Brembo caliper pins seized completely

[saidtheblueknight]

After 12 track days and some 20k miles, it was time to replace the pads and rotors on my 6 piston Brembo caliper setup. All the videos I've seen on these the 2 small pins come out with a few light taps, as was the case on the passenger side. The driver side however was a completely different story. No matter what I did, I could not get the pins to budge. Used a punch at first, nothing. I then took several blows to the pin directly with a hammer, so hard that I completely flattened the pin head. Not even a millimiter of movement.

At that point I ended up taking the caliper off the car and trying to remove these on the vice. No movement whatsoever, so then I cut the back of the pins and rattle clips. I was able to barely remove one after using a vice grip to twist it, but the other side and the bottom are completely stuck. I do occasinally drive this car in the winter, but I didn't think that a little bit of rust would cause so much issue...and like I mentioned before the other side came out fine and had no corrosion. And while I did track this car, I'm by no mean a pro driver...intermediate at best with stock pads and street tires.

There are many cars out there with this setup type (S550s, Shelbys, GTRs, Corvettes, Vipers, Hellcats etc. and I'm sure there are thousands of drivers out there going faster and working the brakes harder than me and I've never heard of this happening. I even know a few people in person and online that regularly do pad changes before and after track days, so clearly the caliper setup can handle heat. I can only imagine that my calipers got so hot that the pin melted and seized/welded itself in there. Or there was a factory defect as this is the first time I took off the calipers.

Anyone else had this happen? Attached are some pics:

 

[k98dave]

Wow that's crazy. I have changed mine several times switching between street and track pads and never had any problem. If your going to keep that caliper you might try heating it up a little and hitting the pins with rust buster fluid while its still hot to see if that helps.

 

[byronj]

WOW 1st off 20K and 12 track days on the same pads. You must be light on the brakes. I try to do the same, but I have never had this problem and even my Ti shields have paint and discoloration on them but the pins always tap right out. Id try to use coke or a rust buster to see if you can get them out. Good luck and keep us posted on this. I have a few sets of pins and clips so if you need one just send me a PM and you can have it.

 

[JDee]

Rust from salt in winter kills everything, I live in a province that just loves salted roads. I've seen stuff that nothing short of an A bomb would dislodge. Sometimes it's just better to replace the whole part, you end up inflicting so much damage from heat and pounding that it is seriously compromised. You might be there on this one. Rock Auto usually has these rebuilt at decent prices, probably other suppliers around as well.

 

[saidtheblueknight]

Wow that's crazy. I have changed mine several times switching between street and track pads and never had any problem. If your going to keep that caliper you might try heating it up a little and hitting the pins with rust buster fluid while its still hot to see if that helps.

Yup, I did try rust penetrator and heat over and still nothing.

Rust from salt in winter kills everything, I live in a province that just loves salted roads. I've seen stuff that nothing short of an A bomb would dislodge. Sometimes it's just better to replace the whole part, you end up inflicting so much damage from heat and pounding that it is seriously compromised. You might be there on this one. Rock Auto usually has these rebuilt at decent prices, probably other suppliers around as well.

I agree, which was my first thought. And I did soak the shiznit out of everything for an entire day before doing this, so you think that would have helped. Also the other side was perfectly fine which is what perplexed me...why would one side be so much worse than the other?

Needless to say I applied a liberal amount of anti-seize on all the metal parts when I assembled the new ones.

WOW 1st off 20K and 12 track days on the same pads. You must be light on the brakes. I try to do the same, but I have never had this problem and even my Ti shields have paint and discoloration on them but the pins always tap right out. Id try to use coke or a rust buster to see if you can get them out. Good luck and keep us posted on this. I have a few sets of pins and clips so if you need one just send me a PM and you can have it.

As mentioned, I'm still an intermediate at best and pretty light on the brakes on track. And the tracks I go to are not hard on brakes to begin with, they all have only 1 real high speed braking zone where you can get brakes super hot.

I ended up getting a new set of calipers as they are cheap and I can still use these to get my core back. But before I send them off, I'm going to keep at it with different ideas.

 

[Bill Pemberton]

Make sure you are changing out your fluid more often, check the calipers way more often and figure you likely let things get hotter than you wanted due to numerous factors -- old fluid, salt and rust, little pad surface left, tons of heat cycles with the miles done.

You are being way too easy on your brakes to get the mileage you have, time to get more aggressive on those binders and change things more often, imho.

 

[Norm Peterson]

Needless to say I applied a liberal amount of anti-seize on all the metal parts when I assembled the new ones.

High-temperature brake caliper grease might have been better.

I ended up getting a new set of calipers as they are cheap and I can still use these to get my core back. But before I send them off, I'm going to keep at it with different ideas.

I'm assuming that the broken pin has to move out of the space where the pads go and through the part of the caliper it's stuck in.

I think I'd try using a C-clamp to put a little continuous pressure on the pin, with a socket over the other end to give what's left of the pin room to move out into. Then a little penetrant and vibration before tightening the C-clamp a little more.


Norm

 

[k98dave]

Time to ditch that caliper! Not sure if these calipers are pre loaded with pads at the factory but only thing I can imagine is that either the pins are warped somehow or the caliper is causing a lock up. Disimilar metals (Alum-steel) can result in corrosion but I don't think that's what going on here.

 

[blacksheep-1]

FWIW we pull maintenance on those calipers at least once every race weekend, this is after they were done at the shop prior to the weekend

 

[Bill Pemberton]

Sounds like something many of us should consider doing if we track a lot ------BS1 info is usually good for the soul!!

 

[saidtheblueknight]

FWIW we pull maintenance on those calipers at least once every race weekend, this is after they were done at the shop prior to the weekend

What sort of maintenance does that include?

 

[Grant 302]

BS1

I want to ask you (and everyone) in the open to not do this. I know there’s a humorous intention behind it, but it has bothered me personally, and I believe it does not fall under guidance to ‘be respectful’ here.

Sounds like something many of us should consider doing if we track a lot

Actually, I think it’s more of a potential problem for those that don’t track often or rarely/never have the pins out.

 

[Bill Pemberton]

Not really intended to be that humorous, just easy to shorten typing, but no worries, can sure stop , though never heard a complaint from Blacksheep himself .

 

[Grant 302]

never heard a complaint from Blacksheep himself .

Shouldn’t have to come to that.

My thinking - People with class don’t usually bother with such.

 

[blacksheep-1]

What sort of maintenance does that include?

everything that slips, slides or whatever gets anti seize on them, also you can ditch any anti rattle clips as they can cause problems as well. That's a general statement, the ones I'm referring to are on the stock calipers, usually in the rear that fit on the end of the pad.

 

[blacksheep-1]

FWIW I don't recall those sheet metal clips on our calipers either.

 

[byronj]

FWIW I don't recall those sheet metal clips on our calipers either.

I believe the OP has a S550 and this was posted in the wrong area. But thanks for your anti seize suggestion. I think I will start doing that on my caliper pins as a safety measure.

 

[blacksheep-1]

the pins are just to locate the pads..sort of.. so just wipe them down and don't get any on the retention barrel, that needs to be kept clean or maybe a bit of Loctite red to keep it happy.