Brake Caliper rebuild question

[wrenchy]

Hi all,

New to the forum and Buells in general. Love my 03 Firebolt, but the brakes needed to be rebuilt badly.

My big question is, does it matter which way the piston rings go in the groove?

Before yall bash me to death with the have your brakes done by a professional if you dont know that.. Ive done a couple caliper rebuilds on older jap bikes, Nissin calipers, and when putting in the new rings I'm used to them being somewhat...tapered I guess would be the word. Although almost not visible one side of the ring has a bigger hole than the other ensuring a good seal. My eyesight aint all that great, so usually I pop the lower ring in and feel for a slight protrusion(a lip if you will) on the lower part of the bore groove. If its backwards and i feel a lip on top side, take out, flip, repeat.

However, on these calipers, no matter what way I put in the ring, I feel the protrusion on the lower side(where it needs to be anyways). Does this mean the rings are not tapered? Is this some sort of new technology...have I just entered the 2000's?

My apologies for the lengthy explanation(better to just get it all out there in the first post) and many thanks to anyone who knows what the hell im talkin bout.

Keep it weird

[snrusnak]

I rebuilt my front 6 piston caliper(should be the same as yours). I don't recall the seals being tapered. The inner and outer seals ARE different though. Just make sure you put them in the correct order, I don't believe you can put either in backwards. They are different thicknesses, from what I recall, so it should be self explanatory...

EDIT: Now I'm confused....my memory isn't that great LOL. I also put a brembo rear caliper on my bike at the same time and rebuilt it. I know either the front or rear caliper had inner and outer seals, but one of them may have only had one seal. I can't remember now. If your front caliper only has one seal per piston, ignore my "inner" and "outer" comment. You can't put the seal in backwards from what I recall...

[wrenchy]

Yup, they have two seals per piston as im used to. The thinner upper seal I think keeps dust/dirt/debris out of the bore... these arent tapered from my experience. And the thicker lower seal keeps brake fluid from leaking out of the bore, which is where it matters how you put the ring in.

Its probably just not 1975 anymore and things have changed with caliper design. If you rebuilt the front and had no leaks... I think im good to go

[snrusnak]

Yep. No way I got them all in correctly "by chance" lol. They can go in either way from what I recall.

[wrenchy]

Nice, thanks for the prompt help. Much appreciated

[user_deleted]

wrenchy: if the seal is in fact tapered the taper points outward towards the brake pads.