K13GT Front Caliper Seals

[8ace]

I'm looking at changing the front disc/pads on my K13GT, and while I'm there I thought I'd give the Calipers a once over.

I'd like to just replace the seals but BMW only seem to supply seal and piston kits (they supply seal only rear kits). Any ideas on a source for just the seals?

Cheers

Martin

[raesewell]

Where have you tried so far?

[Matt]

Have you tried Motorworks?

[8ace]

Motorworks, James Sherlock, eBay, wemoto etc.

Nobody seems to supply the front seals without the pistons.

[raesewell]

Looks like you'll be buying a full set.

[Phmode]

I'd be leaving 'em well alone. But that's just me 

[alaskier]

I agree. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it

[raesewell]

My next question was going to be, why are you changing them, what's wrong with the old ones? Ease the pistons out a bit and give them a clean with soapy water and a toothbrush and brake cleaner.

[Sutty]

I use Autoglym Clean Wheels to clean my calipers works ok.
On  one of my Honda bikes I made some pistons from Stainless steel never had a problem with those corroding up.

Regards   Mick

[Capt Howdy]

Make sure you check the brake cleaner. Some of them state that they are harmful to rubber seals. Also dental floss is useful for cleaning the whole of the extruded pistons

[black-k1]

I use Autoglym Clean Wheels to clean my calipers works ok.
On  one of my Honda bikes I made some pistons from Stainless steel never had a problem with those corroding up.

Regards   Mick

I'm not sure I'd want Stainless pistons in cast Ali calipers. Chuck in a bit of road salt and there would likely be some exciting anodic reaction!

[8ace]

Many thanks for the replies.

I don't currently have any problems with the seals but as the bike is new to me I thought while I was changing the pads/discs I'd give the Calipers a once over.

Given the cost of the repair kits I'll just clean the piston tops and push them back.

 

[armstrongracer]

Ive done this before on other bikes and find Brasso wadding works really well for cleaning the pistons.  The bit sticking out gets cruded up and often leads to sticking. Its worth hooking seals out with a pick and cleaning the seal groove in the caliper. Word of warning though, if you nick the seal its a rebuild kit anyway. Always use the special red (rubber) grease for lubing the seals before putting them back.  A dry seal can be damaged just by pushing the piston back in.  Also, you'll deffo need a GS911 or Motoscan to activate the ABS as you'll get loads of air in with this job and whole system will need a bleed.

[farmer]

as others have said if it's nice and shiny leave it alone, if not... i'll disagree with some here but i'm a big fan of stainless steel pistons. on older range rovers... not as bad on defenders for some unknown reason brake pistons were a very weak spot, between corrosion and flaky chrome i changed a serious amount of them to stainless steel, granted that was into cast but they are made by landrover so the anodic reaction is guaranteed  somewhere.
as for seals, i would have thought any bearing supplier would be able to supply these if you had the originals with you ...probably.
as an afterthought you could make your pistons out of aluminium and polish them up...i would have thought. someone correct me or preferably say great idea!. caution now...i just thought of that, but can't see why it wouldn't work.

[Sutty]

I’ve made several sets for different bikes and never had any probs, my mates FJ12 was the worst, regularly needed a rebuild till we fitted St St pistons, all good after, also check the piston sizes, a lot are standard sizes, and will fit other makes and I know Suzuki are a lot cheaper than a lot of others.

But,,,, if you’re not fully competent don’t mess with brakes !!!!!!!!!!!


Regards.  Mick