S3 rear caliper, driver's side

[Casey]

I need a working S3 caliper (driver's side rear) for KIMI 3, happy to buy or borrow, whilst I get the existing one refurbished. The piston is pretty well seized solid and is causing an awful noise when turning left. I think it's gone too far for just a seal replacement so plan to send to Biggred for a thorough refurb.

It's irritating that I have a spare S2 caliper on the shelf, but I know it's not compatible!

Anyone able to assist with a part, or know of a source? I really don't want to take KIMI 3 off the road whilst I send away the current one

I did take a look on RockAuto but no stock there....

[ian65]

pm sent

[Casey]

Thanks Ian

[Casey]

Massive thanks to Ian for the loan of a rear S3 caliper and pad carrier, which he posted to me and arrived on Wednesday. I've now fitted both today. The carrier bolts took some persuading to break their rusty grip, but I got there in the end.

New brake pads fitted both sides, plus I flushed about 200ml of brake fluid through each side, until the fluid looked a fresher colour!

I was just thinking about doing a road test to check all is OK, and hoping the weird "left turn rubbing" sound was now absent, but the heavens opened, so I'll leave that until a dry day!

I shall be posting my caliper, with a badly seized piston, off to Biggred on Monday for a refurb, cost will be around £95 including shipping both ways.

Thanks again Ian

[rotor_dude]

hello,

tbh, your better sending both away to get refurbished at the same time

as your now going to fit a like 100% working caliper, brake and handbrake
then a used probably slightly sticky or not working 100% on the other side
so probably get uneven braking, uneven brake pad wear, uneven handbrake etc

your welcome

also you could try unseizing the seized piston, remove all the pads from that sezied caliper, pump the brake pedal hard,
might free it up,
whilst your changing the caliper and bleeding the brakes anyways
note, leave all the other brake pads in the other calipers etc


later
glen

[Casey]

HI Glen. Yes, I agree, ideally, I should get both calipers done together. I'll note how it is now, with two unrefurbed calipers and see if there is any difference when I refit the refurbed caliper.

Main objective at the moment was to do minimal work to try and fix the "left turn rubbing" sound AND keep the car on the road (thanks to loan caliper). Come the winter, I can lay the car up and send the other caliper away for refurb if necessary.

I did use the "stamp on the brakes", with pads out (small piece of wood in place) to successfully free a front seized piston on KIMI 2 a couple of months back. I then cleaned everything up, repainted the caliper and changed all the seals and boots.

The rear caliper on KIMI 3 was a bit worse for wear, so decided to let Biggred have the job instead of DIY refurb.

[Richardnz]

I think..am pretty sure I need both front brake calipers refurbed on my Fb, are the photos of the refurbed calliper from Kimi 3? Beautiful car by the way.

[Casey]

Thanks Rich

Yep, the photos here:

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=4355&start=26

are of the caliper I had refurbed. Very pleased with the higher spec coated finish I opted to take.

I had a slight issue on reinstalling, in that the notches in the new pistons were not as deep as on the OEM pistons and my pads had deeply inset pins so wouldn't engage. I just had to file off a portion of the pin to sort. Probably unlucky that the brand of pad I used (Eicher I think) had a pin set that far"inboard". Other pads I've used were in a better position.

[Casey]

Pin position, so you can see what I mean. Old pad top, versus deeper pin position on new pad, bottom. Both would work on OEM piston, but not on replacement piston.

2019-09-13 18.03.15_1024.jpg (189.23 KiB) Viewed 267 times

[Richardnz]

Brilliant, thank you. It’s so good to see such fastidious work. I’ve spent the last 6 months trying to convince myself that when I last owner an FB (2003) that the brakes were just as poor...but I’ve had to face reality, something needs to be done. Thanks for the brake pad info too. Also Red really is a great colour for a series 3.