Evora S Brake caliper refurbishment

[TrevS]

Hi all

My 2011 Evora S had it's annual service yesterday with PJS in Burton on Trent. As part of the health check they carried out they flagged an issue with the brake calipers and the inner bleed nipples being seized and the outer ones being very tight. They have recommended to have them refurbished. I wanted to get them repainted anyway so trying to kill two birds and find somewhere that can rebuild and repaint them. Does anyone have any recommendations? I'm ideally looking for somewhere in the midlands (I'm based near Coventry) and ideally somewhere that I can leave the car and them to remvoe/refit the calipers.

I'd really appreciate any recommendations.

Thanks

Trevor

[Cdm2018]

Central lotus sorted mine when the car was getting full brake replacement even though it having it again 4 years later ?

but calipers were painted etc and it been no issues paint is still nice 

[TrevS]

So did central Lotus refurb as well as repaint them? I might give them a call. Any idea on the cost?

[Bravo73]

14 minutes ago, TrevS said:

PJS reported an issue with the inner brake bleed nipples on the calipers have seized as well as the outer bleed nipples were very tight. They have suggested looking to have all the calipers refurbished. Does anyone have any recommendations of companies that could do this? Ideally looking for somewhere near the midlands that I can leave the car with rather than trying to remove them myself.

AP Racing themselves are based in Coventry. Maybe they could recommend someone locally?

https://apracing.com/race-car/brake-calipers/servicing-and-reconditioning

[Cdm2018]

2 minutes ago, TrevS said:

So did central Lotus refurb as well as repaint them? I might give them a call. Any idea on the cost?

My cost was a hard to pick out as they mixed it up with brake replacement and service give Adam a call at central 

[Bravo73]

This company (based just outside Nottingham) specialise in what you are after:

https://www.bcs-automotive.co.uk/brake-caliper-refurb/i001039-2/

 

But it looks like you will need to remove the calipers and send them to them. However, if you contact them, they might be willing to take the calipers off the car for you.

[TrevS]

6 hours ago, Bravo73 said:

AP Racing themselves are based in Coventry. Maybe they could recommend someone locally?

https://apracing.com/race-car/brake-calipers/servicing-and-reconditioning

I'll give this a go. I didn't realise they were AP racing brakes, I actually sold one of my old projects (Ford GT40 replica) to one of the engineers at AP racing so I might drop him a line.

Trev

[TrevS]

So I’ve been told that the inner bleed nipples are seized and the outer ones are incredibly stiff on my calipers. The calipers are due to be refurbed and then repainted later this month by BCS.

 

The company that are refurbing the calipers are ‘extracting’ the nipples. I assume these will need replacing so does anyone know if replacement parts are available, part numbers etc? Also are there any parts that might benefit being replaced like lines etc while the calipers are off the car?

 

Thanks

 

Trev 

Edited June 26 by TrevS

[agentdr8]

Bleed nipples are pretty standard as long as the threads fit, so they could come from many sources. If that's the only issue w/ the calipers, then there's probably no need to replace any other components. 

[Bravo73]

6 hours ago, TrevS said:

…so does anyone know if replacement parts are available, part numbers etc? 

Ask AP Racing. 

Otherwise, BCS should be able to source the parts from AP Racing themselves. 

[TrevS]

I've just found this rebuild kit that includes the bleed valves, dust covers etc
Front - £160.68
https://www.eliseparts.com/shop/braking/brake-accessories/v6-exige-evora-front-brake-caliper-repair-kit/

Rear - £131.88
https://www.eliseparts.com/shop/braking/brake-caliper-repair-kits/v6-exige-evora-rear-brake-caliper-repair-kit/

Seems expensive, any thoughts on these kits?

Trev

[TrevS]

Good news. Calipers booked in for rebuild and refurbish at the end of the month. The brakes will be off the car for about a week and the car is going to have to be parked in the garages car park that are removing and refitting the brakes. 
 

