That could come in handy, couldn't it? Better dust seals would be nice.

Shawn

 

I just called Brembo and talked to an engineer. He told me:

1. All Brembo seals are made to withstand the same temps, and didn't know of any aftermarket solution.

2. Their race setups have no dust seals at all, assuming complete frequent rebuilds.

3. One solution would be better cooling of the rotor, thru the use of a better vaned rotor and/or airflow to it.

4. Eventually contaminants would make their way past the cracked seal and potentially cause the piston to stick, thus hampering pedal feel and modulation (at best).

I'm waiting for another person to get back to his desk who might shed some more light on this situation, but this is what I have for now. Will post more later.

 

Tell you what I'm doing for now:

A brake "quiet" product that is a blue liquid that dries to an elastomeric material can be applied to the cracked seal area, and it will dry to a rubbery material. Given - it will only temporize the situation and is not a permanent solution. However, as is noted above, the real race calipers don't have these seals AT ALL, so frequent rebuilds are our only real options if we're tracking these cars anyway.

Shawn

 

I wouldnt worry about the dust seals, I work for a Brembo/APRacing dealer and for track use the guys that run Brembo F40/F50 type calipers just take the dust boots/seals out completely. Its simple, when you introduce racing type heat into that caliper the seals will melt (mine have!!). The "piston" seals are made of a rubber that will withstand very high heat.

 

Agreed, but will they withstand rubbing against brake dust, rotor dust, and miscellaneous dirt that will make its way into the cylinders?

That's really the question - we know that race guys run w/o seals, but they also rebuild frequently. So how long will the piston seals last w/o dust caps, and will the failure be benign and gradual or sudden and catastrophic? I can imagine both scenarios.

 

even without dust seals I have seen folks go for years without a caliper rebuild. The piston seals themselves are about $12 each so a rebuild once a year wouldnt be terribly expensive. Eventually the seals will wear out and let debris into the caliper bore, scuffing the pistons and weeping a bit of fluid - nothing catastrophic. Its still cheaper to leave the dust seals out rather than replace them after every track event.

 

Now that is very good news indeed!

As long as the failure is not catastrophic, then it's really no problem to just rebuild when you notice a bit of leaking fluid.

I'm just very concerned about this, having witnessed a friend total a $60K M3 after a catastrophic brake failure, which insurance would not cover because the dumbass told them he was on a track...

 

Has anyone found a place to get rebuild kits for the Brembo calipers yet, besides the dealer?

 

I've rebuilt my 993 calipers with kit's from Porsche that were $25 each/piston. It included the dust boot,seal, and piston. When one of the kits came with the wrong seal and I was in a pinch I called Stoptech and used one of their piston seals. It was only $5. That being said, I would think that we can just order the correct piston size seal from Stoptech for a heck of a lot cheaper. I haven't tried this yet but will be later this summer. That is unless someone else does and finds it doesn't work.

 

what about ceramic brake pad backings? I've read somewhere that they dramatically reduce heat transfer into the caliper.. or simply upgrading to directional vaned instead of pillar rotors?

 

what about this product?




http://girodisc.com/catalog/product_...roducts_id=209

 

I was changing my pads, not too long ago, and accidentally popped out a piston. I did the job in a parking lot, so I was pressured, and shoved the thing back in. Who knows what damage was done, but it does seem my fluid is dirty...Time to rebuild, methinks.

Tell me the tricks of the rebuild, or should I just have a shop do it?

 

I spoke with Brembo today regarding piston sizes used on the EVO 8 caliper. The piston sizes used are for the front (2) 46 mm and (2) 40 mm. I also inquired as to the sizes used by the Ferrari F40 and F50 which are out of production (the calipers) and found that the F40 piston sizes are 38 mm and 44 mm whereas the F50 uses 40 mm as well as 44 mm pistons.

It would be quite easy to simply use some square cut O-Rings made of Viton which will exceed the manufacturers temperature rating for the piston O-Rings. The dust boots I was told are used only on the street application calipers whereas competition /track calipers do not come supplied with dust boots.

Brembo does not even reccomend rebuilding of the calipers even though Mitsubishi sells the parts for this process. They will tell you that the torque for the bolts will not come out correctly if there is paint or powder where the bolt heads seat. That you should never attempt to separate the two machined halves of the caliper. They went on and on but this dialogue was simply the party line that they tell everyone due to legal issues the tech told me this in as much as I told him I have rebuilt a significant number of calipers with Stainless Steel pistons, and rebuild kits etc. They do not want the responsibility if you have a catastrophic brake failure having rebuilt the calipers youself!

I think that anyone that takes the requisite care and precautions when rebuilding the caliper can strip the piece (removing seals, dust caps, pistons) and powder coat the piece and then rebuild the caliper without any issues. You obviously need to mask where you do not wish the powder to go and will likely come up with a far superior finish both cosmetically and durability wise then delivered as new from Brembo or most other manufacturers.

I found the caliper kits from a local dealer and they were priced at $118.77 each list price. I am planning on checking into the Square Cut Viton O-Rings for the upcoming rebuild soon. They will likely cost only a few dollars a piece.

 

good info! if you do the rebuild, PLEASE PLEASE take pictures of the process and do a thorough writeup. There's many people here (including me, even though I don't need a rebuild ...yet...) that would be terribly thankful.

 

http://www.racingbrake.com/Brake_Shims_s/2447.htm