filter27e
05-15-2006, 10:35 PM
So yeah my car finally got out of the garage after about 3 weeks of waiting for incorrect parts. I doubt anybody wants to read the whole sob story but basically I'll give you all a warning: If you ever decide you want to rebuild your calipers and your Legacy came with 14" wheels, DO NOT try to get the rebuild kits from anywhere but the dealership. Beck & Arnley is publishing the incorrect part number and they don't carry the kit for 14" wheel's single-pot calipers. So anyways, somewhere in the middle of this time period I decided to paint my calipers while waiting for parts, and would therefore have to clean them.
What I always thought was the calipers themself rusting and leaving me with a rough, pitted surface was actually just years of brake dust caked on and rusted onto the calipers. So that's where several days of coming home from work and grinding rust of my calipers with a dremel began. I ended up losing patience and only grinding the visible sides of the caliper after a while because it's so time consuming... some areas had up to an eigth of an inch caked on and no matter what I tried nothing but a grinding stone could take it off.
So at any rate the fun parts:
Gold high temp paint: $4
Satisfied Gransport 6 carbon ceramic pads: $20 Front(clearance), $50 rear
Aimco GS rotors sold as Raybestos: $130
Front Calipers minor rebuild kit: $29
Rear Caliper minor rebuild kits: $16 x 2
Synthetic Dot 4 Brake fluid: I forgot, eh, $8
I have pictures of the whole process but too lazy to post them tonight, not on my computer right now and I have tomorrow off. So the summary is it was a hell of a lot cheaper then buying 4 rebuilt calipers, but I wish I had bought some used WRX calipers instead... also wish I had installed stainless lines while I was in there because even though I can stop on a dime it has a generally spongy feel to the pedal...
They're very quiet pads, and so far I've already had one person feel it was necessary to dart off to the side because they were afraid they were going to hit me on the highway... love rush hour traffic.
So yeah.... tired.... pics tomorrow.... buy a blasting cabinet next time.... paint your calipers AFTER you rebuild them cause you'll get brake fluid everywhere.... peace.
What I always thought was the calipers themself rusting and leaving me with a rough, pitted surface was actually just years of brake dust caked on and rusted onto the calipers. So that's where several days of coming home from work and grinding rust of my calipers with a dremel began. I ended up losing patience and only grinding the visible sides of the caliper after a while because it's so time consuming... some areas had up to an eigth of an inch caked on and no matter what I tried nothing but a grinding stone could take it off.
So at any rate the fun parts:
Gold high temp paint: $4
Satisfied Gransport 6 carbon ceramic pads: $20 Front(clearance), $50 rear
Aimco GS rotors sold as Raybestos: $130
Front Calipers minor rebuild kit: $29
Rear Caliper minor rebuild kits: $16 x 2
Synthetic Dot 4 Brake fluid: I forgot, eh, $8
I have pictures of the whole process but too lazy to post them tonight, not on my computer right now and I have tomorrow off. So the summary is it was a hell of a lot cheaper then buying 4 rebuilt calipers, but I wish I had bought some used WRX calipers instead... also wish I had installed stainless lines while I was in there because even though I can stop on a dime it has a generally spongy feel to the pedal...
They're very quiet pads, and so far I've already had one person feel it was necessary to dart off to the side because they were afraid they were going to hit me on the highway... love rush hour traffic.
So yeah.... tired.... pics tomorrow.... buy a blasting cabinet next time.... paint your calipers AFTER you rebuild them cause you'll get brake fluid everywhere.... peace.