So I went to rebuild my rear ATE calipers this weekend (85 300d), a new job for me (never had an air compressor
) the left side pistons came right out with the air (I read somewhere to put a rag over the caliper when you blow it out - Very Important - vaporized brake fluid bad!). The inside heat shield came off - a bit mangled but usable - the outside was frozen pretty bad and I destroyed it... just a silly piece of metal right? I bought the cheap rebuild kit - no heat shields - so I searched "heat shield necessay?" and found this thread. Though I was conviced by the above posts that yes - heat shield neceassy - I decided to take of the right side and while i was still gung ho and... No heat shields! I included pics so you can see for youself the effects of not running heat shields. You can see the dust boots from the other side for reference as to what they should look (kinda) like. One piston was frozen - Itried to get it out and started making progress _after 2 broken srew drivers_ and part of the collar on the piston broke right off the piston. There is another pic, notice the rust on the botton of the "good" piston behind it, and another showing the break pad wear - i included a new pad for reference so you can see how long ago that piston froze. (and thougth severely uneven pad wear is a good inicator a frozen piston duh - i should have noticed that) And I'll mention, the left side caliper looks great, and the car had no problems braking when I drove it - - at least normallly - So I guess I'm buying a caliper... It better come with heat shields
I am still planning on resealing the good one, (plus I have to do the front and my 240 frnt and rr) CAnt wait
BTW The "Irish" chain shows orings in their rebuild kit - But NO heat shields! Where the heck can you buy just the Heat Shields?!?