Lude Generation

Ok guys so I have the pics from the overhaul done on Gayno's brakes, I'll try to get this as accurate and clear as possible so you'll know what to do. Ok so some obvious stuff here but if you don't feel confident then don't try it, brakes are IMPORTANT! however it is fairly simple to do and not much to go wrong.

Lets get started, firstly remove the calipers, if you have rubber hoses then pinching them will help stop brake fluid leaking everywhere. There are 2x bolts holing the caliper and slide pin assembly on, before you undo them crack the banjo bolt holing the brake line in, the two slide pin bolts and the bleed nipple if you can. Once these bolts are loose you can undo the two bolts holding the caliper on. The rear is much the same as the front but there is the handbrake cable, this is held in by a pin with a locking clip through one end, can be fiddly and annoying but it will come out. If you're not sure have a look in the lude manual at the pics, they explain locations a lot more clearly and what is held where. On a side note there is a plastic cover on the rear calipes too, that needs to be removed and as with most things it's a lot easier to unbolt while the caliper is still securely on the car.

Ok so let's assume the calipers are all undone and off the car, getting the pots/pistons out can be a pain as can the slide pins, this goes double if they're ceased. An adjustible set of grips, big screwdrivers, pliers, hobby knife and a set of punches will help, if things are ceased then cut off the rubber boots and pull them out/off with pliers so you can get some wd40/GT85/map gas/ferrosol in there to help free things off.

The front pots can be twisted with the grips and a hole punch(flat ended one) in the banjo bolt hole can be used to knock it out, fairly simple.

The rear pots twist out and only twist out so grips or that very large screwdriver or if you're lucky a winding tool will help get it out.

All of the slide pins can be twisted and pulled out with grips/mole grips/big pliers and again penetrating oil will help loosen off stuck ones.

A quick note here is that heat can help BUT you have to remember burnt on rubber is a pain to clean and it gives off nasty fumes and above all else BRAKE FLUID IS FLAMMABLE! so if you will use heat be careful lest you get injured or maimed.

There we go for part one, sadly no pics of this bit as we were too busy fighting to get pots and pins out of the calipers. I'll post a few times so a) no timeout and having to retype it and b) it'll be a little easier to read.

Ok so fitst bits are done and things are appart, generally you don't need to dismantle the internals of the rear pots as it's complicated and they rarely fail. Now we need to start cleaning things, for slide pins, pistons, the grooves in the calipers and the oles the slide pins go in it's best to use fine grade (1200 or more) wet/dry paper or brass wire brushes, steel ones are a bit too harsh for the bits we need to remain clean and shiny. For the calipers themselves steel wire brushes work best as the outside is usually rusty and covered in thick crud.


Clean everything including the shims/clips, a dremel type device helps a lot here.


Get in to every corner and angle, it's fiddly but will pay off.


Brass brushes are best as they don't scuff up the pots or slide pins.



Close up's of the best way to clean the body of the pots, go in the same direction as they move in the caliper.


Remember to get into the grooves! Put the work in now and do it right so you only do it once


Best technique we found to use the wet/dry was in strips and it's so smooth the direction of polishing is irrelevant here but it's not much cop at removing the stubborn stuff.



Again get into the grooves to make sure the seals sit properly and don't get chewed up.


Before we cleaned this slide pin.



After you can see how smooth but pitted these are, part of why they were a fight to remove.


Brute force is the only way to clean the outside of the calipers.


Clean but dirty, better get the much rinsed.


We used a paint tray and white spirit to clean but equally a steel tray and some petrol or similar would do the job just as well.


Looking much better already.


This is why it didn't want to come out!


Try to keep the insides as clean as possible, they can be cleaned out but stuffing some kitchen roll or rag helps best if you have it.


And finally all your parts should be ready to go, clean, smooth, shiny and lovely.

