{"id":18950,"date":"2023-06-10T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-06-09T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.decoboco.info\/en\/?p=18950"},"modified":"2026-09-24T13:46:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T04:46:12","slug":"zephyr550-400-caliper-overhaul-20-year-old-bike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.decoboco.info\/en\/20230610\/decoboco-cars\/zephyr550zr550\/zephyr550-400-caliper-overhaul-20-year-old-bike","title":{"rendered":"ZEPHYR550\/400\u3000Zephyr 550\/400\u3000Caliper Overhaul. It’s been over 20 years now. A used bike I’m too scared to ride…"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Because I hadn’t really thought ahead about the reservation schedule…
I have a ton of work piling up. (\uff1b\u2200\uff1b)

I’ve already got the pre-inspection done, so it’s just registration left…
But I’ll make sure to do a thorough maintenance first.

A bike that’s over 20 years old and has never had a brake caliper overhaul…
That’s seriously scary.
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The other day when I changed the tires, I tried pushing the caliper piston a bit and…
It’s stiff. Doesn’t retract at all.

I can’t just slap a CP2195 on it right away, so
I’m going to overhaul the stock calipers!

First, I want to know what the best condition of the original looks like. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It’s turned out quite spicy looking.
This is probably pad grease that’s stuck to the piston.

Those pad grease enthusiasts who keep adding more are a problem.
At least clean off the old dirty grease first… okay? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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No matter how much you work on a caliper with poor piston retraction,
the effect is only so-so. <\/strong>

Basically, seal deterioration <\/strong>and inner wall corrosion <\/strong>are the problems.
Refreshing the seals
and removing the dirt from the inner walls

is the most effective approach. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There’s grease on the back plate too. Removing it is such a pain.
By the way, for this kind of dirt,
engine cleaner or carburetor cleaner works really well.

You can use it on bare metal parts.
Just don’t use it on painted surfaces\u2014it might damage them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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First, I’ll do a rough pass.
Just using a rotary tool with a stainless steel brush for cleaning makes a huge difference. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Since the original image is pretty large, even a stainless steel brush is very effective (*\u00b4\u03c9\uff40*) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We have wet blasting, so I finish it to this level.
Interestingly, wet blasted surfaces seem to resist corrosion better.

Think of it like the difference between polished and matte finishes.
To be continued. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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(*\u00b4\u03c9\uff40*) It’s already June, can you believe it? This is getting ridiculous. <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\/\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tWako’s EC Engine Conditioner Gasoline Carburetor and LPG Vehicle Vaporizer and Combustion Chamber Cleaner A113 380ml A113 [HTRC3]\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\u30ef\u30b3\u30fc\u30ba(Wako's)<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\u00a53,984\t\t\t\t\t\t\uff082026\/09\/22 00:35\u6642\u70b9 | Amazon\u8abf\u3079\uff09<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u53e3\u30b3\u30df\u3092\u898b\u308b<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tAmazon\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tRakuten\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tYahoo!\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\u30dd\u30c1\u30c3\u30d7<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Because I hadn’t really thought ahead about the reservation schedule… I have a ton of work piling up. (\uff1b\u2200\uff1b) I’ve already got the pre-inspection done, so it’s just registration left… But I’ll make sure to do a thorough maintenance first. A bike that’s over 20 years old and has never had a brake caliper overhaul… That’s seriously scary.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18938,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pochipp_cv_data":"{\"9512b1bc\":{\"pv\":886,\"imp\":649,\"clickedOther\":3,\"clickedAmazon\":1}}","swell_btn_cv_data":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[279,607,601,623,612],"class_list":["post-18950","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-zephyr550zr550","tag-caliper-oh","tag-zephyr-400","tag-zephyr-550","tag-zephyr400","tag-zephyr550"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.decoboco.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18950","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.decoboco.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.decoboco.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.decoboco.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.decoboco.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18950"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.decoboco.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18950\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.decoboco.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.decoboco.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.decoboco.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.decoboco.info\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}