Quick question, I’ve never had the car off the trickle charger longer than overnight so will the battery be off being left for a week with the car stood still or should I ask the garage to just run/idle the car every few days?

Trev

[Bibs]

It'll be fine, it's a couple of weeks before any issues will begin. 

[C8RKH]

I'm going to ask a pretty dumb question.

If you are paying a company to do a full refurb on your brake calipers why are YOU worrying about sourcing nipples, refurb kits etc?

Or did I miss understand?

[TrevS]

I wasn’t sure they would replace the bleed nipples as the quote only stated removal of the seized nipples but after speaking to them they have confirmed they will replace so all sorted. I just didn’t want to have the car off the road for too long possibly waiting for parts but BCS said they will sort everything so fingers crossed they do a good job.

[TrevS]

Update on this, proving to be a nightmare so could really do with some help.

My car is booked to go into a local garage to have the callipers removed. They were then being shipped to BCS to do the engineering work, repaint them and return for fitting. BCS have now said they can't repaint the callipers due to the machine finishing required for the raised letters. It means I've got no one to paint the calipers now and they may end up going here there and everywhere to get engineering work done and then repainted.

So as a last resort/quick fix I'm considering having new callipers fitted and then refurbing the old ones to resell at some point. There are a set of fronts for sale on eBay but I can't find a set of rear callipers . Can anyone suggest anywhere that might have a set of rears? To get them new from Lotus they are £1100 for a pair.

I have also seen a set of Evora 400 calipers but I assume these won't fit or will need different discs/pad from the S brakes? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/256406783112?var=0&mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=710-53481-19255-0&campid=5338749392&toolid=20006&_ul=GB&customid=GB_131090_256406783112.145628799569~1869800926043-g_CjwKCAjwqf20BhBwEiwAt7dtdc56hTwdFUDmGZ6uQ6vEEOlbVmc2HAZo0tOn8xE_wD7LX0f0aF2mfRoC6CwQAvD_BwE

Any help would be much appreciated.

Trevor

Edited July 23 by TrevS

[Bibs]

Ring Lotus Silverstone, Matt has a firm that refurb calipers for them and may be able to help. 

[TrevS]

Thanks Bibs, I have given them a ring. Waiting for a call back to discuss so I'll see if they can help

[TrevS]

So the calipers are off the car and winging thier way north for a full rebuild and refurb so the car is going to be off the road for a couple of weeks. One thing that the garage did mention was that that one caliper had a metal shim with the pad and the otherside didn't. Does anyone know where I could get a spare shim from? Here is a picture of the part in question.

[TrevS]

Uopdate on caliper refurbishment if anyone is interested. I've had my calipers fully rebuild and refinished by BCR in Rochdale. The quality is excellent and I'm really happy considering how bad they were to start. I've only just got the car back and it's filthy so once cleaned I'll try and get some better pictures as the photo doesn't do the finish justice.

Before

After

[DH2]

I would say they were originally black that had been painted red.  Never seen any factory finished ones looking that bad.

Please check that the lower brake pad pin (and possibly all the others) is fully home - doesn't look right in that photo, you should be able to see the end of the pin.

[TrevS]

Thanks for the heads up on the pins, I will take a look and speak to the garage in the morning. You are correct on the original calipers. They look like they were originally black and then painted, hence they were probably worse than most calipers on similar age as it looks like the top layer of paint just started flaking off and they definitely needed refinishing.

Trev

[TrevS]

Here is a better picture of one of the wheels complete with the refurbed caliper and new wheel bolts to complete the refreshed look.

[DH2]

Re the pins, looking at a car here, it might just be the angle of the image and the shininess of the paint, but worth a check.

The spring 'ring' on the other end of the pin should be fully within the caliper body.  You actually hear a change in note when tapping them in, as it bottoms out.

[Cdm2018]

Awful picture as it’s dark but my pins seem set into the brake caliper body but it feels a rubber type of feel not metal ?

my lotus garage did my calipers and recently replaced brake pads etc so I am sure they did it to spec ?