Subaru WRX Brake Caliper Perfect Restoration

Welcome to this weeks restoration. Today i am tackling the restoration of an old pair of STI 4 pot Sumitomo calipers for my WRX seeing as the Brembo's arent suitable for my goal ( Link here - • 25 Year Old Brembo Bra... ) So the plan is to fix the rust, clean up the castings, paint them, rebuild them and fit them to the car so lets crack on with the work.
First things first a visual inspection to check for defects or any major flaws that would render these calipers unsuitable for restoration and im pleased to say they are in good shape apart from being a little seized from sitting around for years.
The first job is to strip the old brake pads and fitting kit out this was simple enough and the pins weren't too seized. After the pads were out i set up my pressure regulator to around 50 psi and blew the pistons out with compressed air making sure there was wood in between them to cushion the impact as the pistons could chip and send dangerous shrapnel flying around the room.
After the pistons were removed i separated the two caliper halves with the help of my Snap-On impact gun then headed over to the parts washer to remove years of brake dust, brake fluid and general road grime this step is necessary to prolong the life of the blasting media and stop the blaster from clogging up with lumps of crud.
Once dry the halves were loaded into the blasting cabinet and given a good blasting this removed all rust and corrosion from the surface of the steel and left me with a pristine surface to paint onto.
After blasting i re-assembled the calipers so that i could grind away the rough casting marks left at the factory and smooth he calipers out so they would appear to be one single piece. This worked out successfully and allowed my to go to the next step which was as usual etch priming the surface preparing it for a following coat of high build primer.
The primer was left to cure them was wet flatted to give a flawless surface to apply my base coat red onto. Once the base coat was applied i made up some Subaru decals with my plotter and white vinyl and applied them in the appropriate location then gave them a good coat of clear to protect them.
While the clear coat was curing i set about re-plating the bolts as they were still in perfectly good condition all they needed was a little rust removal and a new coating of zinc and yellow passivate and they are good for another 20 years at least.
After all that it was simply a case of fitting new pistons and seals and joining the two halves back together with loctite and the correct torque this was verified by using my fully calibrated Snap-On torque wrench.
And there we have it one set of calipers all ready to be fitted and to do some serious braking :)
Which so you prefer the Brembo's or the Subaru's? Let me know in the comment section.
As always i hope you enjoyed this video and i'll see you again soon with another episode.
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A new addition to my videos from now on will be a water mark and my channel name popping up in random places throughout the video as im getting rather tired of people re-uploading my content as their own i hope you guys understand.
If you like what you see and have any ideas for the channel or would even like to donate something to restore to the channel please get in touch. :)
And as usual if you liked the video please like share and subscribe and help the channel grow.
PATREON If you would like to help support the channel you can find my patreon account here / rrcrestoration
INSTAGRAM- / rrcrestoration
More videos can be found here- / @rrcrestoration
#Restoration #Subaru #Brakes
Really Random Channel
Subaru WRX Brake Caliper Perfect Restoration

[@RRCRestoration]

Hey Guys, As you have probably noticed already i have updated the channel name and logo. The channel is no longer Really Random Channel it is now RRC Restoration. Just incase you were wondering why the water marks in the video still say Really Random Channel. Enjoy.

[@sagedarwin3024]

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[@antoniosuarez2171]

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[@antoniosuarez2171]

@@sagedarwin3024 q

[@antoniosuarez2171]

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[@antoniosuarez2171]

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[@dysklexia]

Perfection. I see others try this, and fail to protect machined parts from sand blasting. They use the wrong fluids in the wrong places. Your efforts to prevent cross contamination are second to none, in the KZbinverse.

[@RRCRestoration]

Thank you so much for your kind comment :)

[@game4alaughman]

Yeah, but just a shame most people watching doesn’t have a Scooby what the F the fluids are pal

[@byloyuripka9624]

for the smaller passages i think ear plugs would be a great fit, just roll them up like youre putting them in your ear and then pop them in to the threadi g

[@adamkuresa6607]

This is the most rewarding video I have watched. There's just something about being able to fully restore something, and the process that comes with it is so satisfying.

