Cost for 4 Caliper Refurb?

[Scooblitz]

Evening

Sent off for a quote to get 4 calipers and carriers for my 97 2.8i to be refurbed including 'special paint.'

"Lifetime guarantee" right enough.

How much do you think the quote is?

 

[andyglym]

go on .....

 

[petecossie]

If it is Big Redd I'd estimate £170 x 2 = £340 plus special paint cost (can't remember how much for special paint). The finish on my calipers was brilliant, basically they were like new. It was worthwhile for me as new OEM "M" calipers are well over £300 each!!! So £170 for two calipers + P/P (£14) was a no brainer.

 

[Scooblitz]

Obscene.

And that's not even including new pistons.

Non-special paint is only £190...

 

[petecossie]

When you say obscene do you mean my Big Redd estimate or your BCS estimate. I think the BCS is obscene!!

My calipers where completely stripped, a broken bleed screw removed, electroplated and finished in silver. Then I painted them blue before being fitted to my car. Pistons, seals and bolts etc replaced with new items.

My rear calipers before refurb

After refurb

 

[Scooblitz]

@petecossie The bcs in reference.

By popping this thread up I knew I'd have some better suggestions than £620. So thank you for suggesting big red.

 

[Andybpowell]

Have you not considered just buying new ones not from BMW obviously that would probably be silly money, I've used febi and several other makes of OEM quality calipers over the years with no issues and less than your refurb quote

 

[Lee]

That's actually not as bad as you might think. The front callipers are cheap to replace due to it being shared with the 3 series. But the rear Z3 callipers are bespoke to the z3 so you'll be lucky to see much change from £250 for a pair of rear callipers.

Be cheaper to buy new and get handy with some paint.

 

[TJS]

Another option for calliper and master cylinder rebuild is Past Parts in Bury St Edmunds. I recently had a 1960's Lockheed master cylinder re sleeved with a stainless steel insert and two brake callipers split, blasted and reassembled with new UK made seals, stainless pistons and cadmium plated ... all for a lot less than £620 !

Past Parts - Remanufacturing Master Cylinders, Calipers and Servos

Established in 1988 Past Parts offers both a high quality remanufacturing service and a parts service for Hydraulic Brake Cylinders, Brake Servos, and Brake Calipers for a variety of older vehicles including cars, trucks and buses, plant machinery, classic motor cycles and many other types of...

www.pastparts.co.uk

 

[TJS]

 

[Scooblitz]

View attachment 282645View attachment 282647

Now that's quite nice. I had looked at getting them Zinc plated with yellow phosphate. Something I potentially plan for other metal parts aswell.

Are the cadmium calipers yellow or silver/chrome? Kinda hard to make out in the pictures

 

[TJS]

They are Yellow Gold Zinc plated. The other standard option is Silver Bright Zinc. I am sure PP would leave them in a blasted bare metal state should you wish to paint the callipers a custom colour.

 

[Delk]

I have always done mine at home. Pain in the backside to clean and derust but I am a cheapskate and don't pay myself much. Pistons and seals are cheap. A bucket, rust remover and paint are not so bad. Had issues with seized bleed screws and at the worst I drilled on our and they make oversized inserts.

I can't do fancy coating but painting is easy enough.

Seriously pistons and seals are not expensive. The rest is just painstaking time for cleaning and painting but not hard.

 

[petecossie]

I have always done mine at home. Pain in the backside to clean and derust but I am a cheapskate and don't pay myself much. Pistons and seals are cheap. A bucket, rust remover and paint are not so bad. Had issues with seized bleed screws and at the worst I drilled on our and they make oversized inserts.

I can't do fancy coating but painting is easy enough.

Seriously pistons and seals are not expensive. The rest is just painstaking time for cleaning and painting but not hard.

Its horses for courses really, and the time scale of when you want the job doing. I needed a quick turn round with a guaranteed job plus I didn't have the expertise and tools to do the overhaul and most important, testing. The front calipers from removal to posting to Big Redd for full refurb and returning to be painted/refitting took 8 days in total which suited me fine.