Author Topic: Aftermarket caliper pistons (Read 4659 times)

sscardefield · « **on:** February 22, 2011, 09:39:57 AM »

I am in need a new caliper piston and seal. The OEM's go for about $85, but I have come across after market ones that are CNC'd stainless steel and are only $40. Has anybody used an aftermarket piston? Or Is it worth just spending the extra $45 on the OEM piston?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=380316867482&crlp=1_263602_304652&ff4=263602_304652&viewitem=&guid=084cdb8012e0a03663149af4ffaa51ac&hlp=false&rvr_id=212550164228&ua=%3F

Thanks,

Seth

malcolmgb · « **Reply #1 on:** February 22, 2011, 09:55:44 AM »

Use a phenolic one, someone here on the forum makes them, they seem to have a good reputation.
Do a search on forum for Phenolic.

strynboen · « **Reply #2 on:** February 22, 2011, 10:34:12 AM »

yes,, stainles steel eats aluminium..its not the way to gow

flybox1 · « **Reply #3 on:** February 22, 2011, 10:39:10 AM »

email kthunter01@sbcglobal.net
let him know you're a forum member...

bwaller · « **Reply #4 on:** February 22, 2011, 03:22:24 PM »

+1 on phenolic. Inexpensive, light & no rust.

sscardefield · « **Reply #5 on:** February 22, 2011, 11:40:28 PM »

Wow, I had never even heard of phenolic before today. You learn something new every day.

I sent Kevin an email. Thanks for the help.

-Seth

faux fiddy · « **Reply #6 on:** February 23, 2011, 12:02:19 AM »

Anybody make these out of delrin? Is delrin a brand name or a different material?

bollingball · « **Reply #7 on:** February 23, 2011, 01:00:19 AM »

Different and a little heavier. Those white kitchen cutting boards are made out of it.

faux fiddy · « **Reply #8 on:** February 23, 2011, 01:31:42 AM »

Harder should be better?

Would delrin work?

We have delrin.

And a friend has access to a lathe.

I have a caliper project on the way.

johnrdupree · « **Reply #9 on:** February 23, 2011, 08:11:28 AM »

Delrin is softer than phenolic resins. Good pool balls are phenolic and way harder than a cutting board.

mick750F · « **Reply #10 on:** February 23, 2011, 09:18:02 AM »

Yes Delrin is softer and I'd also be concerned that it could hold up to the heat that the brakes are capable of producing. I'm not so sure they use Delrin for cutting boards either...kind of expensive stuff.

Mike

Mandic · « **Reply #11 on:** February 23, 2011, 09:45:21 AM »

Quote from: strynboen on February 22, 2011, 10:34:12 AM

yes,, stainles steel eats aluminium..its not the way to gow

You are going to have to explain this one to me. If the dissimilar metals are in direct contact, yes they will corrode. But in a system filled with brake fluid, I don't really see it. I mean ideally the piston isn't in contact with the bore of the caliper. If it were it would be a constant wear spot. It is more like the pistons in an engine cylinder. They shouldn't be in contact. Granted there is more keeping that from making contact than there is in a brake caliper. Caliper just has to one wide seal and pressurized fluid around the piston.

Someone chime in if I'm being silly here. It has been a while since I studied brake theory, but stainless pistons in aluminum calipers are pretty common in high performance brake calipers as I knew it.

I just installed all new stainless pistons in my 3 calipers on my F2. I was having sealing issues with the corroded factory ones, so I installed them and solved that problem.

somesuch · « **Reply #12 on:** February 23, 2011, 10:02:20 AM »

Another point to consider is how much and how fast heat is transferred by the piston to the fluid (piston material, and area of contact with the pad..... both would be greater for aluminum piston)...I had terrible fluid boiling in another application where a manufacturer changed piston material from some sort of fancy plated steel to a hard anodized aluminum. When I switched to the older pistons, my problems went away.

--Nick

strynboen · « **Reply #13 on:** February 23, 2011, 10:26:28 AM »

ions are "floting" from the one metall to other..like an battery are working..and eats the lightest matriale

bollingball · « **Reply #14 on:** February 23, 2011, 11:37:23 AM »

Mick you are correct about price. don't let your wife go shopping with mine

Don R · « **Reply #15 on:** February 23, 2011, 07:22:55 PM »

Don't tell the SSBC. Stainless Steel Brake Company, They have been making corvette calipers stop corroding for years.

scottly · « **Reply #16 on:** February 23, 2011, 07:57:44 PM »

The Delrin I'm familiar with is black, not white. While it machines very nicely, I was leery of using it to make a piston. (K7 caliper, phenolic pistons not available in 42.8 mm) I also have thought of making anodized aluminum pistons. Somesuch, any chance the boiling fluid issue was due to the aluminum pistons expanding from heat, and sticking in the caliper bore, creating drag, which in turn created more heat?

mick7504 · « **Reply #17 on:** February 23, 2011, 09:01:27 PM »

I don't know if this will be of any help.
The Nissan Navara D21 and the Nissan Pathfinder (1992 > 1995) with a twin piston front caliper has got phenolic pistons.
The diameter is listed as 42.774mm and height of 48.13mm.
There is a groove at the piston top for a dust boot like a conventional car caliper piston.
It might be a lead.
Mick

somesuch · « **Reply #18 on:** February 23, 2011, 11:09:16 PM »

Quote from: scottly on February 23, 2011, 07:57:44 PM

The Delrin I'm familiar with is black, not white. While it machines very nicely, I was leery of using it to make a piston. (K7 caliper, phenolic pistons not available in 42.8 mm) I also have thought of making anodized aluminum pistons. Somesuch, any chance the boiling fluid issue was due to the aluminum pistons expanding from heat, and sticking in the caliper bore, creating drag, which in turn created more heat?