[@RRCRestoration]

Thank you, Glad you enjoyed it :)

[@sneakyfoz3692]

I have done this exact restoration on my Subaru 4/2 pot callipers. I purchased new bolts and clips because they were so cheap. I polished up the pistons and installed the rebuild kit, repainted the callipers and 4 years later they still look as new. Was such a worthwhile process considering how super expensive these callipers are to buy new.

[@salacommander2674]

I'm thinking upgrading my '04 WRX to these calipers, at least for the front wheels. Would you say they're worth the cost?

[@bluewffl8472]

​@@salacommander26741000%.....02 wrx here blasting off daily with 305hp/304tq...stopping is definitely worth it...good pads too...brembo makes decent pads/rotors for these too that aren't too expensive imo.

[@bobferranti5222]

George had his mask on and was social distancing lol. Once again, a perfect restoration!

[@EchoSevenNine]

Best resto channel on the tube, Squire. No fake rusted up shite, just good old no nonsense, real life work.

[@RRCRestoration]

Thank you so much :)

[@jobsjobbed5125]

You should definitely do a how to ‘re-plate’ at home video👍.

[@ro63rto]

Been hoping for one. Want to learn so I can try to replate some vintage watches.

[@typgamer]

@@ro63rto Go to Cameron Niemelas KZbin channel he did a very specific guide how to plate bolts.

[@-burak.k-2029]

I cant explain the satisfaction of seeing old this new again. Great job!

[@samcoote9653]

I definitely prefer the Subaru livery, they came out perfectly. Ill never tire of watching you plate parts, always so satisfying :)

[@larbertman36]

Good to see George is safe and well - and wearing his PPE 😀

[@RonaldFinger]

Absolutely beautiful 👌🏻

[@felixschellenberger3480]

holy shit my two favourite youtube channels and one just commented on the other ones video

[@RRCRestoration]

Thank you very much , Always a pleasure to see you in the comment section :) I see that your Fiero project is coming along nicely 👍

[@focusst273]

Why would someone give thumbs down to a video like this? There's no complacency...

[@BillClay88]

Subaru owners who don't have the BBK. Fk em.

[@game4alaughman]

FOCUSST cause mibbies most folk don’t have a Scooby what bloody fluids he used ?

[@vojvoda9060]

Only idiots....

[@shippo72]

I can only think of a couple reasons, mostly because the brakes were perfectly fine before "restoration", although they were dirty and a little ugly. And some people don't like painted calipers because the brake pads can get so hot that cheap paints flake off like dry skin.

[@BillClay88]

@@shippo72 what about powder coated?

[@nickjanssens]

The attention to detail was extraordinary, reflected in the finished product.

[@wallybeegone]

Anything in shiny red gets my attention immediately so I appreciate all of your attention to detail.

[@GGdevelopment]

If those aren't the CLEANEST brake calipers... Man... Also the detail this man puts into the calipers... Insane 🤯

[@RRCRestoration]

Glad you liked the final product :)

[@shogunofthewest]

What’s the torquing specs for the bolts? Beautiful job by the way came out looking better than before!

[@jarrodmahon3833]

Just tore the 4/2 pots of my WRX this morning to rebuild. This helps a lot!

[@kendalja78]

What torque specs did you use for both?

[@kfuj3151]

60NM for the connecting bolts

[@ALLANG12]

It’s crazy how well electrolysis works. I did this on a bigger scale with some rotors to experiment and boy were the results just crazy. Rust be gone!

[@grahamserle7930]

Perhaps this video can be used to teach how perfection is achieved. Great job.

[@boylejohnstone1]

What was the torque settings for the casing bolts

[@rsubie]

Did this myself about 2 months ago, rear 2 pots too, didn’t sandblast or etch primer them but they Turned out pretty good imo

[@josephdgleason]

The Brembo brakes came out great but the Suburu's have more style! Great job on both though!

[@RRCRestoration]

I totally agree! :)

[@JuuS0]

Nice job. Anyone doing this at home you should use stainless pistons. The nickel whatever coated ones will stuck in a year. Also neat trick you can do is instal those pad pins backwards and do a cool aviation style locking wire setup on the outside.

