Alloy brake calliper refubishment Q's

[K Simmonds]

I want to refurbish my Alcon callipers. There's no serious corrosion, in fact considering their 15 years old I'm impressed by how little they've deteriorated.

So I've got a couple of questions.

What's the best bet for removing the old paint, media blasting or acid dipping?

Can anyone recommend somewhere re the above question?

What's best for refinishing them? I want them in black.

Where the hell do I start looking for new seals and pads?

[Flat on my back]

.

I would recommend you try the products of GT500.

[ericd]

I want to refurbish my Alcon callipers. There's no serious corrosion, in fact considering their 15 years old I'm impressed by how little they've deteriorated.

So I've got a couple of questions.

What's the best bet for removing the old paint, media blasting or acid dipping?

Can anyone recommend somewhere re the above question?

What's best for refinishing them? I want them in black.

Where the hell do I start looking for new seals and pads?

you'll get a seal kit from Trident racing supplies Silverstone , around £80 , as far as pads go , double chcek the sticker on the caliper it'll state which depth of pad/disc was for that caliper, you've btype caliper so will probably be 330mm disc/ 16mm pad combo, for ds2500 compound you're want p/no: FRP1077H, I think i posted a few places over the years where i got them , last time around £120 delivred shop around , but that's part no, there's a plethora of pad option and prices if you wanna try and get the alcon original setup, just remember the pad depth you need (16mm or whatever), cause there were 4 different depth available on the btype

[K Simmonds]

you'll get a seal kit from Trident racing supplies Silverstone , around £80 , as far as pads go , double chcek the sticker on the caliper it'll state which depth of pad/disc was for that caliper, you've btype caliper so will probably be 330mm disc/ 16mm pad combo, for ds2500 compound you're want p/no: FRP1077H, I think i posted a few places over the years where i got them , last time around £120 delivred shop around , but that's part no, there's a plethora of pad option and prices if you wanna try and get the alcon original setup, just remember the pad depth you need (16mm or whatever), cause there were 4 different depth available on the btype

Eric, thank you. That's exactly the sort of info I'm after.

Yes my discs are currently 330mm, once their worn out I want to look into revising the set up slightly to allow me to run 16" wheels should I want to.

[ericd]

Eric, thank you. That's exactly the sort of info I'm after.

Yes my discs are currently 330mm, once their worn out I want to look into revising the set up slightly to allow me to run 16" wheels should I want to.

Hmmm, are you sure the caliper and bracket etc will fit under 16"

[K Simmonds]

Hmmm, are you sure the caliper and bracket etc will fit under 16"

No they won't at the moment, but I can just about bolt up a 16" 3B wheel with a 10mm wheel spacer. However the calliper is 'just' in contact with inside of the rim, obviously this not in anyway satisfactory. I'm yet to look into what disc's are available for the bells but I reckon if went for something around 318/20mm and got new brackets machined to position the calliper to suit then there'd be 2/3 mm of clearance without a spacer. I'll work it out properly when my current discs are worn out, may not be feasible but I'm fairly hopeful.

[Kieron20V]

I've been searching for replacement discs for mine today.

Came accross this spreadsheet. Its a Czech site but all the info is pretty easy to figure out.
Second tab btw.
The part number for the discs im after is DIV2135, according to the spreadsheet they're available in 300-335mm, but I would imagine they would have to be specially made.

I bet if you loose/machine down the spacers between the calipers and find suitably smaller diameter discs, you could fit them under 16s.

I will be getting hold of Trident this week regarding new discs, so I can give you a heads up on the price of those should you choose to keep them the same size. Be warned though, Previous bill is over £550! in 2007.

Kieron.

[K Simmonds]

Thanks for the info, I was expecting the disc's to be ridiculously expensive. Mine have got at least another set of pads worth of life left on them but the pads (as can be seen in the photos) are shot.

I'll be interested to hear how much your end up costing as that will at least give me an idea.

[Smith_S2]

I would recommend you try the products of GT500.

I'll Second that GT500 did a fantastic job of my rear brakes £160 inc new pad retainers, bolts, seals, paint, bleed nipples and postage. Worth every penny!

[K Simmonds]

That's bloody good value, thanks for the heads up.

[Kieron20V]

Trident got back to me today with prices for the discs.

£249.84 Each plus vat. 3-4 weeks delivery time as they have to be manufactured.
Meh.

Just curious Kieran, do you know how long your discs have lasted? Seems my last set have only done ~20k miles. Not good.

[K Simmonds]

That's a lot of money for discs, oh well.

Mine have aprox .75mm of wear each side, no idea how long they've been on there but I suspect it's been a lot longer than 20K. I guess it depends a lot on how aggressive your pads are.

I'm getting my set up reworked to 320mm soon to allow me to run 16"'s again.