A lesson for the kiddies

[Jimmy]

Remember to grease your rear calipers!

My rear left has just seized. The hex adjustment bolt is now stripped (after many attempts at trying to free it and the piston) and the piston is now firmly pressing the pads against the disc. Pretty much its like driving with the hand brake on all the time.

Getting them rebuilt is going to cost ballpark $200 per caliper. They say if you do one, you should do both. So approx $400 total.

My question is is it worth biting the bullet and getting them rebuilt/buying rebuilt calipers (both around the same price) or look for a second hand set which are not seized? I like the idea of piece of mind with rebuilt calipers but the price is very off putting. Thoughts?

[Sheck]

no coments about the calipers, but if you need to get the hex key fixed, just gind it down till you get fresh solid teeth on it.
also a damn good soaking in wd40 migh be able to loosen up the caliper

Dave

[Jimmy]

Just to clarify, the hex adjustment bolt is completely out of the caliper. (it fell out on its final attempt at loosening it) It is stripped and i have a replacement. I havent tried it yet but based on some advice, i may have also stripped the bolt within the caliper which moves the piston in and out (the bolt that the hex bolt turns). The piston is all the way in and is pressing on the disc quite hard.

Dave, i tried the wd40 trick but with no luck. It didnt budge

[Mr Morlock]

If the money is a prob look around for a cheaper fix. Not everything on the car is like new and replacing the faulty bit might not be so hard- someone on the forum may have some brake bits available.Not sure if Mazda sell the components - why not try them.

[bensale]

Surely one of the na6 guys whos upgraded to na8 brakes would have the parts your after? Or are thay a carry over part still used post brake conversion?

[Jimmy]

The apparent trouble bits are all internal. Mazda do sell the rebuild kits for $87 but its very fiddly installing them, something i don't think i could do (hence the cost for labour). The internal bits aren't really things you would want to buy second hand as a lot of it is rubbers etc (my opinion) and would still need to be transplanted, again something i couldn't do. So the options really are second hand complete calipers or rebuilt ones. Maybe i just answered my own question and should go with a rebuild.

[Gazbo]

The rear calipers on my 626 were leaking, turned out the pistons were corroded, so they couldn't be rebuilt. A second hand pair of calipers cost $140, but I was told these should be rebuilt as a matter of course.

The total cost for both rear calipers to be rebuilt (including second hand calipers) was $615.

I suppose you could chance a second hand pair of calipers without rebuilding them.

[Jimmy]

I've just managed to get the piston to free up. I wd-40'd the crap out of it, then heated it up with a hairdryer and then abused it a little while lightly turning the new hex bolt and it finally decided to retreat back inside the caliper. I've greased it all up including in where the hex bolt sits and it appears to be sliding in and out again when turning the hex bolt. Only problem is that i think the bolt which the hex bolt turns is slightly stripped. When turning the hex bolt, it "skipped" a few times so i think a rebuild or another set of calipers is in the near future.

So today ive freed up the stubourn caliper, removed, cleaned and greased all 4 calipers, replaced the brake pads all round with Hawk HPS, and have gone for a lengthy drive testing my new C-Drives and brakes. Tyres i can't comment on yet but there are plenty of reviews but as for brakes, im absolutely stunned at how good they are. Notsure what pads i was using before but these are 100x better in every way. I can now stop in less distance from 100km/h than i could before going 60km/h, no joke. I'm blow away by the difference. I never new i had crappy brakes before until now. Although i didnt manage a 1:18:87 at Wakefield (bog standard NA6 running S-Drives)

Anyways, Fatty i might still grab those calipers off you if thats okay. Id rather have a working caliper with good internals rather than my working caliper with not so good internals.

[wun911]

Hehehe I just spent today greasing my friends calipers...

If I had a choice I would save the $200 get what ever the Maximum sized rotor and calipers (brembo willwood etc) that can fit over 14" wheels.

To compensate for the added weight of a larger rotor I would try get the two piece rotors with the aluminum center hubs and make them slotted.

Yeah that would be my dream come true...