[@Bigjoelifts15]

Awesome job again mate .i honestly couldn't choose between the 2 Would have to eye them up on the car 🤷‍♂️

[@RRCRestoration]

Thank you :) Yeah they are quite difficult to choose between

[@KaasTube]

Amazing work , i have a jdm wrx myself and am thinking of restoring it

[@catcaptain6023]

Nice to see George wearing his mask! Nice work 👍🏻

[@RRCRestoration]

Thanks! 👍

[@Christosan88]

Master of your craft sir. The amount of work that goes into restoration, then the filming and editing. I'd buy you a few pints.

[@aaronrowe7637]

the patience you have is phenomenal great work mate 👍

[@RRCRestoration]

Thank you :)

[@kmpaton]

I had a 1999 GC8 that I bought new here in the US that I had to import a complete STI drivetrain to make it a WRX. Now I have a 2020 STi and I still miss that GC8. Super jealous of your build and really appreciate you doing all of this to keep her on the road.

[@RRCRestoration]

Nice :) Glad to have you along for the ride.

[@ericn7698]

Wow! You've done an absolutely marvellous job restoring those Sumitomo WRX calipers. Two thumbs up!

[@RRCRestoration]

Thank you :)

[@SpyHeli]

Look better then new...very nice job.

[@RRCRestoration]

Thank you :)

[@michaelskinner896]

Damn, those are better than from the factory! I'm a Brembo fan, but the Subaru logo looks very nice. Excellent work.

[@RRCRestoration]

Thank you very much :)

[@simonlloyd7557]

now i regret selling my top to toe V4 Type R restoration now...that said, Ive just bought a pair of knackered calipers and plan to restore them for my R53 big brake kit mini cooper project! thanks for the inspiration.

[@6AL-4V]

Well done Mr. Random. It’s also interesting to see your editing skills evolve over time. 👍

[@RRCRestoration]

Thank you very much :)

[@shedmanx3640]

Stunning restoration of those calipers. It seems a simple process but very exacting. You definitely have to know what you are doing. 👍🇦🇺

[@oneoffour63]

Awesome workmanship done right!!!

[@gerekappo]

I had front and rear wrx brakes on my Legacy wagon. Machined both down, to a smooth finish, and placed "LEGACY" on the front ones (similar as original) and the jdm "L" from the Legacy's of the time. Miss that car.

[@ay7828]

You are a one man factory sir!

[@davidg1230]

Simplest things always look good when you restore them....Oh, and it's always about having the right tools to do the job. Nice video, very therapeutic to watch!

[@RRCRestoration]

Thank you very much for leaving a comment, very glad you enjoyed watching it :)

[@pistolgrippoet]

Beautiful restoration. Makes me realize I should just buy a new set!

[@daves4026]

Great camera work lots of close up details thank you

[@luismurguia9412]

This caliper set looks just alike the z32 sumitomo set, im restoring mines... any chance you have a video for the electronic plating process for the bolsts?

[@cg9542]

Great job as always dude. Hard to choose between the brembo and Subaru calipers as they are both absolutely perfect 👌

[@cre8tivegarage157]

You really brought them back 👌😎 support from Las Vegas

[@RRCRestoration]

Thank you very much :)

[@robj2704]

Dupli-Color makes a really good caliper paint in an aerosol spray. Goes on good, levels out nicely. It's high-temp also. A good alternative to powder coating.

[@anton19471]

perfect restoration, keep uploading videos of the subaru

[@RRCRestoration]

Thank you ,Plenty more to come ;)

[@VenturiLife]

Great video. If you release the spring clip first, the pins can be easily removed without a punch normally.

[@RodrinBird]

Fantastic work! Nothing like a Sand blasting machine to clean old parts..

[@RRCRestoration]

Yeah i would be lost without it now

[@orlymicholdampog8097]

Yeah

[@orig6redwings124]

Great content!! As an Evo X owner (Although, I very much appreciate & respect WRXs/STIs), you did an outstanding job on those calipers & bolts!! I wish my calipers looked as good as those do!!!

[@BabaG]

Subaru brakes cuz you fixed it all up nice and dandy. Wasnt aware that you could get a brake caliper repair kit. Awesome work as always.

