Sticking MR2 front brake caliper

[the t boy]

Bit of advice needed please guys.

I replaced the nsf caliper on the MR2 last year as a piston had seized up completely. The osf one is now showing the same symptoms and I need to get it sorted asap.

Is the only solution to replace the caliper or are there some other things I can do to permanently free it up? I'm tempted to go the no-hassle route of just chucking a new caliper on but if there is a cheaper, effective alternative I'll give it a go.

T

[MrFlibbles]

A recon caliper is easiest.

[aldi]

I did manage to free mine up for nowt, basically get it allmost all the way out (I did it by using a big socket to wedge the free one in place and giving a few pumps on the pedal). Slide the seal up the piston so you can see the corrosion/whatever on the piston surface... if it's restricted to the area not swept by the seal then I think you're OK to clean it up and put it back together with a squirt of WD. Otherwise just replace the piston & seal and bleed. I used www.brakesinternational.co.uk/ a few times, they are OK and sell individual pistons, seals, rebuild kits etc. There was some info about a discount code for them on www.imoc.co.uk as well but that was a while ago...

Obligatory disclaimer: If you crash into a bus load of nuns it's not my fault!


Edit: Just checked the brakesint site, looks like they've stopped doing individual bits since I last looked

>> Edited by aldi on Tuesday 29th November 16:38

[d-man]

I serviced the front calipers on an MR2 a couple of months ago, got the seal kits from Brakes International and cleaned the pistons up with a rag and brake fluid. All the dust boots were split and the pistons had got choked with brake dust and had some surface rust which was easily removed. Slightly time consuming, but a lot cheaper than recon calipers Oh the brakes on the car have been fine since and it passed its MOT today.

Edit to say find the correct caliper in the Brakes International shop and then click the associated items button to see the seal / service kits I just used the £7 ones as the sliders seemed fine, was just the dust boots splitting that caused the problem.

>> Edited by d-man on Tuesday 29th November 23:11

[speedtwelve]

I had a seized front caliper on my MRT. The piston looked OK, so I wound it back in, but realised the caliper sliders were dry and seized in place. Cleaned them and lubed them with aircraft-spec copper grease. That was 5K miles ago and I've had no problems since.

ST

[the t boy]

Fensport are fresh out of calipers and won't have any in for a month so I will spend Saturday giving it a good going over to get things moving again. I tried the same method with the other side but it never lasted more than a few days before seizing up again but if I can get it to last a month then can get a replacement.

Can anyone recommend a supplier of decent reconditioned kit other than Fensport? Not sure I want to keep riding the bike in this weather - it's just too scary.

[MrFlibbles]

I know Rogue Systems do them on an exchange basis.

www.roguesystems.co.uk/forms/Product.aspx?ID=336

[aldi]

the t boy said:

Fensport are fresh out of calipers and won't have any in for a month so I will spend Saturday giving it a good going over to get things moving again. I tried the same method with the other side but it never lasted more than a few days before seizing up again but if I can get it to last a month then can get a replacement. Can anyone recommend a supplier of decent reconditioned kit other than Fensport? Not sure I want to keep riding the bike in this weather - it's just too scary.

www.brakesinternational.co.uk/

[the t boy]

Thanks for all the advice. Popped the piston out, gave everything a bit of a rub down, stuck it back together and its as good as new.

(Until next week probably)