love tracking this car; brake calipers and wheel studs issues

[suaveflooder]

Nice! Great thread!

[smbstyle]

Originally Posted by rice_classic

Whoa. Once a year? I'd be comfortable riding in your car with that level of preventative maintenance!

I don't even do that on my wildly under-braked race car. The only time I've "rebuilt" a caliper is when the refurbed unit I bought came with a bad seal (out of round) or I've had a caliper piston seize (melted the seal to the side of the housing!).

Do you want to know a little racer secret? When rebuilding the caliper, rub just a little bit of dielectric grease on the seal before you slide the piston in the housing (instead of using brake fluid) and it will keep it from seizing on you at the track, especially at tracks that are really hard on brakes.

Oh yeah, don't forget to re-lube the guide pins.

You're welcome.

Yeah the rebuild kit for the BRZ is pretty slick (no pun intended); comes with specific grease for using on the inner caliper seal and then specific grease for the slide pins, along with a replacement for every other single rubber piece.

I've got a few tubes of the silicon based NAPA Sil-Glyde that I use on the slide pins routinely.

[Dave-ROR]

Originally Posted by rice_classic

Whoa. Once a year? I'd be comfortable riding in your car with that level of preventative maintenance!

I don't even do that on my wildly under-braked race car. The only time I've "rebuilt" a caliper is when the refurbed unit I bought came with a bad seal (out of round) or I've had a caliper piston seize (melted the seal to the side of the housing!).

Do you want to know a little racer secret? When rebuilding the caliper, rub just a little bit of dielectric grease on the seal before you slide the piston in the housing (instead of using brake fluid) and it will keep it from seizing on you at the track, especially at tracks that are really hard on brakes.

Oh yeah, don't forget to re-lube the guide pins.

You're welcome.

lol same here, the race car gets calipers rebuilt when one fails

The BRZ might get them done every few years.. maybe.

[smbstyle]

Originally Posted by Dave-ROR

lol same here, the race car gets calipers rebuilt when one fails

The BRZ might get them done every few years.. maybe.

It's probably excessive, but I like tinkering with crap lol. Not only that, but the dust boots are a bit torn up, the inside bushing on the slide pin is torn, and I'm taking them off anyways as I'm putting on SS lines.

[kiichiro]

Originally Posted by Gearhead1

My BRZ is a daily driver that sees occasional track days. Because of the limited confines for brake ducts, I tried "experimental" powered brake ducts from rooducts.com (look for "Universal Fan Ducts"). These little fans move a ton of air and made a HUGE difference. No more boiled brake fluid--even with the stock "horse piss". Before you spend a lot of money or tear up rotors with aggressive pads, try these first, then see what additional upgrades you need.

Nice!

[rice_classic]

Originally Posted by smbstyle

Yeah the rebuild kit for the BRZ is pretty slick (no pun intended); comes with specific grease for using on the inner caliper seal and then specific grease for the slide pins, along with a replacement for every other single rubber piece.

That is indeed a nice rebuild kit. Good on them.

[mav1178]

Originally Posted by ATL BRZ

You wanna do me (and everyone else) a solid favor and take some pics and do a quick write up? I've never rebuilt a caliper before.

There's TONS of information on YouTube and various sites on Google that show how to rebuild calipers. The hardest part is using the right size wood and compressed air to pop the caliper pistons out. But even that is easy once you know what you're doing.

With the stock dual piston setup, the hardest part is to get both to pop. You usually have to pop one piston out, push it back in, use more wood to prevent the first piston that popped... and somehow get the second piston to pop out. Once you have both loosened and out from the seals, it's fairly easy to remove the pistons.

I am in the process of rebuilding my Endless BBK calipers, some pics can be found here:
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showp...11&postcount=2

-alex

[kiichiro]

Originally Posted by Gearhead1

My BRZ is a daily driver that sees occasional track days. Because of the limited confines for brake ducts, I tried "experimental" powered brake ducts from rooducts.com (look for "Universal Fan Ducts"). These little fans move a ton of air and made a HUGE difference. No more boiled brake fluid--even with the stock "horse piss". Before you spend a lot of money or tear up rotors with aggressive pads, try these first, then see what additional upgrades you need.