[@grahampickering1560]

They look great! Go with the Subaru calipers 🙂🚗

[@thadrobeck]

Loved the plating in particular, but the whole video was so satisfying. Personally I prefer the sumitomo (subaru) calipers, since they fit under 15s.

[@RRCRestoration]

Thanks for leaving a comment :)

[@A7XBilly]

So amazing!!!!! Perfect job man! You have tons of patience!!!

[@franksm2001]

Beautiful job, and they look much better with "Subaru" vs "Brembo"

[@DennisKarlsson]

"They" are two different brake calipers.

[@jrand2631]

They turned out really great - as usual I must say! 👍👍👍

[@RRCRestoration]

Always a pleasure to see you, Glad you liked the restoration :)

[@jrand2631]

@@RRCRestoration Thank you very much, and I'm here although I've been somewhat absent lately - you know Covid-19 and such. :)

[@NolTee2]

Beautiful. I would display them on the mantle piece.

[@dillanmistry]

Now that’s sympathetically restored

[@jimmycav369]

Smashing result. Can I ask what cleaner you use in your parts washer? Even a deep clean made them look a lot nicer. Granted the respray made them look like new. Subarus look nicest, Brembo is just a bling fad unless it came with them from the factory, more important that the caliper is well maintained and fitted with decent pads imo

[@docdigit4639]

You didn’t check the breaking calipers’ cylinders. Should I hohn them (remove any minor scratch from the old breaking cylinders) as leakage prevention before putting in the new cylinders in?

[@VicenzaBikeProject]

I absolutely need to restore mine !!! Awesome work!!! Did you use a high temperature primer and paint or a normal one? Would be great to have the links to the products used!

[@fila1445]

Suburu? Impossibru!

[@samcoote9653]

Good to see george being safe! Haha I havent watched all of it yet but I already know these are going to look gorgeous. I stayed motivated from the last Subaru video and gutted my forester interior the other night and deep cleaned all my carpets, removed the seats and shampooed them etc. So thanks for the motivation mate :)

[@RRCRestoration]

Nice, I cant wait o finish the mechanical work and give the GC8 interior a good deep clean aswell its absolutely filthy haha

[@samcoote9653]

@@RRCRestoration its so satisfying!

[@BioStuff415]

Nice... I am inspired... I will be doing this to my 4Runner brakes...

[@dandingerat]

Would love if you could have detailed annotations on-screen as to which processes youre using, what materials/chemicals and why! Super good video but as someone who isnt familiar with things a lot can look foreign

[@AhuCJ]

Another amazing video! Love from India 🤘🏻💕

[@RRCRestoration]

Nice to see you again, Glad you enjoyed it :)

[@strongerandwiser2023]

You have some serious tools at your disposal. The machine for cutting the sticker out haha! Love it. I have alot of kit myself but in a 1 car garage Ive got no room to moving making any task under the car a damn nightmare. Amazing channel mate. You have a new subscriber! Keep them coming.

[@Kenny_P_abz]

Excellent viewing. Nice job.

[@RRCRestoration]

Thank you :)

[@wokohedgehogs]

Superb restoration, perfect paint job 👍

[@G4LIFE74]

Wow. Unreal !! Beautiful job !! Man you have all the right tools !.. Love for you to work on mine !!

[@georgestewart1325]

Wow both are stunning but i do prefer the Subaru's. Great watch.

[@jamesallen5627]

Such an awesome video… loved watching it . Gunna try my own now

[@TheGeezzer]

Beautiful resto of those grubby ole calipers, now look out of the box brand new!

[@TheHoviat]

Great job, I would use powder coating as it’s more resistant to heat

[@RRCRestoration]

Thank you :) , Ive always preferred paint over powder coat though.

[@andrewwiltse8882]

Amazing job! If I could do this type of work for a living I’d sign up immediately. 🍻

[@RRCRestoration]

Thank you :)

[@BaddaBigBoom]

Fekkin brilliant! I need to do this with mine which are identical except they have "WRX Pro" embossed onto them. Thumbs up.

