Audi A4 B8 Brake caliper rebuild/restore
Audi A4 B8 Brake caliper rebuild/restore
A while ago I purchased a set of brand new 19" AXE EX16 wheels for my Audi A4 B8 Quattro. Once I've put them on the car I realized the brake calipers were affecting the beauty of the new wheels so I decided to do a brake caliper restore/rebuild job.
It took me a whole weekend (around 25 hours of labor) and I really like the outcome. Since I did take some pics while working on this I thought I'd share them hoping that it will provide some useful info to someone.
I was trying to keep the costs as low as possible and use whatever I had in my garage from previous projects. So, I actually didn't spend anything because I had the paint and the other materials (barrel, bars, etc...) in my garage already.
This is how the calipers were looking like when I took them off. The caliper brackets are not in the picture -- I wasn't planning to document all this -- but they were really rusty too.
The brake fluid hoses were clamped with proper hose clamps and their tips were wrapped in masking tape to avoid contamination of brake fluid.
The electrolysis barrel that I used a while ago to de-rust some two-wheel tractor parts. Initially there were 4 bars but for this project I decided to add another four (and it was a good idea).
These are the DC wires connected to the electrolysis system.
The parts are ready to take a bath. By the time I realized I should've been taking this picture from another angle, it was too late... Sorry for the "crowded" background
Approximately 6 hours after the parts went into the electrolysis barrel it was time to take a look. Everything was great. A lot of rust -- not all though -- was already separated from the calipers and the brackets. The parts went back to the barrel for another 12 hours or so (until next morning).
Caliper brackets out of the electrolysis and wire brushed. They're now ready for some paint.
Brackets are now painted (3 layers of heat resistant paint) and the masking tape is removed.
The brake calipers, as they came out from the electrolysis. Just washed/rinsed a little with some water.
The same calipers, after a few minutes of wire brushing (rotary wire brush in a drill)
The brake calipers got painted with 3 layers of heat resistant paint.
The brake pads were in very good shape so I decided to keep them.
Time to mount everything back so let's do a little cleaning...
The final result - front.caliper
The final result - rear caliper
Wheels on please
If you have any questions, I'll do my best to answer them in a timely manner. Any constructive comments will be greatly appreciated.
Next thing will be some carbon fiber and possibly a whole car wrap (satin pearl white). The material was already ordered from eBay but it'll take a while to have it in my garage...
It took me a whole weekend (around 25 hours of labor) and I really like the outcome. Since I did take some pics while working on this I thought I'd share them hoping that it will provide some useful info to someone.
I was trying to keep the costs as low as possible and use whatever I had in my garage from previous projects. So, I actually didn't spend anything because I had the paint and the other materials (barrel, bars, etc...) in my garage already.
This is how the calipers were looking like when I took them off. The caliper brackets are not in the picture -- I wasn't planning to document all this -- but they were really rusty too.
The brake fluid hoses were clamped with proper hose clamps and their tips were wrapped in masking tape to avoid contamination of brake fluid.
The electrolysis barrel that I used a while ago to de-rust some two-wheel tractor parts. Initially there were 4 bars but for this project I decided to add another four (and it was a good idea).
These are the DC wires connected to the electrolysis system.
The parts are ready to take a bath. By the time I realized I should've been taking this picture from another angle, it was too late... Sorry for the "crowded" background
Approximately 6 hours after the parts went into the electrolysis barrel it was time to take a look. Everything was great. A lot of rust -- not all though -- was already separated from the calipers and the brackets. The parts went back to the barrel for another 12 hours or so (until next morning).
Caliper brackets out of the electrolysis and wire brushed. They're now ready for some paint.
Brackets are now painted (3 layers of heat resistant paint) and the masking tape is removed.
The brake calipers, as they came out from the electrolysis. Just washed/rinsed a little with some water.
The same calipers, after a few minutes of wire brushing (rotary wire brush in a drill)
The brake calipers got painted with 3 layers of heat resistant paint.
The brake pads were in very good shape so I decided to keep them.
Time to mount everything back so let's do a little cleaning...
The final result - front.caliper
The final result - rear caliper
Wheels on please
If you have any questions, I'll do my best to answer them in a timely manner. Any constructive comments will be greatly appreciated.
Next thing will be some carbon fiber and possibly a whole car wrap (satin pearl white). The material was already ordered from eBay but it'll take a while to have it in my garage...
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Oct 7, 2014 08:52 PM
