Today I replaced a lower ball joint on my truck and the went to replace the front brakes on the Miata. Working on the truck went very easily with no problems which worried me. When I got to the miata, I found the rotors were stuck to the hubs and I felt better about today's projects. Foolish me, I thought that was going to be today's little issue. It nothing my newest persuader (3 lb. FOIG) and some PB Blaster couldn't cure though. I thought I had successfully vanquished Murphy and his damned law for today until it came time to retract the piston into the caliper body. The passenger side one started leaking like a sieve and the driver side one actually squirted brake fluid at me when I pushed the boot back a little with my finger. I am going out on a limb here and assuming this is bad news bears. Do I need to replace both calipers or is there some sort of rebuild kit I can get? If so, is it even worth it?
Don't your rotors have threaded holes in them for easy removal? Mine did and they came in handy!
Calipers aren't that expensive are they? Can you get them from a salvage yard, or perhaps some sort of Miata-specific parts store that ships stuff to your house? I would think that if there were a rebuild kit, it would still be expensive enough to ignore and save yourself the frustration of taking them apart.
FM salvage has them for $35 each so I guess I should just get new (to me) ones. Sigh, I hate cars sometimes.
Oh my rotors do have threaded holes but they require a bolt to be effective. This of course is a bolt I don't have so out came the mini-sledge.
Do Miata rotors have retaining screws like RX-7 5-lug rotors? If they do,and you still have one, you can unscrew one from another rotor and use that to pop the stuck rotor off.
No, they just have a threaded hole so you can use a bolt to pop them off.
The bolt that holds down the spare tire fits the hole nicely.
Rob
thatsnowinnebago wrote:
FM salvage has them for $35 each so I guess I should just get new (to me) ones. Sigh, I hate cars sometimes.
Is that just for a salvage part or a rebuilt part?
I know on my E30 I'm about to buy rebuilt ones because they are only $40 a pop, at that price it's worth not having to screw with it. The rebuilt ones even come painted back silver.
Or, buy replacements, install them, then take the time to rebuild your old ones for when the replacements wear out...
