[OminouSS]

I had a rude awakening when I was scrambling to get tires ordered and put on the car in less than 48 hours for a prepaid track day. The previous tires were only 6 sessions and zero street miles old, so to find them corded and unusable by session 2 of day 2 was a bit of a bummer. But that wasn't the real surprise. When I finally got the tires mounted, I went to put them on the car and found burned dust seals on both front calipers. Bummer.

A quick look into replacing all the seals within the calipers through OEM means was not only crazy expensive, but I couldn't even get the parts quickly.

Since I had been bailed out of a bind by RB on the pads when I couldn't get OEM replacements in a timely manner, I gave them a call again. Low & behold they had a full rebuild kit. Not only did it come with the seals & rings, but they were a special high temp composition that should handle hard track braking better than OEM (to be seen). But the goodies didn't stop there. It also had stainless steal cups that I hope will further defend against heat.

You'd think that I paid extra for the bronze caliper to match my wheels but that was free thanks to some pretty insane heat on the track. I'll report back with a performance review after the weekends' event.

[PolynesianPowerhouse]

that's awesome! that's what I was asking about if they had em for the 4 cylinder. at that point the stainless steel pistons will help against the heat... if need be, one can get em coated too.

and the seals and boots. priceless! good find!


also looks like the pistons are vented too! to keep the heat transfer down between the pads.

[mbar]

Do you have to take out the piston/rebuild the caliper in order to replace the burnt dust boot or you can just pull the old one and replace with new?

[OminouSS]

Originally Posted by mbar

Do you have to take out the piston/rebuild the caliper in order to replace the burnt dust boot or you can just pull the old one and replace with new?

In my situation, I am able to pull the old out and push the new ones in with some brake grease. But they were toasty so that may have been the reason for simplicity. I only replaced a couple in a bind but have to do the full rebuild this week. Getting the inner seal in will be a bit trickier and requires the removal of cups, of course. I will want to get those calipers looking a little fresher too.

Poly is right on the design quality. It seems geared for heat reduction and/or tolerance at every point.

[glenB]

I got a set from a 5th gen zl1 from Rock Auto, dirt cheap

[OminouSS]

Cem, you think the diameters are the same? I am baffled by the differences between 1LE and ZL1. It's all over the place. Some things fit, some don't. Not a part store in Murica seems to know. Dealerships either. Except Becky's group. Those people are on-point.

[Extreme Dimensions]

haha holy shit that doesnt look fun

[OminouSS]

Figured I'd upgrade this thread with some rebuild pictures. The install went very smooth. The components in the kit were exact fits with perfect tolerances. The hard part was cleaning the caliper to refresh it back to OEM color. There are a lot of nooks & crannies.

I will make one suggestion here in a fairly straight forward install in that if you are repainting your caliper, do so with the old hardware still in. I made the mistake of starting the teardown first (on one caliper) which required taping over the open ports. Leaving it in for the caliper clean up would have been idea, INCLUDING the painting. The reasons are obvious and the final product is much more thorough as well as lessened risk of contaminating the interior. As I always do, I am showing the results of my mistake as opposed to the near perfect result on the other. Learn from my mistake or it will look like picture 3.



There is a tip I will share that should help the chemical resistance of your fresh paint. If you are using VRT or other high temp paint (you must use high temp), then bake it in the oven for an hour on 200*. This will cure the paint and be much more durable against brake fluid. Obviously you will want to do this before the hardware install, even though the blue seals can handle the oven okay. Just makes sense to me.



Be liberal (hate that word) with brake grease on those inner seals & cups and press STRAIGHT DOWN, less you snag the inner seal and shear it out of the recess. Same with the outer seal into the piston groove. Use grease and a steady, equal force to slide over the cup.



The seals are tight. Don't be alarmed when your piston does not move as freely as you expect.



If you are having difficulties seating the outer seal, use the smooth surface of a box wrench to press in:



All good to go. GREAT product with those silicon booties. That will greatly improve life when the temps climb. The stainless cups are a no-brainer and the attention to detail is impressive.



Last piece of advice. Be extremely careful to avoid exposing the blue seals to brake fluid. These are high-temp silicon. Silicon and brake fluid are staunch enemies. Weird application, I know. But that's the risk you take for added heat protection.

Good luck with your build!

[JusticePete]

Nice write up.

Observation -- Racing brakes do not have dust boots. There is no real need for them if the caliper is frequently inspected or rebuilt.

Question, why repaint when the heat is going to cook them any way.

[Ryephile]

Nice write up.

IMO, this (melted seals and burnt powder coating) appears to be additional proof the 1LE/ZL1 brakes have massively inadequate cooling. You don't have temp strips on your caliper; are you at least throwing an IR gun or thermocouple on them?

[Yellow6thGen]

Can you pass me the info on the rebuild kit, part number and pricing? I’m powder coating my calipers and am going to replace the seals.
Did you do rear brakes too?
Thanks

[Q8yZL1]

cant seem to find this kit anymore, any help would be appreciated

[RUQWIKR]

Originally Posted by Q8yZL1

cant seem to find this kit anymore, any help would be appreciated

Those are from RacingBrake. As a cheaper alternative, you can (on the fronts) use the GM CCB vented pistons with stock seals. The Vettes and Camaros with CCB’s use the same seals as our cars. That’s what i did and have not melted seals since but I’m using stock pads.

[Black E]

Originally Posted by RUQWIKR

Those are from RacingBrake. As a cheaper alternative, you can (on the fronts) use the GM CCB vented pistons with stock seals. The Vettes and Camaros with CCB’s use the same seals as our cars. That’s what i did and have not melted seals since but I’m using stock pads.

Would you be kind enough to share the part numbers for the CCB seals?