Rebuilding calipers

[RandallNeighbour]

Well, a buddy and I tackled the project today.

Swapped the rotor out because it was indeed warped. 6 millionths or whatever of warping... enough to create a lot of vibration when driving at freeway speeds as well as braking.

We also rebuilt the caliper. Getting the pistons back in required a C clamp and a lot of praying so as not to tear the dust boot, which we did on the aftermarket boots I bought. They're not as thick or durable as Porsche ones.

Getting the dust boots seated without tearing through the rubber isn't easy either.

Now I must buy new bearings for the front wheels. One is tight and the other is loud. Hans will have to do this job though. I don't have the equipment to pull them and replace them.

BTW, tore up my nice red painted caliper and the porsche decal doing this job. Now I have to buy the G3 paint system and more decals when I get the other side done.

[blinkwatt]

Randall,

Where the rotors that warped aftermarket?

[RandallNeighbour]

Yes. Zimmerman cross-drilled.

However, I don't think it was a faulty rotor. It was the fact that an original caliper piston was not retracting properly due to the age of the seal, which I replaced. It must have become "stuck" when extending under hard braking and overheated the rotor, warping it.

Hopefully, I won't have any more brake-related issues any time soon.

The lesson to learn in all this is that when you start replacing original brake rotors after 105k, you should probably consider replacing the caliper seals to save time and money later.

Of course, my caliper problem might have been unique, but my thinking is that if I'm planning to keep the car for an indefinite period of time and it has 100+k on it, I might as well do what might go out later.

In hindsight, I should have sent off all four calipers to the company I saw somewhere that rebuilds them and powder coats them any color you like for $250 a set or thereabouts. The seals for all four wheels would be nearly this amount anyway.