track with nearly brown calipers rather than the original red!

ChrisZang 07-21-2012 07:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ekam (Post 298379)
I'm curious to see if the inner seals are still in good shape if the calipers are cooked to brown color...

Goooooooooood point
What would the symptoms of worn inner seals be?

ekam 07-21-2012 08:09 AM

If your inner seals are worn you'll have break fluid leak... but the calipers should be rebuild if it's gone through that many track days IMO...

ChrisZang 07-21-2012 08:25 AM

yep, on my last track day I "lost" much more brake fluid as can be explained with pad wear :(
Anyone have the parts number for the inner seals?

ekam 07-22-2012 10:42 AM

Porsche or Brembo won't sell them due liability reasons. You can buy them from zeckhausen.com which is where I got mine.

986_c6 07-24-2012 11:44 PM

I never thought to look at the dust covers. Do you even need them if you track your car and its sole purpose is to keep brake dust away?

stephen wilson 07-25-2012 03:09 AM

I'm not sure about these calipers, but on my Formula Ford the dust seals are left off, since they can melt under race conditions.

ekam 07-25-2012 03:19 AM

You can find titanium shims that will block the heat from the brake pads... I don't think removing the dust covers is a good idea. Lol.

ChrisZang 07-29-2012 10:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 986_c6 (Post 298893)
I never thought to look at the dust covers. Do you even need them if you track your car and its sole purpose is to keep brake dust away?

I am not sure that I am following your logic. The purpose of the dust covers is to prevent brake dust from entering the brake pistons, making sure the don't seize On the track I create more brake dust that anywhere else. So why would it be a good idea to leave them off on the track?
I am not trying to be a d**ck, I am sure you thought your response through and I am missing something here...

stephen wilson 07-29-2012 01:17 PM

This may not be an issue with Boxster brakes, but the reason they are left off my FF is that they can get too hot, and actually melt, causing the caliper pistons to stick. I think the other theory is that on track they are cleaned regularly, and not subject to the long term neglect that street cars can be subjected to.

ekam 07-29-2012 02:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stephen wilson (Post 299596)
This may not be an issue with Boxster brakes, but the reason they are left off my FF is that they can get too hot, and actually melt, causing the caliper pistons to stick. I think the other theory is that on track they are cleaned regularly, and not subject to the long term neglect that street cars can be subjected to.

I think what you meant by "clean" is the calipers get rebuilt regularly after a few races. There's no way to clean dirt/dust that's trapped between the pistons... :confused:

stephen wilson 07-30-2012 03:14 AM

In my case, I just flush them with brake clean when I change pads. A FF isn't terribly hard on brakes.


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