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I want to rebuild and recondition my brake calipers. Is this something I can easily do myself or should I give them to a professional for peace of mind?
Where's a good place to get them up to spec and how much?
I read somewhere about sandblasting the caliper. Is that purely for looks or will it help function? Where can I get it done?

Also how much should I be paying to get my rotors machined?

Thanks for any help.

Gerard

Very easy job to do, the MX5 has single piston calipers so they are fairly basic. There a few good videos on you tube that show what to do.
I've never used sandblasting and would be worried about grit getting in the caliper. I'm not overly concerned with having bling calipers so just a good scrub with brake cleaner does me. Cheapest rebuild kits I've found were from the UK at this place http://www.biggred.co.uk/, it was a while back so prices may have changed. Just make sure you check the caliper bore and piston for scoring, replacement pistons are available but if the caliper bore is scored it would probably be cheaper to replace the caliper.

Disc machining don't have a clue (I use my mates machine) but any brake place should do it fairly cheap.

I just got a quote from Chatswood brake and clutch; 140 for front calipers, 180 for rears. Bit expensive but they sand blast the exterior and pretty much give yuo back a brand new caliper. There is also sydney brake and clutch over in like redfern or something.

As for disc machining, most mechanics can do that kind of thing, and I paid $50 to have 2 fronts done

is that each or both???

$50 was for both front rotors to be machined

thanks guys.

Would tapered pad wear be related to the caliper needing rebuilding? Its wearing more on the outside of the pad/disk (largest radius part of the disk) but evenly front front to back of the pad, its happens to both inside and outside pad and to both left and right front brakes. The sliders are not binding, the previous owner of the calipers (nb8b) had the same thing happen to the same pads (bendix ultimates). I did read that it can be caused by pad overheating, which these things do quite easily @550degC (though they have fantastic modulation).

I'm planning to get some carbotech xp12s (good for ove 1000degC) and machine the rotors but don't know if I should bother rebuilding the calipers unnecessarily. Mania quoted $60 per rebuild kit *I think*, if thats true thats not a bad price....but its still gonna be 240 to rebuild them all...trying to do this as cheaply as possible (surprise track day for my bday I have to get ready for, have no tyres, brakes, cooling, tacho...etc.. lol) so I think ill give it a try without rebuilding first.

Sasso wrote:(surprise track day for my bday I have to get ready for, have no tyres, brakes, cooling, tacho...etc.. lol) ...

How is it a surprise if you know about it

gobsmax wrote:

Sasso wrote:(surprise track day for my bday I have to get ready for, have no tyres, brakes, cooling, tacho...etc.. lol) ...

How is it a surprise if you know about it

Coz alex ruined it! well it was hard because I wasnt planning to go to track for a while, so car wasnt ready, now I have a month to get it ready with money I don't want to be spending.

The stock brakes use floating calipers. If your drive really hard on them you should see tapered wear . I know I've always had slight tapering and I've used a lot of different pads on NB8B brakes. I've never heard of overheating causing tapering, it will cause accelerated wear as the resin burns away and the pad can come apart.

Paid $30 for rotors to get machined. Brookers Brakes in west Ryde, good service and prices.