Brake Caliper Seal Replacement
 

So you've been tracking your car and the silver Lexus on the caliper is now a nice gold color. The dust seals in your calipers probably look like mine did.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/mem...aliper-pic.jpg

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/mem...-full-shot.jpg

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/mem...ingle-shot.jpg

Buy two seal kits from Sewell - 04478‑0W010. No one else comes close on price. You might also want a new fit kit (04947‑0W010) and some of the magic Brembo grease too (90998‑94072).

Remove the caliper from the knuckle and string it up with a piece of wire (I used 0.030 safety wire) to avoid having to remove the line and bleed from scratch.

Put the pads back in the caliper and slide the pins in place, but don't fully seat them. Put a wood block between the pads, then push on the brakes until the pedal is firm. This exposes the part of the seal retained by a very deep groove in the piston as you can see below with the seals removed.

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/mem...s-extended.jpg

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/mem...extended-2.jpg

Avoid using sharp steel tools on the seals when you remove them. If you have a piece of aluminum welding rod, beat it with a hammer and make a tool to remove the seal without scratching the piston as you can see I did in the lower picture.

If you do make this mistake, smooth out the piston with a jeweler's file and a judicious application of the magic red Scotchbrite pad. That same red Scotchbrite will also do a wonderful job of getting all the baked on crap off the piston end where it contacts the brake pad.

The main part of the seal is pried out of the caliper body. It comes out pretty easily.

Installing the new seal is very simple - put some brake fluid (just a drop) on the inside edge of the seal where it contacts the piston, then gently rotate the seal on the piston. Push the piston back into the caliper (and be CERTAIN you don't push any of the other pistons out - Brembo and the FSM explicitly say to never remove the pistons from the caliper body for these particular calipers) and gently seat the seal into the caliper body. I was able to do this with my fingers, but you can also use a large diameter socket on the outer edge of the seal to convince it to fully seat.

When the old seals are out, you'll see something like these:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/mem...iper-seals.jpg

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/mem...liper-seal.jpg

And yes, it's possible the seal will be completely useless:

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/mem...per-seal-b.jpg

Post questions in this thread. I decided not to include this in the big brake thread because the big thread is really about rotors and pads, not calipers and seals.

Very Nice!

Huuuuge help- thank you!
Didn't know the pistons shouldn't be removed prior to seeing this thread. Glad you shared this!

Crazy oldman , a very nice job, well done lolz :)

Thanks, il be ordering this as my front calipers look very similar to yours did.

Subscribed for future reference.. Thanks for the write-up :thumbup:

-Mike

Hey Lobuxracer is the color change really happen on the calipers silver to gold from heat, if so this would be a good indicator when you are buying a car to tell if it has been tracked?? what do you reckon cheers. (Just went out and checked mine and they are silver, haven't had the car long so this could be a good thing)

colour change is a definite indicator from heat. You know if it's gold that the last guy went all out and hit some solid speeds... or drove with two feet :/

thumbs up, this should be stickied in a DIY master thread, like all your other walkthroughs.

Sub'd for future reference

ISF Brake Caliper Lexus Emblem Colour Change
 

Do you remove the piece of wood or at least the brake pads when removing and installing the new rings? i.e. once the pistons have been pushed out enough?

It's discussed here fairly often, so yes... That said, my F spent a full track day (six 25m sessions) in 95F Texas heat at CoTA last summer, and despite wearing out a new-ish set of stock pads in one day, my logos are still silver. This is likely to change with a more track-specific compound, however.