O ring brake caliper

V

vette

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Jul 18, 2008
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436
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Carlstadt
I installed new delco O ring SS sleeved calipers about two years ago and had no leaks until now. I had the car off the road for about six months and finally got it running again. I took it for a short ride today and notice that the front caliber was leaking. Is this due to lack of driving and will it stop after driving it a few times, or do I have to rebuild the caliber with new O rings? The fluid it nice and clean still so I don't think I have a rust issue.

Thanks,
Danny
 
If it leaks it won't miraculously stop leaking. Time to rebuild the caliper, or dish out the moolah for the wilwood D8s and never have brake issues again (....Gene come on in :D )
 
I've had three rebuilt calipers (Auto Zone) leaking: one leaked right out of the box... the other one blew a seal..... the most recent one leaked from between the two caliper halves...
These calipers are just amazing: the fronts have 4 pistons, two O-rings between the halves, a bleeder and the inlet....that's 16 potential leak points on the front alone - and the past has shown that they can and will develop leaks at any of these locations...

I just rebuilt my calipers myself, used the O-ring kit and so far so good, no leaks and the brakes feel good.

I think it's less likely that the piston O-rings leak, spray the entire caliper with brake cleaner and have someone press the brake pedal while you look for the leak. Maybe it's just the small O-ring between the halves, easy fix.... just verify the mating surfaces are clean and make good contact, mine did not....
 
Eh, like TT sez.....you may get slightly better performance for the extra grand or better you spend on new calipers.....but truth of the matter is....good enough for any high perf street driving is done by O rings, no springs behind the caliper pistons, new hoses, make damn sure that warning switch is good and not leaking around the switch insert...I removed mine entirely....

and when the pedal still goes to the floor too easy, and you calipers don't leak anymore.....replace the booster with Hydroboost.....it's the route I had to take to get the last 4 trouble free years outta my brakes....

:hissyfit::clobbered:
 
Crap crap crap cr..............................well I am going to do a full body off come spring so I guess I'll add the brake with it.


Thanks,
Danny
 
Wow time flies. I thought that I got my brakes two years ago but, I found out that I got them four years ago from VPB. Anyway, I called them to see what my options were and with out hesitation they are sending me an O ring rebuild kick not for one but for both calibers. The best part is that they are doing this for free!:yahoo:

Way to go Guys,
Danny
 
vette said:
Wow time flies. I thought that I got my brakes two years ago but, I found out that I got them four years ago from VPB. Anyway, I called them to see what my options were and with out hesitation they are sending me an O ring rebuild kick not for one but for both calibers. The best part is that they are doing this for free!:yahoo:

Way to go Guys,
Danny
Click to expand...

Check the bores for damage. You would think a stainless lined bore would last forever. WRONG. The pistons rock back and forth in there and cause wear ring indentations in the bore.

I see a lot of things most C3ers don't because of the high amount of miles i put on my car. I'm done with stock calipers. If you run a search on brake problems on a bigger site you'll come up with like 10,000 hits.
 
turtlevette said:
vette said:
Wow time flies. I thought that I got my brakes two years ago but, I found out that I got them four years ago from VPB. Anyway, I called them to see what my options were and with out hesitation they are sending me an O ring rebuild kick not for one but for both calibers. The best part is that they are doing this for free!:yahoo:

Way to go Guys,
Danny
Click to expand...

Check the bores for damage. You would think a stainless lined bore would last forever. WRONG. The pistons rock back and forth in there and cause wear ring indentations in the bore.

I see a lot of things most C3ers don't because of the high amount of miles i put on my car. I'm done with stock calipers. If you run a search on brake problems on a bigger site you'll come up with like 10,000 hits.
Click to expand...

What are you going with?
 
I suppose the biggest prod to do something with my brakes, would be another failure/leak, then it's junkyard engineering once again....thing is, for all the problems with what Jim says, I saw that ONCE in the right rear of my car, pulled off the offending rotor, what was the alert was the brake pads 'clicking' on the retaining pin, actually wore the holes larger....I looked really good at what was happening, got new O ring pistons....but figgered it was one lousey rotor, so never considered it again....this was long time ago, I could look and see the rotor was not spinning concentric on the brake surface.....looked weird....only found it because of the clicking sound at lo speed, ran it in the air, and found the problem, took the caliper apart, found wear on the blue pistons...so yes, they were being cocked back and forth with the pads....

Simply said there are NO brakes worth 500 bux on top of that I have now....

the prices are ASS tronomical high for just ONE end, at 15-1800 bux, they think that somehow there are not other cheeper alternatives, they NUTZ.....

:crutches::lol::stirpot:
 
turtlevette said:
vette said:
Wow time flies. I thought that I got my brakes two years ago but, I found out that I got them four years ago from VPB. Anyway, I called them to see what my options were and with out hesitation they are sending me an O ring rebuild kick not for one but for both calibers. The best part is that they are doing this for free!:yahoo:

Way to go Guys,
Danny
Click to expand...

Check the bores for damage. You would think a stainless lined bore would last forever. WRONG. The pistons rock back and forth in there and cause wear ring indentations in the bore.

I see a lot of things most C3ers don't because of the high amount of miles i put on my car. I'm done with stock calipers. If you run a search on brake problems on a bigger site you'll come up with like 10,000 hits.
Click to expand...

I have lest than 5000 miles on the calipers and my run out is .002. I'm a mold maker and got this silicone repro stuff that we pour in the mold cavities to get measurements, so that's what I plan to do that with the bore of the caliber. This will give me any out of spec condition before I go ahead and rebuild. I still run steel lines on the front so it could be a small piece of rust under the O ring too. When I do the frame off I'll go with SS.

Danny
 
Is there a way to tell if you have stock or O-ring upgraded calipers?

Are there large quality aspects to rebuild sets? (VBandP should be okay? Right)
 
cajos1968 said:
Is there a way to tell if you have stock or O-ring upgraded calipers?

Are there large quality aspects to rebuild sets? (VBandP should be okay? Right)
Click to expand...


Some O-ring kits come with black pistons, some come with "stock" color pistons. You'll have to pull the piston out to see the seal (lip or O-ring). You have to lift the dust seal to see if it's stainless sleeved, don't think this can be done without damaging the dust seal.
I bought my O-ring kits here:
http://classiccorvetteparts.vstore.ca/
 
Hi

I am also driving the VB&P O-ring kit using my original old calipers which are stainless sleeved. So far with no problems.

Same kit in my ex 68 was leaking after 5 years and 40.000 Miles.

There is a lot of people saying that you should not use DOT 4 fluid in the Vette, but only the DOT 3. They believe that the DOT 4 might penetrate the seals and make them leak. I have asked VB&P and they claim that their seals can take every available brake fluid.

Well, I am using DOT 3 in my Vette now just to make sure. It's not a racer and the slight lower boiling point of the DOT 3 versus the DOT 4 is negligible for me.

Just a thought.

Rgds. Günther
 
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