Rebuild or Remanufactured Brake Calipers?

[JoeH]

Originally Posted by E350

JoeH: Just a heads up. I cleaned up my calipers and did not replace them. The Napa calipers I looked at had plastic pistons. My vehicle's calipers had metal pistons. Apparently the two types are different sizes, so if your original calipers had metal pistons you need to stay with metal pistons, etc. or the front/rear brake proportioning valve may not work properly. I also did not replace the front brake lines. My lines looked good on the outside and did not prevent the pistons from retracting. Any hang up I had was due to the slide pins being dirty, which I cleaned and lubed per above, or due to the brake pads where they slide on the brake calipers which was cured with the metal slider sleeve supplied with the new brake pads and some Napa Permatex purple brake slide pin lube. I also bought Napa slide pins and slide bolts, but didn't use them. I didn't use them because they were not grade 10.9, while the OEM were 10.9 hardness and cleaned up nicely. I did use the Napa cheap brake pads. They are soft and stop the vehicle well. My thinking is, I want the wear to be to the pads not to the rotor. They do create a black dust on the front wheels however, which I use a 99 Cents Store spray on spray water on to take off wheel cleaner once a month to remove. I still have the brake fluid total replacement flush yet to do.

In the end, I determined that my OEM calipers, etc. were better than Napa and just needed a thorough cleaning and lubing and have been working great since. No pulling to one sidehoses, the

Interesting. I wonder if that is why Rockauto has two different Motorcraft reman units. Are Phenolic pistons plastic?

Anyhow, my plan is new Hawk pads LTS with the stock brakes and Brakeman treated rotors. The rotors at 92,000 miles have lots of life left. They are relatively smooth and I've had no hint of pulsation, which usually is an indicator of a hard spot. so, I plan on having them turned to at least take any glaze off using an on-car lathe.

I'm adding stainless brakelines and I'll first see if that makes any difference and then in another year or two consider doing bigger brakes like Oldbonesclimber did with his older rig. It would seem from my research so far that bigger calipers and rotors trumps fancy aftermarket calipers any day of the week. I also like the idea that by using the >2008 F550 or E450 brakes that I can readily source the parts if I break down far from home. And by then I'll also be ready to swallow the addtional expense of going from 16 to 17" rims and new tires to fit the bigger brakes.

[daveb]

Joe, you might want to call brakeman and ask about turning the rotors. Seems the time I did that resulted in wrecking the rotors. They told me to re-surface them (whatever that means) and not to turn them. Now I don't know what the local brake guy turned them at...maybe he went too far? IIRC Brakeman told me it reduces the high heat tempering they subject their rotors to. Please tell me what you find. It was a long time ago that I dealt with the rotors.

[E350]

A couple more things in my opinion:

CRC Brakleen is the best

H.F. Dark Blue Nitrile Gloves are the best

Phenolic is plastic piston

I have decided never to turn rotors again. It has never worked out for me in the past. That is why I went with Napa's soft organic pads, so that the wear is on the pad (which I will replace often) and not on the rotor (which I never want to turn or replace). In my experience, a few grooves on the rotor are ok, they function just fine with them in.

But others may have other opinions which are based on more experience or knowledge than mine.

[JoeH]

Originally Posted by daveb

Joe, you might want to call brakeman and ask about turning the rotors. Seems the time I did that resulted in wrecking the rotors. They told me to re-surface them (whatever that means) and not to turn them. Now I don't know what the local brake guy turned them at...maybe he went too far? IIRC Brakeman told me it reduces the high heat tempering they subject their rotors to. Please tell me what you find. It was a long time ago that I dealt with the rotors.

I talked to Corey at Brakeman awhile back about it and this was his reply:

Our Superbrake rotors receive a complete thermal treatment that affects the entire rotor structure, not just the surface. Their density means the rotor face is generally worn significantly less and in most cases the rotors can be used for multiple sets of brake pads. It is up to the installer or mechanic to measure the rotor and determine if they can be cleaned up to above minimum thickness and are in suitable condition for re-use with new pads.

Good advice on the rotors and it may be that I end up buying new ones. But I'd rather just knock the glaze off if needed and run another set of pads on them. They are not even close to the minimum thickness of 1.122" min thick recommended by Ford. Anyhow, my impression wrt rotor resurfacing is that there is a big difference in turning them with an on-car lathe versus a bench lathe. The latter option is sloppy and can't maintain the runout necessary to eliminate brake pulsation.

[boywonder]

I've posted this before, but here is a great article concerning "warped" rotors and runout.

http://stoptech.com/technical-support/t ... ther-myths

.....pedal pulsation is usually caused by uneven transfer of friction material onto the disk surface.

I used to work at Bendix designing aircraft engine controls; the automotive brakes division is in the same building in South Bend, IN. A handful of my old co-workers (all of us MEs) work in the brakes div which is now Bosch.

We've had the "warped rotor" discussion a few times over the years, and it mostly comes down to picking the correct pad material for the application.

Typical issues are you get your rotors turned, and very shortly thereafter you've got pedal pulsation (from an incorrect pad material choice for the driving style resulting in uneven material transfer to the disk surface).

All that being said, I try to take my rotors to a quality machine shop for turning because there is the possibility of mounting the disks on the brake lathe incorrectly....or I buy new disks.

[tildadog]

Last winter I did not drive my Quigley for about 4 months. First time out about 1/2 mile from home, my right front brake locked hard. Took it apart, brake fluid was under a little pressure. Turned out my brake hose had internally blocked / deteriorated. It was a stock brake line from Quigley conversion (2008). I also found my right front caliper was jammed up and slightly bent. Replaced all brake lines and calipers with NAPA remans, no problems so far. Be aware, those suckers are heavy and you need a big torque wrench. Still not sure if one problem was related to the other.

Good Luck

Kyle