Do you have them relay switched to brake pedal? I like!

[Mersd]

Check out these ducted fans that gearhead1 mentioned. Looks promising.

http://rooducts.com/?page_id=323

[glamcem]

Originally Posted by rice_classic

Looks like you're doing everything right.

ARP: Check
Open lugs: Check
Brake ducting: Check
High temp fluid: Check


Some other ideas that might improve the longevity of some items:

1: put a little anti-seize on the wheel studs. It helps if you need to take the lugs off when things are really hot.
2: Wrap your ball joints/tie-rod joints in heat reflective tape so the heat from the brakes doesn't destroy the grease in them or destroy the boots around them.
3: Titanium backing plates can help as a thermal barrier between the inside brake pad and the pistons which can go a long way to keeping those dust boots in your calipers in tact.
4: HP PLUS!? I would definitely recommend a race pad considering your time on track and tire choice. Porterfield R4, Hawk DTC-70, Raybestos ST43 or 45. etc etc. Changing pads at the track requires a 14mm wrench and 5 minutes of your time... Might as well.

http://porterfield-brakes.com/index.php

@rice_classic
very informative post for new BRZ owners (ahem..lol)..

I have a few questions:

• What's the real benefit of using an extended stud? Longevity?Strength? or both?
• Can I use extended studs with OEM wheel lug nuts? Someone posted a photo with OEM wheel. FYI, I already ordered my RPF-1 17x9 +35mm wheels, closed extended lugs and already have a set of 235-45-17 Nitto NT-01 which will be used
• I was really happy with the ST-43s when it comes to braking power with my Corvette since its the operating temps are very good which makes it easier for both street use and track use and the friction on the rotors were not bad compared to other race pads ( can be seen here http://www.raybestosbrakes.com/magno...rts_PCA_r1.pdf
  but the noise was terrible especially with the Z06 calipers (padlet design) so I wonder How is the noise on the BRZ?
• Can you provide a part number? I searched but couldn't anywhere on Raybestos or Porterfield's website
• What kind of brake ducting are you using on your car?

Thanks in advance

[smbstyle]

Here's the caliper rebuild writeup:

http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=60896

[randyzimmer]

Originally Posted by kiichiro

Do you have them relay switched to brake pedal? I like!

Hi, thanks for all the interest.
My site stats have been going nuts the past week.
Gearhead and I have been seeing what's possible with these and the one on the strut, while "safe" from heat doesn't work as well as the one on the spindle.
That one needs to be on whenever you're on the track and a while afterward - think, "Leaf Blower Guys" in F1.
The plastic is fine (so far in testing) as long as the fan is moving air.
I have a couple more sets out there and I'm waiting for more feedback before claiming victory.
If the heat can't be managed, we can go back to the strut mount but the spindle mount is just so cool...

[Dave-ROR]

Originally Posted by SpeedLab

Keep an eye on those ARP studs. I've had pretty bad luck with them stripping/siezing in the past. If you even THINK the lugs aren't going on smoothly, i would replace them with a fresh set. I got about 6-8 months out of a set before they siezed a lug.

Alternatively - use just a wee bit of anti-sieze on them. I know it's not recommended due to torque differences.. but it may help.

We replace them yearly just in case on the race car but on DE cars I've gone for years without issues. Now I don't swap wheels/tires/etc when the brakes, studs, etc are hot either...

[Black Tire]

Originally Posted by rice_classic

Barring the sci-fi reality of Mr. Freeze's freeze ray... There's no such thing as too much cooling for your braking system. (In the context of a car on a racetrack)

Oops! I guess the liquid nitrogen spray brake cooling system that I was developing won't really work then.

Back on topic: I just wanted to comment that this is a great thread. Lots of great advice and techniques for dealing with a very common problem.

Anti-sieze on wheel stud threads is your friend. Since I drive my car all winter in Minnesota, this ensures that I will be able to remove the wheels when spring comes. [Minnesota is a land of plentiful road salt.] My preferred anti-sieze for this purpose was a white ceramic one that I bought from Griot's garage years ago. They no longer sell it, and I have not been able to find any similar products. Being ceramic, it was neutral and did not contribute to galvanic corrosion.