Topic: best solvent to clean the caliper seal groove? SIMPLE GREEN!

[grumpy]

Man, my brakes were gross.
Brakes were dragging so I dissembled everything.
Dunno what the PO put in there but it came out like mud. Found a lot of white grease smeared around the outside of the piston, too.
The groove for the seal inside the caliper is caked with hard yellow crud. It's stuck on bad.

Pardon the obvious question but... is brake cleaner the best solvent to try & get that crap out?
Is there another / better solvent to clean out the caliper. Like Simple Green or something?
I have lacquer thinner, alcohol, carb cleaner, acetone, naptha & water. (but no brake cleaner)

[honda750k]

Since you need a good rebuild anyway from the sound of things, I'd just go with whatever gets the crap out, then use some brake cleaner to rinse any residual cleaner off, and rebuild. dont be afraid to use a stiff bristle toothbrush to help clean. 

[MoTo-BunnY]

The MSDS (material safety and data sheet) on CRC Brakleen (brake cleaner) lists the following:

carbon dioxide   5-10%
Naphtha (petroleum), hydrotreated light (benzene<0.1%)   30-60%   
propan-2-ol; isopropyl alcohol ;isopropanol   <10%
acetone; propan-2-one; propanone   67-64-1   200-662-2   <10%
Naphtha (petroleum), hydrodesulfurized light (benzene<0.1%) 30-60%


Hope that helps - also, I recall from previous posts that some folks use aluminum foil as a 'scrubber' in brake cleaning.

[Bill/BentON Racing]

You can use Brake cleaner and lots of other products,the MAIN thing is you get it all out or it will bind or drag! Bill,Will probably have to fashion something to scrape out the groove.Good Luck

[MoTo-BunnY]

You can use Brake cleaner and lots of other products,the MAIN thing is you get it all out or it will bind or drag! Bill,Will probably have to fashion something to scrape out the groove.Good Luck

You know that's right - my brakes were a f'ing mess when I first got my bike, the pads were dragging on the disc bad and overheating / bluing it. A total mess, I had to replace the piston, seal, bleeder valve, brake lines, etc.

For cleaning, I also used a brass bristle 'tooth brush' as well as a small pick - the latter, for the groove 'corners'.

[Porscheguy912]

I soaked mine in Gas for night. (Be careful of your paint if you aren't repainting)
I also have one of those nifty dental picks and a mirror. Those really help.

Then use a green and then a red scotch-brite pad, then bra-kleen and then compressed air.

Get it all the first time because the second time you'll be blinded with rage for not being thorough enough the first  

[ev0lve]

Get it all the first time because the second time you'll be blinded with rage for not being thorough enough the first  

+1

[grumpy]

Get it all the first time because the second time you'll be blinded with rage for not being thorough enough the first  

+1

I've been doing that ALL DAMN DAY !!!!!!!!!!! 

[Porscheguy912]

Get it all the first time because the second time you'll be blinded with rage for not being thorough enough the first  

+1

See what I mean??!   

[grumpy]

The MSDS (material safety and data sheet) on CRC Brakleen (brake cleaner) lists the following:

carbon dioxide   5-10%
Naphtha (petroleum), hydrotreated light (benzene<0.1%)   30-60%   
propan-2-ol; isopropyl alcohol ;isopropanol   <10%
acetone; propan-2-one; propanone   67-64-1   200-662-2   <10%
Naphtha (petroleum), hydrodesulfurized light (benzene<0.1%) 30-60%

WOW - looks like I can mix my own brake cleaner w/ what I have in the garage!

[MoTo-BunnY]

lol. .  yup, quite the 'recipe'.

I use the MSDS sheets to figure out what's inside of stuff all the time. My favorite is finding all the pretty much worthless products out there, like soooo many "fuel injector cleaner" formulas out there are basically kerosene (but kerosene at $8 for a 12 oz bottle. . .lol).

[grumpy]

What ever that crap was/is that's living in the caliper groove it's impervious to brake cleaner, lacquer thinner, carb cleaner, and naptha.

But a 90 min soak in simple green dissolved most of it.  

The inner surface is a bit rough, though.
Is it save to hit it with a Dremel polishing wheel? The cloth one - not the wire wheel...  
I bet the wire wheel would take off too much metal from the caliper & destroy the necessary .002 tolerances.
Maybe I'll give this question  it's own thread...

[flybox1]

simple green or brake cleaner and a hard plastic dremel brush attachment for the piston seal groove....wear safety goggles!

[grumpy]

hard plastic dremel brush

I didn't know they made one.

I'll look for one.
A brass brush, too.

Thanks

[Toxic]

I used the Dremel with the steel wire bush attachment and it was fine.
Use it as a final step and go lightly.

From a welding supply store, of all places I got a set of what look to be industrial dental picks.

There are five different tips that screw into the handle, each with a different curved end on them.  Paid $9.00 and they took most of it out.

As mentioned above don't do a half-assed job, get it spotless our it will come back to bite you on the a$$.

[BobbyR]

The brake fluid contains a lot of Alcohol. The yellow stuff is what is left over after the Alcohol evaporates. Simple Denatured alcohol will dissolve it very quickly. I love Simple Green and posted that it eats carb varnish, but for dried out brake fluid it is probably useless. The alcohol will eat paint which is why brake fluid eats paint so be careful with it.

[lowmileage]

Found a lot of white grease smeared around the outside of the piston, too.

That's the equivilent of (at the time) Dow High Vacumn Silicone grease, no? - that should be replaced after rebuild/cleanup. Or don't remove what's there.

[tlbranth]

Porsch.. - scotchbrite has abrasives bonded to it and shouldn't be used on an aluminum caliper in my opinion.

[grumpy]

For Motobunny:

http://www.simplegreen.com/pdfs/08A_msds_simple_green_rtu.pdf 

[grumpy]

That's the equivilent of (at the time) Dow High Vacumn Silicone grease, no? -

It has obviously been rebuilt so it wasn't factory grease.
It looked like regular white moly grease....

[RM81]

I used a brass wheel on my dremel and it worked great.  Also used the simple green bath for a day before cleaning with the dremel.  Then used brake cleaner and let dry. 

[lowmileage]

That's the equivilent of (at the time) Dow High Vacumn Silicone grease, no? -

It looked like regular white moly grease....

(gasp) Oh the horror!

[flybox1]

hard plastic dremel brush

I didn't know they made one.

I'll look for one.
A brass brush, too.

Thanks

Nylon bristle brush #403

http://www.dremel.com/en-us/AttachmentsAndAccessories/Pages/AttachmentsDetail.aspx?pid=403

[MoTo-BunnY]

That's the equivilent of (at the time) Dow High Vacumn Silicone grease, no? -

It has obviously been rebuilt so it wasn't factory grease.
It looked like regular white moly grease....

yikes - yeah, that's recipe for corrosion and eventual brake failure!

Dow vacuum grease all the way for brakes. Somewhere in the forums, HondaMan did a heat test in the oven with multiple different types of grease (hopefully not the same one he cooks food with - ick) and only the Dow vacuum grease held its shape/vicosity at real high temps. They will tell you to use all sorts of bullsh!!t products at the auto parts store for your brakes instead,  but don't believe them!  lol

[lowmileage]

  That's the stuff.  Also makes a great mustache wax