bbk caliper cleaning....
 

alright here is what im up against.. I bought a bbk kit here on the org. and i received the calipers at first sight i though they were painted black.. To my surprise they are actually not painted at all they are just that dirty, i scrubbed a very small section with a soft wire brush and they came perfectly clean, i would like to leave them the aluminum color and maybe just spray them with a few coats of clear, actually was gonna paint them silver but i like the aluminum look.. any ideas on a cleaner that i can dip these in or that will loosen up a majority of the (im assuming) brake dust that has been baked on..

I bought some 6th Gen calipers from a junkyard and they were filthy when they arrived. I just sprayed the heck out of them with brake cleaner to get rid of the dust and fluid. Once they were dried out, I used several coats of high temp paint. I just did the final coats this past Saturday, so I can't say how the paint is holding up.

If you have to clean the pistons, IIRC, per the FSM you have use clean new brake fluid. I think you're also not supposed to use compressed air, but use a dust vacuum if you have to.

brake cleaner.
nice max.

And steel wool

BRAKE cleaner :gotme:

i tried the brake cleaner that came with the g2 paint kits, it just runs off and does nothing i mean this dirt is really on there, tom ill pick up some more wire brushes and steel wool... thanks for the replys

CNC brake cleaner worked fine for me... :gotme:

I have a wire brush that I didn't have to use.

foaming engine degreaser
wire brush
brake cleaner on a rag

Or you can send them to me, and I will blast them with some Aluminum Oxide, or ceramic bead, to clean them up. But of course, that will cost you a bit more than a couple of cans of brake cleaner lol.

With blasting, It would leave the surface scratch-free (assuming you were to use the wire brush on all of it). And after that, you could spray them with clear and it would look like they were off an 09 Infiniti. Just a thought...

ok i tried the brake cleaner again and the engine de-greaser and wheel cleaner and goof off, and wd40, no luck im thinking i might have to get this **** blasted off as bwinter suggested...

You bought my old set.

They were painted with G2 black, at least twice, although some of it had come off when I cleaned them with brake cleaner...

here's what they looked like when I first put them on (they are pretty clean in this pic) - as you can see, they are painted black.

https://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j...Picture019.jpg

Its a particular bottle i used... tha majority of tha CAN is GREEN and they spell it BRAKE KLEEN... REALLY good stuff!

ok went to the store today and got some kleen strip and applied it with a small brush let it setup and presto! all the paint, dirt and whatever else is gona i was a lil afraid of it eating through the boots, but this stuff is like a gel and does not run much... Irish did u rebuild these calipers i noticed the boots are different.. would u recommend rebuilding them or what they are not goin on til i get some 18's but i figure while they are off might as well rebuild if need be... How would i know if they need to be rebuild the boots are not torn or anything... thanks everyone

on top of there good cleaning stripping i decided to paint them anyway, i had them behind a wheel and they just dont stand out much g2 paint silver and black was my choice...
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w...x/DSCF0188.jpg
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w...x/DSCF0192.jpg
http://i175.photobucket.com/albums/w...x/DSCF0190.jpg

I rebuilt them not too long ago. Then I stripped a bleed screw on one so I bought a reman'd one from Pep Boys, which had just been rebuilt as well. So both are rebuilt fairly recently, although the dust boots might differ a bit...it's just cosmetic.

I wouldn't bother rebuilding unless you start getting fluid leaking throug the seals (it will splatter on your wheels if/when it happens). I would say the seals/boots are (in general) good for around 4-5 years before a rebuild is necessary.

cliffs: don't bother rebuilding, they're fine.

btw, painting looks good.

in the top one in the pics, you can see the little dimples where I took a dremel and fixed the "N," which had gotten all smushed up somehow ;)