The calipers I was talking about are gold painted 2001-2001 GSXR1000 six piston Tokico jobs. Caliper and piston were Aluminum. Pistons hard anodized, caliper bores aluminum as machined. No evidence of pistons sticking in bores. The rotors would turn blue all the way to the buttons after some spirited riding. With brake pads that had ceramic on the backing plate the issue would be a bit better. The old steel pistons that came in grey anodized calipers (that came on 1996-1998 GSXR750/TLR/ZX9/etc.) have almost half the contact area with the pad, and being steel they have much lower thermal conductivity (ranges around 36-43 vs 121-220 for aluminum. The exact number depends on specific alloy) It was amazing to see the disks glow in the dark and brakes still working with steel pistons, and have the lever go to the bar with aluminum pistons and disks nowhere as hot.....Some brake pistons have holes drilled around the edge to minimize heat transfer to fluid....I almost went that route when I realized that the old calipers have the same size pistons made of steel. Issue solved!

--Nick

scottly · « **Reply #19 on:** February 24, 2011, 05:22:08 PM »

Hey Mick, thanks for the tip! All I could find were steel pistons for the Nissan. Do you have a part #?
Where did you find the info? I had already spent hours on the net looking for piston specs, but everything I found needed make, model, and year. I would have spent years plugging in data before happening on a Pathfinder!!!

mick7504 · « **Reply #20 on:** February 24, 2011, 08:46:39 PM »

Quote from: scottly on February 24, 2011, 05:22:08 PM

Hey Mick, thanks for the tip! All I could find were steel pistons for the Nissan. Do you have a part #?
Where did you find the info? I had already spent hours on the net looking for piston specs, but everything I found needed make, model, and year. I would have spent years plugging in data before happening on a Pathfinder!!!

Hey Scottly
I only have one of our suppliers (aftermarket) part #s which wouldn't be much help.
Part of what I do is to supply and rebuild motor vehicle brake components.
The Nissan dealers here are hesitant to supply genuine part numbers and they would more than likely want an arm and a leg for the part.
I know that the Navaras with a single piston caliper were steel and the twin piston calipers were phenolic.
Maybe one of the bigger brake companies in the States might be a good place to make an enquiry.
One of the problems that we come up against with some Japanese vehicles, is having a reference to the parts and them not being available aftermarket.
Here is a photo mate that I've taken with my mobile phone out of the parts book.
Mick

scottly · « **Reply #21 on:** February 24, 2011, 09:10:40 PM »

Mick, I was all over Nissan's site today, and I couldn't find squat. I have tried in the past to find info from Raybestos, and tried again today armed with the model info you provided, and all I can find are steel pistons. Who is your aftermarket supplier? Are they only in Oz? I found steel pistons from a national auto chain for as cheap as $15. If I could find phenolic versions for the same price, I would jump on it and machine about 13mm off the length.

mick7504 · « **Reply #22 on:** February 24, 2011, 09:54:04 PM »

Quote from: scottly on February 24, 2011, 09:10:40 PM

Mick, I was all over Nissan's site today, and I couldn't find squat. I have tried in the past to find info from Raybestos, and tried again today armed with the model info you provided, and all I can find are steel pistons. Who is your aftermarket supplier? Are they only in Oz? I found steel pistons from a national auto chain for as cheap as $15. If I could find phenolic versions for the same price, I would jump on it and machine about 13mm off the length.

Yes mate, they are are major brake parts supplier here only.
Some parts that we are supplied with are manufactured by Raybestos. (Made in USA)
The F100's and also the F150's up to '96 had a phenolic piston with a dia of 73mm (2 7/8") and possibly the F250's with a twin piston caliper (2 3/16") up to around 1994.
I recall that they are a fairly thick walled piston and if the ID is ok, they possibly could be spun down to size.
The part # for those is LD76024 (F100) and LD99980 (F250).
These numbers should be recognisable by brake parts suppliers, although some may change the prefix, and the numerics stay the same.
Mick

scottly · « **Reply #23 on:** February 24, 2011, 10:01:46 PM »

Thanks Mick, but the idea is to find a piston that is already 42.77mm OD that would only need the length customized. I'll have a look at the Ford pickup pistons anyway. Thanks again for the leads!
Scott

BeSeeingYou · « **Reply #24 on:** February 24, 2011, 10:27:03 PM »

Quote from: Mandic on February 23, 2011, 09:45:21 AM

Quote from: strynboen on February 22, 2011, 10:34:12 AM
yes,, stainles steel eats aluminium..its not the way to gow

You are going to have to explain this one to me. If the dissimilar metals are in direct contact, yes they will corrode. But in a system filled with brake fluid, I don't really see it. I mean ideally the piston isn't in contact with the bore of the caliper. If it were it would be a constant wear spot. It is more like the pistons in an engine cylinder. They shouldn't be in contact. Granted there is more keeping that from making contact than there is in a brake caliper. Caliper just has to one wide seal and pressurized fluid around the piston.

Someone chime in if I'm being silly here. It has been a while since I studied brake theory, but stainless pistons in aluminum calipers are pretty common in high performance brake calipers as I knew it.

I just installed all new stainless pistons in my 3 calipers on my F2. I was having sealing issues with the corroded factory ones, so I installed them and solved that problem.

Don't worry about it. You should be fine. In the marine world this can be a problem especially where stainless fasteners are used on aluminum or the two are immersed in an electrolyte (seawater). You are not planning on doing that are you?

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Author Topic: Aftermarket caliper pistons (Read 4659 times)

bollingball

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