91-96 Brake Overhaul

After speaking with Brembo about refinishing techniques, I settled on a full overhaul using the VHT caliper paint solution.

Brembo was adamant that prep is the key to paint not flaking or discoloring. You want the metal as clean as possible for painting and that means taking it off the car and stripping it. Since I was rebuilding the calipers, it was a no-brainer for me.

Your best friend is this. It worked vastly better and faster than my soda blaster. Eye protection is MANDATORY- this will throw wires at speeds where it will pierce the skin. I pulled one out of my arm that was 1/4" deep:



Caliper with old baked/melted paint from many HPDE days.



Fronts off. Nasty.



Rears off.



Working on the front calipers with the wire wheel. 12,500 rpm.





Before/After on the rear calipers.




All clean and shiny.



More to follow...

Part 2

Front caliper pistons out. See how nice and shiny they are? This is what daily driving your NSX and regular brake fluid changes will do. These pistons are 23 years old and have never been serviced. Rot is caused by sitting for long periods. Drive your cars, folks.



Front 36 mm piston cleaned up with a green scotchbrite. Brake pistons must have a perfect surface to work. DO NOT use anything more aggressive than emery cloth or green pad to clean the area behind the dust boot groove. If these can't get the imperfection out, then toss the piston and replace.



Rear calipers disassembled.




Buy the Honda tool and pliers. The job is almost impossible without them.




Working on cleaning front 40 mm and rear 42 mm. It is ok to be more aggressive cleaning the dust boot groove and forward, but even some rot is ok there because it is exposed to the elements. Notice the faint line on the rear piston. That is rot- probably from when my car sat for a year in NYC before I shipped it to CO. I caught it just in time. The green pad worked. While still visible, it passed the "fingertip test." If you can feel the line with your fingertip, the piston is trash and must be replaced.



The other rear piston had a more severe rot line, but I was able to save it with the green pad. Only just, though. I'll probably replace on the next rebuild.



Here is what caused the rot. Yikes! Have you checked your rear brakes lately?



And the epic taping marathon begins.



Coat #1 of the VHT high-temp primer. Do not paint the inside/brake pad area of the calipers.



Hitting it with the color.




Clear coats.




And time for the main course. How would you like you calipers done? Medium rare?



Baking is necessary to activate and cure the paint, which gives it chemical and temp resistance once cooled.

All rebuilt with new seals. DOW Corning #4 silicone comes in real handy when re-assembling the calipers. Great stuff.









Pedal feel is amazing post-overhaul. Like it felt when new from the factory. But, I noticed a sightly longer pedal stroke before clamping after the rebuild- not sure why. One thing's for sure, the car stops HARD now.

very nice how long did the disassembly take

Great work. Sounds odd but I really liked the look of the caliper when it was silver

Excellent write up, with good pictures.
What is the part # of the TOOL you were talking about? Thanks.

Hi,

Exactly what i did... check it here :wink:

i also love the look of bare metal... only if i could get heat resistant clear coat like with the paint...

I painted mine matte black, and about 5 years after with lots of abuse, the paint is still holding strong...

congrats on a job well done

Nuno

wow you are pretty handy........for a lawyer.....

Shawn-

Hard to say how long because I did it while doing the ABS upgrade. For all 4 calipers, it's probably a 2-3 day job because you have to wait for the paint to dry between steps. It only took me about 20 min to get everything off the car, however.

Nikey-

The pliers are: 07914-SA50001. The spring compressor tool is: 07HAE-SG00100. Both are available through the normal Honda parts chain. Since I plan on regular rebuilds (I track and daily drive, including in winter), it made sense to buy them. You can buy the rebuild kits from Centric for about $10 each.

Nuno-

I also liked the bare metal look, but it gets dirty fast and won't look good after a few thousand km. VHT makes a high-temp clear coat. I used it on these calipers as the top coat over the color.

Doc-

Don't let the ivy league and masters-of-the-universe job fool you- I've been turning wrenches since I was 4.