[@cozziekid]

Another great resto video. Did you use a high build primer & 2k lacquer? Would be very interested to see a plating video like you do for bolts/brackets etc, including how long the fluid will keep before replacing it etc 👍

[@chriswaters4846]

these look bloody great... what a piece of work... awesome...

[@RRCRestoration]

Thank you! Cheers! :)

[@lanpartyanimal5215]

It would be nice if you listed the fluids used, the proportions, the sequence and times in each of the various fluids. Also after the etching primer, what was sprayed on before the final red coat? Some of us would like to learn.

[@jxx1234]

Mate, it's like meditation, super

[@Gambo916]

When fitting pads, the use of EBC Redstuff will drastically reduce the level of brake dust produced that will spoil the finish on the calipers and wheels. They give great performance too........they're the only pads I ever fit to my Impreza.

[@markevans4631]

Great video, Ive been restoring them this way for a long while. Any chance of a closer tutorial on the bolt restoration, zinc plating etc as I have always replaced the fixings at additional cost, when they turn out as good as new I would rather do as you have. Cheers

[@MrHugawa]

man, you are an artist... I would like to have you and your equipment locked in my garage with my Mazdaspeed6 for a few months... not to worry though, I would feed you...lol

[@RRCRestoration]

Haha well its good to know i'd be fed at least haha Thanks for leaving a comment :)

[@fenessinen]

both of them looking awesome I prefer Brembos for front, Subaru ones for rear 😋☺

[@RRCRestoration]

haha if they would fit under the rims i would certainly consider it ;)

[@ДениславДелчев-ю2п]

Pleasure to watch ! Clean job ! BRAVO ! Thanks !

[@RRCRestoration]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@bobhead665]

great job better than new.

[@RRCRestoration]

Thank you :)

[@КошмарКошмар-й2б]

Hi my friend 👋👋👋 your clear and impeccable restoration work always inspires me, respect to you 🤝👍👍👍🔥✌🏻🇷🇺

[@RRCRestoration]

Thank you so much :)

[@dixonqwerty]

Every time you start disassembling stuff in your videos, I'm like: -I can do that too! :) Every time you start reassembling stuff in your videos, I'm like: -Crap, I can't do that... LOL

[@plageran]

Record what you do and if you get stuck, watch your teardown video👍

[@dixonqwerty]

@@plageran 0 patience hahahaha

[@craccozelpa]

Same. I'm a professional disassembler of my vehicles. Just to fuck it up later on

[@plageran]

@@craccozelpa aren't we all XD, i had to dissemble my right foot peg after I was in an accident. dissembly: 5 minutes, reassembly: 1 hour. I kept forgetting where to put the brake springs

[@plageran]

@@dixonqwerty i hear ya

[@gabor7928]

It's commendable that you take care of George's health but he also needs to feel that he has a higher aim in life.

[@cesartabaso6110]

perfection in your hands and works, it is formidable congratulations, a good question two. before you give the first you give it black paint that is ?? and the second can be varnished on top of the sticker, nothing happens to him. Thank you fantastic video.

[@Equilatero...]

Those of subaru look safer because they have the distribution of fluids inside the calipers .. those of brembo are on the outside which may be more prone to leaking

[@tofu.delivery.]

Your videos never fail to amaze, keep up the good work!

[@rsscott5672]

So jealous. If only I had the equipment and space you have at your disposal

[@Const4n7in]

Very nice job! I appreciate your work! PS: i have no SUBARU, I will go with BREMBO 😉

[@sarigaraj]

Yapıyorsun bu sporu

[@petebird7171]

Once again, lovely work, top job mate, always look forward to your videos, 👍👍👍👍

[@RRCRestoration]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@AdidasWannabe]

I have these brakes right now and they’re currently seizing up. I’m puttting 5x100 STI brembos and restoring these to keep forever.

[@oof578]

I just purchased a white FRS and I am so hyped to start doing all these things to parts on the car. Been watching you for a long time and even got some questions answered from you when I was repainting the wheels on my Lancer

[@RRCRestoration]

Nice, Glad i could help you out ;)

[@vassaf1]

What torque spec did you apply?

[@leopoldolopez9709]

You only need to place the 2 types of paint that you put on the caliper after painting etch primer, please help us with that answer