'R' front Calipers replaced - want to refurb old ones

[Spart]

I don't know what to say about the difference in sizes.
Where are you getting this info from (incl prices).
I took whatever pistons I could remove (after soak in WD40 and a blast of compressed air) from the calipers and measured the two sizes large and small with a digital caliper. That is what they came out at and they seem to tally with the sizes when I checked with Godspeed.
They checked their pistons for the Astra 888 (which uses the same basic calipers as the R we have now established). Hence I went ahead with the refurb.

Hi,http://www.jdl-brakes.com/alcon-service-parts.html is where I came across the sizes and prices etc. I wonder if there is Astra 888 forum to see where those guys get their parts or referbs?


Yours doo look really good now though. :thumbup:

 

[stagger321]

I don't know what to say about the difference in sizes.
Where are you getting this info from (incl prices).
I took whatever pistons I could remove (after soak in WD40 and a blast of compressed air) from the calipers and measured the two sizes large and small with a digital caliper. That is what they came out at and they seem to tally with the sizes when I checked with Godspeed.
They checked their pistons for the Astra 888 (which uses the same basic calipers as the R we have now established). Hence I went ahead with the refurb.

Hi,http://www.jdl-brakes.com/alcon-service-parts.html is where I came across the sizes and prices etc. I wonder if there is Astra 888 forum to see where those guys get their parts or referbs?


Yours doo look really good now though. :thumbup:

Thanks for the update.
Interesting to see you can get the bits for Alcon Calipers from there, the biggest issue is ensuring you are ordering exactly the right set of components. They look like the might be right for the RCZ/888 calipers - but unless you have an exact part number to go by - its a gamble..
Plus its worth pointing out that Godspeed are similar in terms of pricing (£40 a piston for instance) and they are obviously rot free, which I doubt the Alcons listed here are (still).
I'm sure there will be Astra 888 owners that will have places to get the bits from, but at a limited run of only 100 cars they are even rarer than RCZ-R's. I suspect most of them go to places like Godspeed TBH. I had a quick check on the Astra Owners Network forum, but couldn't find anything obvious.
Thus far (prior to fitting) I am happy with the results from Godspeed. The finish is great, and you get a more substantial paint finish than the stock calipers from Peugeot, which have just a thin veneer of paint on them by comparison.

 

[Spart]

Thanks for your info and posts I'm sure it will be useful in the future for us R owners.
BTW how long did it take to get your calipers back?

 

[stagger321]

Thanks for your info and posts I'm sure it will be useful in the future for us R owners.
BTW how long did it take to get your calipers back?

Happy to share. It's a good community here, and we all share what we can.
Think it took Godspeed less than 3 weeks from them receiving the discs to them being back with me. Which is pretty damn rapid if you ask me.

 

[cali_RCZ]

I took today my purchased used calipers apart.
It was really hard to get the pistons out, due to the heavy corosion.

Total nonsense to use a mild steel on such high value parts.
Stainless, Aluminium or Titanium would be the way to go.

It used 20bar air pressure to blow them out but before, i need to use wd40 to get the pistons a little bit moving.
i guess the previous owner sold them, because he was only able to pop out 6 of the 8 pistons. Unfortunately he used plies to grab the pistons (you can see some tool marks). The 2 pistons, which he wasnt able to get out, needed the wd40 and 20bar air pressure to finally come out.

 

[cali_RCZ]

I measured the piston diameters with digital calipers.

38,08mm (1-1/2")

41,25mm (1-5/8")

 

[cali_RCZ]

Here you can see what causes the piston to get stuck.

 

[RCZ-R]

Great insights, thanks!

Just recently I spotted an R parking on a sidewalk and had a closer look at the front brake. It didn't look good. It seemed to me this was one of those city-only driving cars where the brakes never get to work properly. Add to it regular car washes plus the inevitable rims cleaning and the rust starts to spread.

I'm glad I never had any issue with my front brakes (knocking on wood and keeping braking hard as often as possible).