+rep for this!
Going to do this myself sometime soon now

Sexy mother fucka.
Im waiting for my parcel from BigRedd. It should be hear on wednesday.
2 ATR calipers and carriers and 2 Prelude rear calipers and carriers stripped and refurbed for £250 delivered.
Naked finish so i can use my own paint.

Now you're ready to do the most important and if you've never done it before tricky bits, there are some tips I'll drop in along the way to make things easier. At this point I'll say that we used copper grease on the slide pins, it's not the specific grease for them but neither myself nor Gayno has had any trouble using it, it seems to be a little hit and miss but we had no issues so it's up to you if you buy the specific caliper grease or not, we had copper so used it.

Also there are no pics of it but using solvents, rags and wet/dry paper we smoothed the insides of the slide pin holes too, it's important to make sure the pins feel smooth going in and out of them when there is no grease on either surface.

Ok so on to the pics and details.


Use a little of the supplied grease to lube up the internal seals all over, this helps them last longer.


Locate the seal in the innermost groove, will go in really easy and keep itself there.


Just like this, in place as it should be


Use a little more of the grease to lightly coat the pots.


Spread it around to coat the pot fairly evenly all over the sides and the locating groove at the top.


Make sure the dust boot is the right way round, seems obvious but be sure before you get carried away.



Slide the dust boot on from the bottom of the pot all the way to the top so it locates into the groove.


This is counter intuitive but pull the outside of the boot back doen toward the bottom like in the pic. DON'T PULL IT OFF.


A little more so it overhangs the bottom.


Just like this, now we're getting there, having it this close to the bottom is a little trick that works well.


Use the rest of the grease from the tube inside the seal like this, you get one tube per refub kit so 4 in total.


Now locate the dust boot into the outermost groove while still overhanging the pot, this can be a little tricky.


Once it's located level out the pot to make sure no edges are puckered and you can see it's all sat level and as it should be.




Now gently push the pots in, make sure things stay seated and not pinched anywhere.



The rear pots are much the same but once located they TWIST in



The slide pin seals go in fairly easy, a little tip here is to lube the inside of the hole first then put the seal in then "pinch" the seal a bit to let air out when you put the slide pin into the hole.





Try to spread the lube as evenly as you can to coat the pins really well, don't want them sticking or ceasing in then they should look nice and neat when done like the last 2 pics, lovely.


Now everything is ready to go back on the car, a thin smear of copper grease over all the shims and clips along with the usual places on the brake pads and calipers means everything slides freely, IIRC when MOT'd after this Gayno got about a 1kg difference in braking force across any of the calipers which is stuff all in a word. As yet my ludes calipers have not ceased and she's been used for a year and sat for 3 so far and Gayno's have not ceased either or gone sticky, I'm sure he can quote times as I can't remember, know it's over a year

The above tip was devised by myself after a couple of hours trying and swearing at my calipers, it is the best way of getting the dust boot in the right place with minimal chance of pinching or tearing the seal. After all that it's not so complicated looking now is it Cheers for the extra rep, been meaning to do this for a while and the theory will work for pretty much any piston based caliper including the likes of my Stagea ones, although my rear calipers do not house the handbrake, the handbrake mechanism and shoes are inside the bell of the disk theory is still sound and simple too. Between 3 of us we managed all 4 in one day and that includes fighting to get the ceased parts out

Aswarm write up, I have a set of rear calopers im my garage to do, + Rep

Fantastic write up bud. Wish I had this when I tackled my first one way back when.

A word of warning though, that pitted piston needs replacing, I wouldn't put that back in the caliper. Just get a replacement from Brakes International - about £20 last time I checked (long time ago mind!).

EDIT: +repped!

Excellent write up and very good, clear photos!

They should be clear dude you took them thanks for getting them sorted.

Rob it went back in as we had no replacement and Adam is looking to replace it sometime, we made sure the pot was insanely smooth and we also made sure to use a shed load of grease around that one bit of the pot, not ideal but no issues thus far and I doubt the pot is any weaker in real terms. I do agree though, if you have time replace anything tats pitted like that where you can.