have to rebuild front brakes after one siezed. Opinions?

[454cid]

I searched everywhere for bare pistons and never found them. The best I found were stainless steel pistons for motorcycles. They had small ones for the rear but not large ones for the front. I worry that stainless has different reaction to heat when compared to stock pistons, which may lead to problems the original engineers didn't anticipate. So yes, buy aftermarket rebuilt calipers and replace them every bunch of years.

Rockauto has pistons listed for my 96..... 3 fronts, and 1 rear. Do you have different calipers on your 2000?

https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/vol ... iston,1724

EDIT: Looks like there are 1 front and rear offered for a 2000 S70: https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/vol ... iston,1724

[FireFox31]

EDIT: Looks like there are 1 front and rear offered for a 2000 S70: https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/vol ... iston,1724

Wow, I guess I didn't search everywhere. Thanks, this is hugely helpful. I feel the pistons are the weak link since their heads eventually rust, and their bodies rust if the boots get a cut. Once I have my calipers powder coated to reduce rusting, the pistons are the last problem. You just solved it. Thanks.

[454cid]

EDIT: Looks like there are 1 front and rear offered for a 2000 S70: https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/vol ... iston,1724

Wow, I guess I didn't search everywhere. Thanks, this is hugely helpful. I feel the pistons are the weak link since their heads eventually rust, and their bodies rust if the boots get a cut. Once I have my calipers powder coated to reduce rusting, the pistons are the last problem. You just solved it. Thanks.

You're welcome. I always check Rockauto, as they sell parts from multiple wholesale sources. They don't actually have stock themselves, they just run the website. They're likely to have more choices than anyone else, in my experience. They don't always have everything Volvo, since we're kinda a niche market, but I always check.

[amblerman]

Thanks for all the information. My Brake project has taken back seat to other projects right now so I might not get to this job for a few weeks.

I will however update everyone on my progress

[amblerman]

Car is back on the road.

I decided to rebuild my calipers if possible.
The passenger side piston popped out without an issue but the driver's side required a battle with a pipe wrench. The issue was the rubber seal tore or popped out of groove and allowed rust to build up. This was after cleaning up:

piston.png (1011.67 KiB) Viewed 589 times

The bore of the caliper was fine though. I ordered one rebuild kit with a piston and one rebuild kit with just seals.

I used electrolysis and elbow grease to get the calipers and brackets back to bare metal.

caliperbare.png (2.99 MiB) Viewed 589 times

Then I painted them with G2 epoxy paint. (yes I know I'm missing the spring here. It went on.

brakes.png (1.96 MiB) Viewed 589 times

new disks, pads , and brake lines as I discovered a lot of cracking and general deterioration on the hoses.

hose.png (907.34 KiB) Viewed 589 times

The hardest part of the job was freeing the hose from the hard brake line but a propane torch and lots of penetrating oil saved the day.

When I bled the brakes, I also bled re rears and thought "Wow.. I really need to rebuild the rears now."

So maybe I'll do that job in the fall.

[BlackBart]

I used electrolysis and elbow grease to get the calipers and brackets back to bare metal.

caliperbare.png

This is really nice.

[amblerman]

I used electrolysis and elbow grease to get the calipers and brackets back to bare metal.

caliperbare.png

This is really nice.

Thanks,

Part of me was toying with the idea of getting a clear caliper paint as they looked so nice in the bare metal.
But I chickened out and went with silver.

I had also found a nice light blue that approximated the Volvo Polestar color but I wasn't sure I could handle the extra HP that color would have added to my car.

[BlackBart]

Right - might snap an axle shaft or something!

[FireFox31]

On at least one rebuilt caliper I bought, the boot was not seated around the entire circumference. From day one, it would let water in to the piston, ultimately causing the damage you had. Thus, I always check new caliper boots extensively before installing, reseating them when necessary.

Amazing results. How did you clean the calipers that well without a sandblasting cabinet? Granted, I'm used to seeing New England calipers "pulled from the lake", as people say. After getting my new four calipers stripped and powder coated, I intend to try and rehabilitate my current ones as spares, like you did.

[abscate]

I have one Volvo left out of four P80s that don’t have FreeCP calipers on all corners so I don’t think I’ll be rebuilding too much. I finally learned a system to keep on honest footing with FCP by putting my order numbers into the car logbook and even the maintenamce record here. A couple of times I’ve worn out a part on more than one car, in which case I’ve written them a note asking if they will honor a replacement, and the answer has always been yes