My MOT tester reckoned I have a sticky caliper, resulting in the pads dragging... and since he's said, I have noticed a feint rubbing/graunching noise when wheeling the bike in/out of the garage. So, I'm thinking I'll go the whole hog, and split the calipers and replace all seals (they are over 7 years old now!). Reading the Haynes manual, it sounds a do-able job, although I don't have an air line, but I guess a can of compressed air will do the job as well. Before I bite the bullet and order the bits, does anyone want to convince me that its actually a bitch of a job, best left to the professionals???? Or, offer any handy hints/tips?
IMHO I have stripped many of my calipers and never replaced the seals, remove the calipers then pads and stick a spanner in the disc slot and push out the pistons all the way then remove the spanner and push out all the way. You can remove the ones that dont come using the special piston pliers or gently with pump pliers and emery cloth reversed. Clean pistons with wd40 and finest wet n dry, remove seals with suitable tool and leave soaking in clean brake fluid, clean piston grooves suitable tool(i use a ground allen key), scrape road salt and grime off seals using your NAILS only. Reassemble using clean fluid only. I do not fit dust seals if using on track only. Use clean brake fluid on seals only as solvents will expand the seals. The above works for me.
You'll have to excuse my ignorance (not for the first time) but I've always though if the caliper is sticking a little, then it's because a seal is knackered...... I can't imagine they're designed to last much longer than 7 years, so assumed I may as well replace the lot. Is that over the top?
Normally crap in the seal grove which then makes the seal grip the piston too tightly thus not allowing the piston to retract which then allows the pad to bind
I always replace them even if with non OEM seals etc.. See here for an example (about half way down). Its normally the dust seals that cause the sticking as water etc get past and cause them to bind, sometimes the dust seal even gets dragged out past the piston and causes it to fully lock up or badly drag, I often use a compressor to remove the seals but a small piston tool is better, when used with a rag it stops marking the inner part of the piston, its an easy job, the hard part is cleaning them up. Seal kit Honda CBR1000RR CBR 1000 RR7 RR Fireblade 2007 07 front brake caliper seal kit | eBay Red rubber grease 18g Castrol Red Rubber Grease Brake Caliper Fluid Handy MINI TIN ★★★★★ | eBay Tool Sealey Motorcycle/Motorbike Brake Caliper Piston Removal/Remover Pliers VS1806 | eBay
Do the seals have to go in a certain way round? I seem to remember checking when I did mine a good few years ago.
Sounds like it's a job worth doing... if I do it, I'm going to have to buy the piston extractor...... so how much should a good garage charge to do the full job for me?
This seems to be about the going rate for eBay Tokico front rear brake caliper repair refurbishment rebuild services seals | eBay
i did mine recently - my mate Sax gave some advice by sending me comedy clips via wattsapp of how to do it. I purchased the piston pliers as mentioned to help remove them then just cleaned everything up - I needed to replace a complete caliper and got a 'free' damaged one so used the best pistons from the bunch to get mine sorted Think Sax posted up some pics of his pitted calipers from his bike after 2 winters commuting on it, mine were not as bad but a few needed replacement Small thing / note is I have seen two calipers where the retaining pins (inc. one of my own) have been over tightened and caused some of the casting to break off so use a torque wrench to be safe
Like the idea of that. I am a bit wary of doing anything to brakes beyond changing pads, basic cleaning and bleeding.
Ta, great bunch of info' above, done a few caliper strip downs on other bikers but suspect I'll have to do my RR7 sometime, lots of very good info and links here.
That's good, could do it myself but that seems a very good price to me, saving god knows how much time and effort. One question. Is there any way to seal off the brake lines while the calipers are off to avoid having to bleed them from scratch which I usually find a real PITA? Bit of an ask I know.
Tbh they are easy, drain the system and then you can add fresh fluid too as part of the job, just don't forget to bleed the master! That's what most forget
You mean the RR7 is specifically fairly easy? I've had a couple of nightmare front brake bleeding jobs on other bikers. My last 03 R1 was one of them.
I changed the seals on my RR6 track bike last month as one was leaking. It's an easy enough job and doesn't require splitting the calliper. The seals can go in either way around, but are in 2 sizes i.e. one piston is smaller than the other, plus the dust seals. Cost me less than £20 for a set of seals plus the brake fluid.
Decided to go all-in on this. Calipers are now in bits, seals and pistons removed, new seals and bleed nipples on the way! There was a fair amount of crud in and behind the dust seals... pressures seals were mint though. Pistons were THICK with chud, that took quite some shifting... seem to have cleaned up very well though. I think they're in great condition, but most have these faint marks around the halfway mark, as per the picture. I cant feel any raising/pitting, just appears to be surface marks... are they good to refit???
They'll be fine as long as you can't feel anything and they are smooth. Just make sure you smear brake fluid around them so they slide in the seals nicely when you refit them.
