help! rubber rings on caliper won't come off! Need to drive in the morning!

[matthewdear]

Hi all, I'm in deep doodoo. I had to rebuild my left front caliper tonight, as I was having noise braking and fluid all over the lower part of the caliper. Upon removal I found the gaskets eroded and had major trouble getting one of the pistons out. They both look fine, but the gaskets all stuck on both sides. I cannot for the life of me figure out how to get them off besides scraping. Thats what I'm doing, but I'm worried that I will miss a spot on the sides in the channel and prevent a good seal when I put the gaskets in. Is there something else I can do? I must drive to work tomorrow and I'm a lil worried.
I'm justa scraping away, but do you figure if I don't get every last mm of rubber that it will be a problem? I will prob get a new/refurb caliper as this one is pretty rough looking compared to the other side's one (and it looks newer, a touch different in spots so I fig that the one I'm working on is the original. Thanks in advance. I've got my netbook with me in the driveway and I'll refresh in a while. Uggh.

[matthewdear]

Ok, I cleaned it up best I can, but am having a devil of a time getting the new gaskets on (as per a few videos I've watched.) They weren't for mb, so mayber there is a differnce. I've got the ring inside, and I've been putting the gasket that's close to the pads pretty much half way up the piston. Then sliding the piston in place, but the darn outer ring won't slip under that lip, keeps popping up on one side than the other. I will look again for some mb caliper instructions...

[Diesel911]

Do you know if you have ATE or Bendix Calipers.
On the Bendix Calipers the Heat shield goes on the outside of the Piston ant the Boot Lip goes over the Heat Shield Lip.
On the ATE Brakes the Boot Lip only goes on the Piston and the Heat Shield is retained on the Inside diameter of the hollow part of the Piston.

I hope you are using the special Bake Caliper Lube they sell. It makes it a lot easier to get the Pistons in.
Also the there is a cut out on the rim of the Piston that has to be positioned specific way.

That gasket that is close to the Pads I believe is the Boot.

Are you speaking of the Heat Shield= outer Ring?

See post #9 for a pic of ATE Heat Shields. Note: Most people don't recommend taking the Calipers apart like I did.

[qwerty]

Since you need to get the car back on the road, just leave the dust boots off for the time being.

[indybenz]

Originally Posted by qwerty

Since you need to get the car back on the road, just leave the dust boots off for the time being.

Yes. The outer ones are just dust boots. They do not actually 'hold' any fluid in the caliper itself. I raced 'stock' cars and frequently the dust boots would melt off from the heat generated. Don't worry too much about it. It's just a pain to have to put everything back together and then take it apart again to get the dust boots on just right, but it's not a safety concern [I'm sure some will disagree but let them ;-) ].