Brembo "Refresh"

Original Materials posted by “doctorres112” on Club4G.

The purpose of this how-to is take out the caliper pistons and dust boots if you want to re-powder coat your Brembo's. This may also be a good idea if you aren't sure what condition your dust boots/seals are in since you probably bought the calipers used. You can buy the rebuild kits for $150. That's $50 a piece for the fronts and $25 a piece for the rears. I bought these kits from Martin at Girodisc.com. I would call them and let them know what you are doing as they have recently been made aware of us eclipse guys performing the evo brembo swap. All in all it's a fairly easy job and pretty straight foward. This is my first "how-to" so be kind and let me know if something doesn't make sense.

TOOLS NEEDED:
3-4 different flat head screwdrivers
a cut down piece of 2x4 or some small pieces of 1/2 ply-wood (acting as a shim)
air compressor w/air gun attachment
beverage of your choice
http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/e...K/Galant/1.jpg

STEP 1: Remove brake line bolt from back of calipers and ensure you get as much of the residual brake fluid out.
http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/e...K/Galant/2.jpg
http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/e...K/Galant/3.jpg

STEP 2: Place your shim where your brake pads would sit. You will know the shims are in place because the pistons will have about a 1/4-1/2 inch if space between them and the shim. Once they are in, use your air gun and blast air where the brake line bolt was that you removed earlier.
http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/e...K/Galant/4.jpg
http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/e...K/Galant/5.jpg

NOTE: While performing this step, it's important to know that all the pistons must come out from their hole together. By that I mean that if one piston is removed completely the others won't come out because the forced air will come out freely from that empty piston hole and will not create any pressure for the rest of the pistons. If that happens just put it back into the hole and push it back in place and try again. Ensuring your shims are in the right place will make this easier.

**This is how it looks if your shims are placed incorrectly
http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/e...K/Galant/6.jpg

**This is how you push the piston back in place
http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/e...K/Galant/7.jpg

If you can't push the piston back in go ahead and remove the dustboot as that should make it easier to get it back in.
http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/e...K/Galant/8.jpg

STEP 3: Once you got it figured out and all the piston are emerging together it's time to take them out. I am sure there is a better tool for this but I used 2 flat head screw drivers and gently lifted out the pistons. You have to be careful not to damage the pistons so take your time, The forced air has done most of the work already.

This is how it should look with all pistons emerging together
http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/e...K/Galant/9.jpg
http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/e.../Galant/10.jpg

This is how to remove the pistons
http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/e.../Galant/11.jpg
http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/e.../Galant/12.jpg
http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/e.../Galant/13.jpg

STEP 4: Once all the pistons are removed you can remove the rest of the dust boots.

http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/e.../Galant/14.jpg
http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/e.../Galant/15.jpg
http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/e.../Galant/16.jpg

STEP 5: After the dust boots are out, you need to remove the seal gaskets. I used an eyeglass screw driver. It is really small and great for getting in there and lifting out the seals.

http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/e.../Galant/17.jpg
http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/e.../Galant/18.jpg
http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/e.../Galant/19.jpg

And finally, it should all look like this

http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/e.../Galant/20.jpg

Very nice write up! but did you know that if you remove the 4 tq head bolts it will seperate the caliper and there are 2 seals that go bad in between, I know! I had probs like that with my 99 3KGT TT

Nice Tutorial :)

Sry to revive this thread but upon purchasing the dust boots and seals and installing them I've heard that you should let all rubber soak in a certain liquid ....will dot3 brak fluid work fine? Is this mandatory? And Must they be fully submerged the liquid or will halfway do?right now there in this....any help would be much appreciated as well as might be helpful for anyone looking to complete this modification.

http://i1188.photobucket.com/albums/...3/8d8fbcd5.jpg

I would assume you'd need more fluid in the cup so that all the seals are fully sumberged. Thats what I would do...

A thin but decent layer on the seals would have been just fine.

I though I might add to this

while you have the brembos off the car might as well replace the bleeders with speed bleeders make this a one person job

from EVOM

Brake bleeder spec: 10mm x 1.0 x 33mm(31mm will work also)
Pepboys #12706 $9.89/pair
NAPA #675-1570 $11.69/pair
Kragens #12706 $11.xx/pair
Speedbleeder #1010S $14.xx/pair

this part try at your own risk

if you don't have access to air compressor ,or its a one man job etc...

if your calipers are on the car and aren't all frozen I was able to push the pistons out far enough with them on the car,of course with the pads removed and the rotor on car.Of course don't slam the pedal as you might damage the pistons but if you press the pedal gradually they'll push out and I was able to remove the pistons as shown above..