E36 M3 Evo - Ceased Brake Caliper

[bazzer79]

Only problem is that I am now living in Winchester, Hampshire. Anyone know of any specialists in the area? The car is not my daily drive, think I'm going to give it a go myself. We have a family mechanic that works on Beemers although not M cars. I'm sure he'd come to the house and sort it if it of I can't finish the job myself!

[Neil.D]

try brystone BMW in southampton, they are my favourite.023 8066 1010

Failing that Bartley BMW 023 8066 1499

[bazzer79]

Nice one Neil. Watch this space on Monday morning!

[bazzer79]

Neil, by the way, what do you drive?

[Neil.D]

M5 mate, in my profile.

have owned an M3 Evo too.

[spicjt]

Bazza, looks like you already sorted it, but i had the same issues. driver side rear cal was sticking. paid 75 inc VAT for a refurbished cal and £35 to have it fitted. after that was no issues mate.

cheers
Jase

[bazzer79]

I managed to have a go at refurbing the caliper at the weekend. I removed the guide pins and the caliper mounting bolts. However, I was unable to remove the caliper. The caliper is seized in a closed position and I couldn't get the caliper off the disc. The pads were getting caught on the lip at the edge of the disc. Anyone know how this issue can be resolved?

Also the brake hose wasn't very flexible and was proving a bugger to clamp tight to shut it off? The hose is not braided (not externally anyway), are they usually this rigid?

[M7RT V]

Don't worry about clamping the line, just undo the line from the caliper. Buy yourself a one man bleed kit from Halfords and connect that to the line to stop you losing too much fluid.

With regard to getting the caliper off the disc your best bet is to wedge something flat in between the pad and the disc and force the piston back, just be careful not to mark the disc.

Once the caliper is off, find someone with an airline and get them to pop the piston out, it's alot less messy than trying to pump it out.

[bazzer79]

I tried to get something flat in between the brake pad and disc, but to no avail, the pad is tight against the disc.

Any other ideas for how to remove the caliper?

[Neil.D]

Clearly the discs are quite work to have such a lip. You need to push the piston back to get the caliper off. Start with a small flat bladded screwdriver and try and make some distance. If it is well and truly ruined you may have to buy a new caliper, pads and disc and reattach the brake hose, then bleed them. Thats your last resort though, keep trying to push the piston back. Does the wheel turn at all? Free it up by spinning it or shuffling the car forward and backwards on the drive and cover the piston and caliper with some penetrating oil spray.

[bazzer79]

Yeah, the disc will rotate. It was proving very difficult to find anything thin enough to fit between the pad & disc. I'll keep on at it and see how it goes! The lip on the disc is not too bad only 2mm. I'm trying not to change the discs & caliper as I will be selling the car soon!

[bazzer79]

Ok, So I've managed to get the caliper off and the pads off brake piston out. I've replaced the seals with the BMW kit. The old seals looked fine though. Now I'm having a nightmare trying to get the cylinder back in the bore in the caliper??? Is it supposed to be very difficult, because it's proving to be?

There are no signs of any scoring to the piston or cylinder bore, so I'm still not sure how it managed to seize in the first place?

Any ideas anyone?