Hey guys, it's been a while since I've posted on here, so I thought I'd share some progress with my brembo caliper rebuild on my evo 8. There isn't a whole lot of information out there on the web for how to do this either, so I figured I'd post my story. Hopefully it benefits someone down the road.

Long story short, my evo 8 is 12 years old and the calipers look like poo and are very dirty. Plus I've had issues where it appears to warp rotors once a year. So I figure a good rebuild of all calipers, new brake lines, and new fluids should bring the brakes back to optimal performance.

Step 1 (obviously) is to remove the calipers from the car. This is the easiest part as each caliper has two bolts holding it on to the knuckle, and one bolt for the brake line. So 12 bolts later, you have free calipers. Step two is dis-assembly. The hardest part is getting the pistons out. You will need to get an air compressor for this. Remove the pads and metal hardware from the caliper. Then put a block of wood in between all four pistons. Otherwise, when you blow compressed air through the caliper, pistons go flying! Once the wood is in place, blow compressed air through the hole where the brake line bolts in. The pistons will push out, with a good amount of force so be careful. Remember, safety goggles!

Once the pistons are partly out, remove the wood. Get a nice long flat head screwdriver with a good long tip and pry out the pistons. Be careful not to score the sides. Use the lip at the top. Sorry for lack of pictures here. Once they are out, you can use a good set of picks to remove the dust shields and the seals. Again be careful not to scratch the walls where the piston goes!

For better pics and reference, I used this post on nosaic as a guide: http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/show...php?p=32758868

Currently the calipers are soaking in a degreaser solution. Next chance I get I'll scrub them down, let them dry, sand, and paint. More updates to come.

Here is how they sit:

 

Looking forward to more updates

 

Spend some time cleaning the hardware. A little elbow grease goes a long way. Now I just have to finish sanding the calipers to get ready for paint.

 

Good luck on the rebuild. I think I'm going to have to do this soon as well. Track days do a number on them..

 

Thanks! I think I'm going to just send them out for powder coating at this point. Sanding these down properly by hand will take FOREVER. Plus I feel like a shop would do a better job with a media blaster.

 

Update: I dropped off the calipers at Intuitive Powder Coating (http://intuitivepowder.com/) yesterday. A guy from another car forum had recommended them and they are only 3 miles away from me, so I had to try them out. The guys there seemed really cool and it seems like they do good work. I'll post up pictures when they come back.

 

Finally got the calipers back from powder coating and they look sexy! Re-assembly was a breeze. You can push the pistons in by hand, so long as you have it in exactly straight. I got everything assembled and ready to be installed back on the car later today along with some new brake fluid. More updates to come. Pics below

 

I got everything bolted up yesterday, then went to bleed the brakes. Started with the passenger side rear (as directed in the manual). A few tries and I'm getting solid fluid, no air. Great! Move on to the driver's side front. Several attempts and fluid is barely trickling out with lots of air. Baffled, I look around the passenger side front to see brake fluid on the ground! Zoinks! Looks like the passenger side front is leaking from one of the pistons / seals. So I removed it from the car. I didn't have time to take it all apart and fix it, but hopefully that's the only leak and its an easy fix!

 

i went through this same process over the winter. I actually ordered all replacement rubber seals from STM ( http://www.streettunedmotorsports.co..._seal_kits.htm ) but ended up having to re-use some of the originals because the aftermarket ones were not a perfect fit (piston would not go back in).
Also for anyone who might try this and possibly cause some damage to a piston or two.. there's a solution for that on a site called RockAuto.com
Follow through to your listed Evo and you will find replacement pistons etc !!
Here is a pic of my finished product.. I paint and stencilled the Brembo back on with reverse stencils from http://www.eagleday.com/bobrst.html.
I used VHT high temp caliper paint red base, black for stencil and then lots of clear over all.

 

Nice work! I actually ordered my kit directly from Girodisc, as I think that's where STM gets their kits from. However I just ordered another kit from STM because Girodisc took a week to get them to me!

Took apart the leaking caliper to find one of the seals must have gotten nicked

 

good work buddy

 

Nice work! Thanks for posting. I have a feeling i'll be doing this as well eventually...

 

Glad it was an obvious problem, easy to find! Hope you got it all straightened out.

 

Thanks! I'm waiting for the new set of seals to arrive, hopefully this week. In the meantime I'm playing the waiting game.

 

New seals in and the caliper went back on the car. So I started the 2 man bleeding procedure starting with the passenger rear caliper outside bleeder valve. It started out as thought there was already no air in the lines! So I kept going to make sure, and low and behold tons of air starting coming out. The problem was that it kept coming out. Almost an hour later on the SAME valve and I couldn't bleed the air out. I'm assuming this is because the lines were open for so long? I don't see any leaks anywhere and the reservoir is barely losing fluid. Every so often my helper would tell me the pedal was getting stiff and then I would get a series of pumps where it was mostly fluid coming out, but then it went back to mostly air and the pedal lost pressure. I'm a little baffled, but I'm going to see if I can rent or borrow a pressurized bleeder that will vacuum the fluid out. Unless someone has some theories as to what's going on?