Best way to clean/polish brakes?

[hayai_240]

What is the best way to strip off brake dust and grease off of brakes? Ive tried brake cleaner, degreaser, and a stainless steel wheel for a dremel and still the brake dust and grease refuse to scrape off. I plan to paint the brakes so im trying to clean them as thorough as possible before i paint them. Here are pics of how they look like right now. Any recommendations? I dont want anything too abrassive where it will permanently scratch the brakes.

http://students.washington.edu/kongs/240sx%20Project%20Pics/8-15-06/IMG_1981.JPG

http://students.washington.edu/kongs/240sx%20Project%20Pics/8-15-06/IMG_1985.JPG

http://students.washington.edu/kongs/240sx%20Project%20Pics/8-15-06/IMG_1989.JPG

http://students.washington.edu/kongs/240sx%20Project%20Pics/8-15-06/IMG_1994.JPG

[LB.Motoring]

taking the caliper itself? let that shit sit in some ACID!

haha jk carfull of the interals, the boot might get damaged if exposed to harmful materal..... just spray and wire brush tab bitch then powdercoat it for easier cleaning nexttime hahaha GL

[johngriff]

yeah, dont soak it! You will ruin the seals

If you are going to get it powder coated. The powder coating shop can clean it safely for you for a nominal fee. I would suggest this for BEST RESULT!!


John

[kandyflip445]

I've use a sand blaster (glass bead) to clean brake calipers before. You just have to tape off all the areas that you don't want the finish to be altered. Like where the pistons are and stuff.

[hayai_240]

Im not worried about the boots being damaged because i will be rebuilding these brakes after they are painted. I considered powder coating them, but thats alittle too pricey for now. Keep the ideas coming tho.

[az_240]

Wire wheel is the best method
I just painted my 300zx brakes red

[hayai_240]

az_240, are you talking about a wire wheel using a power drill or dremel? what type of brush did you use? Brass? Steel? Any pics of your brakes after you cleaned them?

Thanks

[BoostinGST]

do you possibly have a friend with a parts washer??? i threw mine in my washer and left it in there for about 24hours and they came out lookin like new... i keep it filled with mineral spirits... if you want to try something else i would suggest dropping them by a machine shop to have them hot-tanked or just let the powder coating shop clean them

[kandyflip445]

If those are aluminum ones you probably don't want to hot tank them. If you forget about them or if they sit in there too long they won't even be there anymore.

[sw20>>s14]

look aluminum to me...so thats a no go...if you dont care about the pistons or seals why not use some aircraft stripper? since you plan to repaint anyways...wire brush usually works pretty well with brake or carb cleaner, but im sure you already tried that...

damn, whoever had those before you really didnt know the concept of clearing brakes did he?

[kouki_s14]

go get some simple green to clean it. i used that and then painted my brakes
hasnt chipped off or anything. painting over baked in brake dust isnt gonna hurt

[locodrftr]

just use some gas and a old paint brush, then wire bush them and clean with some paint thinner before u paint should work out ok. use a brass brush though, but maybe it wont matter since the nissan sign is all jacked up anyways.

[hayai_240]

well i guess i dont have to strip it all the way down. Just clean enough for me to paint over. Ill try brake cleaner and simple green again and go at it with a brass brush. Or i could just use medium grit sandpaper and sand it off by hand.

And dont worry about the NISSAN logo, ive already taken care of that....

http://students.washington.edu/kongs/240sx%20Project%20Pics/8-15-06/IMG_2002.JPG

[Jay Dee M]

Where is a good shop to powdercoat in So. Cal? I've been thinking about powdercoating my Z32 calipers before I install them.

[kandyflip445]

just use some gas and a old paint brush, then wire bush them and clean with some paint thinner before u paint should work out ok. use a brass brush though, but maybe it wont matter since the nissan sign is all jacked up anyways.

I demand a bigger picture of your avatar sent to my PM box!!!:D

[Jay Dee M]

I demand a bigger picture of your avatar sent to my PM box!!!:D

Yeah, me too. :D

[az_240]

^ahahahaha I was just about to ask him the same thing... There needs to be an enlarge avatar option or something:)

My dad has an actual wire wheel hooked up to a motor. Its just steel wire. Takes all the crap right off to a shine. Didnt even have to use brake cleaner and my brakes were DIRTY.
Ill take some pics here in a sec of how they turned out.

Heres a pic I just took... a little too quick since its a little fuzzy
http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a229/livinglegendlll/DSCF0001.jpg
I used that brush on ceramic caliper paint you can buy at autozone. Kind of a pain in the ass brushing it on since it takes a while but they turned out great. Just gotta know when to quit brushing or youll smear the trying to dry paint. I was worried about the red being off but this red was a nice deeper red. Just what I wanted.

You dont need to powdercoat them. Its pretty pricey. This caliper paint seems to work well from the reviews I've seen

[TipStylez]

^send Pics!

123456

[shayrgob240]

^ VERY NICE!!

to the original poster. Did u buy those calipers used? Maybe you should take them apart completely, clean up the calipers, then rebuild them. This way you won't have to worry about screwing up the seals and at the same time you'll have brand new calipers.

[kandyflip445]

Make sure you get a small cylinder hone and use it on the caliper. Lube up all the internal seals with brake fluid when rebuilding. Other than that it's really straight forward to rebuild some calipers.

[locodrftr]

Hey just look for vida pics, you'll find many more and better i might add.

[TipStylez]

Is there a silver one for that paint you used az_240?

[krustindumm]

let the brake cleaner soak for a bit, then use some elbow grease.

Oh, and get quality brake cleaner, the BG stuff is good, as are most of the flamable types.

[az_240]

Is there a silver one for that paint you used az_240?

Im sure there is. As for pics of vida ooooo la la:wackit:

[hayai_240]

Just as an update, i finally finished cleaning and painting my calipers. I ended up just using simple green degreaser to try and clean it as best as i could. Then i used some 60 grit sandpaper to sand off as much as i could off the calipers. Then i began the painting process. I used Duplicolors high heat primer and clear coat. For the base coat, i used Duplicolors instant gold paint. Here are the pics of the process and final outcome. Let me know what you think.

http://students.washington.edu/kongs/240sx%20Project%20Pics/8-20-06/IMG_2004.JPG

http://students.washington.edu/kongs/240sx%20Project%20Pics/8-20-06/IMG_2005.JPG

http://students.washington.edu/kongs/240sx%20Project%20Pics/8-20-06/IMG_2007.JPG

http://students.washington.edu/kongs/240sx%20Project%20Pics/8-20-06/IMG_2018.JPG

http://students.washington.edu/kongs/240sx%20Project%20Pics/8-20-06/IMG_2019.JPG

http://students.washington.edu/kongs/240sx%20Project%20Pics/8-20-06/IMG_2020.JPG

[TipStylez]

Wow, that gold came out better then i thought, i thought it would come out a shiney ass gold like on the cap, but it came out dull.

Now i have another choice...Silver or Gold..

[arminder_d]

For future reference best method is a bead blaster as above mentioned. Using tape to tape off the rubber is useless because there will be so much pressure behind the beads itll blow the tape off. If your gonna rebuild the caliper anyways sand blast the hell out of it. Itll get the stuff in the pores that degreaser or sand paper coudlnt dream of getting out. I plan on painting my Z calipers as soon as i line up some new brakes and a rebuild kit.