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Brake Calipers Electrolysis Rust Removal


Nic
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I have a spare set of stock brake calipers which I'm going to strip down and rebuild, wondering if anyone here has used DIY electrolysis to remove rust/paint from the calipers and if so how successful it was?

 

http://www.bmw2002faq.com/component/option,com_forum/Itemid,0/page,viewtopic/t,316325/highlight,/sid,07119a637095a32201eb4605a15c9723/

Edited by Nic (see edit history)
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  • 1 month later...

Gave this a go last week and very happy with the results :) The calipers started out thick with rust, paint, oil, dirt, brake dust, etc. the electrolysis stripped all this off. This is a pic of one of the calipers after a light going over with a wire brush drill bit.

 

http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/1479/dscf0292r.jpg http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/4509/dscf0293o.jpg http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/222/dscf0294j.jpg

 

The Process

1. Stripped down the calipers.

2. Using a power washer I cleaned off any lose crud from the calipers.

3. Took a large plastic tub and filled with a solution of Washing Soda (Sodium Carbonate) and water - this acts as the Electrolyte.

4. I used an old brake disc (you can use any old piece of ferrous metal, the bigger the surface area the better) and gave it a quick going over with a wire brush to remove the surface rust - this will act as the Anode.

5. Next I placed the brake disc into tub with the top of the disc just sticking out of the top of the solution.

6. Rested a piece of wood across the top of the tub and suspended the brake caliper using wire so that it was fully immersed in the solution, making sure the caliper was close to the brake disc but not touching it.

7. I then used a battery charger and connected the positive clamp to the brake disc and the negative clamp to the brake caliper. I used the 24V charger for quicker results but it'll also work using either a 12V battery charger or battery.

8. Turned the charger on and instantly bubbles start to form in the solution.

9. Then just left it to do it's thing, it took around half a day to fully strip the rust off each piece,

10. Switched the charger off, removed the caliper, rinsed off the solution then gave it a quick going over with a wire brush drill bit.

 

http://img39.imageshack.us/img39/707/dscf0296h.jpg

Edited by Nic (see edit history)
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Interesting....do the negative clamp is also fully immersed in the solution!?

 

I started with the negative clamp connected to the wire but found I was getting a better charge connecting the clamp directly to the caliper in the solution, the only drawback of doing this is that the plating on the clamp was also removed in the process.

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Did you block of the holes for the bleed nipple, is that an issue?

 

No need, the process doesn't effect the metal as such it just removes any oxidation from the surface which is good because it'll also clean up any internal rust on for example the bores where the pistons slide or the seats for the oil seals.

Edited by Nic (see edit history)
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No need, the process doesn't effect the metal as such it just removes any oxidation from the surface which is good because it'll also clean up any internal rust on for example the bores where the pistons slide or the seats for the oil seals.

 

Thats tops, wouldn't mind treating my Supra calipers to that...

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