So, I'm sure many of you will look at the title and say, 'I don't use the back brake, why should I bother with this ?' Well this is why, 8 years old, 27,000 miles and on the original pads which I was in the process of changing. I'm not going to bother looking for a piston kit, this is a new caliper all day long. Please, please, please, check your rear brake caliper. Andy
I think you'll find most Ducati owners do as the rear brake malfunctions before every M.O.T,probably down to excessive heat build up from the exhaust / engine,mine went this time last year & the boys at my local removed the caliper / bleed it.just need to do the same with the smart.
Be gentle with my feelings for saying this, but. Have you used the pedal to push out the pistons yet. all the brake pistons I've seen are hollow, that hole looks like it could be in an infill for the pistons. Although why that should happen is a mystery. I take it there has not been any fluid leaking. TB
Never failed an MoT on rear brake, never had to bleed it or had doubt in its performance the entire time Carole has had the bike. Andy
Never had a problem that would have prompted me to dismantle the caliper. Had a look at the pads a week ago which prompted the decision to get new ones. In hind sight and having let my heart rate slow, I have found a piston kit that is relatively inexpensive so I will get the caliper rebuilt. It is however history as I have sourced a new Brembo P2 caliper with the pistons opposite each other, not on the same side, which comes complete with pads at two thirds the price of the OE part. Andy
Okay, time to bring this thread to a conclusion. Plan A, the replacement caliper turned out to be a monumental failure. I will be letting the person who provided the initial recommendation that his information is incorrect. Plan B, the new piston and seal kit has been completed and the OE caliper has been stripped down, parts cleaned, new rubber parts, pistons and seals installed, new pad spring clips and new pads fitted. The original Brembo pistons are made from aluminium alloy which are anodised and then a thick disc of a frangible material that looks like it is to prevent heat transfer from the pad, pressed into a step machined in the inner diameter of the piston. It was this material that had cracked up and made the piston look so terrible. Still buggered because without any heat transfer mitigation, the aluminium alloy piston would have got very hot and potentially boiled the fluid if not cooked the seals as well. I obtained a replacement piston and seal kit from Powerhouse Automotive (UK) which is not Brembo original but looks to be of very good quality. The replacement pistons are manufactured in stainless steel, have a much thicker wall and are consequently, nearly twice the weight of the OE pistons, 157g vs 80g. The service from Powerhouse was brilliant, the kit was packed, posted Royal Mail first class and delivered in less than 24 hours. They offer a huge range of kits for bikes that are most likely after market manufactured but that is not necessarily a bad thing. As I said, the quality of the parts I got looks very good. For what it is worth, their eBay feedback is 100% on over 71,000 transactions. A long story but a happy ending this time. Andy
