Shaving Brake Calipers

[Hawkeye 04]

Can it be done? I got my new 17" wheels and they are within 1/8 inch of sliding past the brake calipers. :{ What would it hurt to just grind a little bit off of the calipers? Like I said it would be less than a 1/4 inch. I'm really dissapointed if this won't work, but I also don't want to do something that will ruin something. Looks like the calipers are super thick and it wouldn't hurt anything. TIA, John

 

[Eric_77]

1/8 to 1/4 off a brake caliper no way! A little off the corner might be okay but that much off the whole back I would stay away from. The brake system is under very high pressures the front I have seen as high as 600 PSI on a hard stop with over 2000 PSI available.

 

[rbattelle]

I'd be very reluctant to take off so much material. Believe me, if DC could have made those calipers 1/4 inch thinner, they would have!



I know that's not what you want to hear, but for safety's sake I'd avoid removing any material.

 

[CChase]

Ditto what the others said. Knocking off a corner is one thing. Grinding that much material away is whole different ballpark and should be avoided. Can you run a 1/4 spacer to gain the clearance you need?

 

[Hawkeye 04]

Call me stupid but I've got everything set up to start grinding. I don't think I'll need to take off much at all. I checked with a large wheel/tire dealer and he said, "I'm not supposed to tell you this, but I have done it on several vehicles and know of a lot of other guys who have and I've never seen or heard of any problems whatsoever. " Says they are moderately overbuilt and a 1/4 inch won't hurt them. Just can't mention any names... .

 

[CChase]

Call me stupid

OK Stupid



Just kidding, but here's my thoughts:



I'll state what I'm sure others are thinking... why would you want to compromise one of the basic safety items on your truck? Would you grind 1/4" of material away from your Cummins block without a second thought even though it's regarded as "over built"? The engine isn't that important, afterall, if the engine fails on the highway, you can still stop and have it towed. If your brakes fail on the highway..... need I say more?



IMNSVHO, brakes are the single most important item on a vehicle. Don't go messing with the engineered design. If you must have the wheels, put a spacer in there to gain the backspacing you need for your wheels. Spacers are a couple of bucks a piece and sure aren't worth the risk of failed brakes.



I used to work as a tire buster and installed many a set of wheels, there were times when we did grind brake calipers, but that was only if there was a casting imperfection (seam, burr, etc. ) causing problems. If there was major interference, we'd either use a spacer or wouldn't sell the wheels for that application.

 

[Bertram65]

What kind of wheels are you putting on? Another reason not to grind them is if you have a warrantee problem down the road they may deny it if the calipers are ground down, calipers can be pretty expensive.

 

[Hawkeye 04]

I appreciate the advice guys. . I went out and was about to get started but I noticed that it was going to take more than I felt comfortable with.

Gave it up...

Anybody want some beautiful chrome wheels that don't fit 3rd gen Dodge? They would fit on Chevy and 2nd Genners... .

Oh well... . so go's. Guess I'll keep looking for wheels... ... ...

 

[rbattelle]

Phew! I'm glad we convinced you otherwise. Of course, now you've got a set of pricey wheels on your hands that you can't use and that stinks. Cany chance you might be able to return them?

 

[JHardwick]

Good choice!



Calipers are cast. Castings were made years and years ago to reduce shavings that go in the trash from machining by producing a "near net shape". These days engineers use finite stress analysis and remove ALL un-needed material.



Look at it this way, if you plan on removing a whole 1/4" the length of the caliper you are probably gonna remove ... ... ... ... lets say 8 oz of material. DC plans on having 5 million calipers cast over the life of the run ... ... ... ... that amounts to 2. 5 million or 2,500,000 lbs of steel that they don't have to put in that caliper.



That 1/4" is there for a reason!



on edit No matter what your un-named source tells you!

 

[Hawkeye 04]

Thanks guys, I appreciate your brutal honesty. . The people I bought them from said the would take them back, so that's the good thing. The bad thing is that they where exactly what I was looking for and I'm really picky about my wheels. I guess I'll just follow the H2 wanna-be's and get some chrome hummer wheels and modify my center caps to fit. Does anyone have any pics of the chrome H2 setup? I'd love to see them on one of our trucks.

 

[Eric_77]

Hey Hawkeye I just got to thinking about this thread after watching a monster garage episode. What about aftermarket calipers? Many of them are billet and I think would therefore be thinner and may fit your application

 

[Hawkeye 04]

Didn't even check into that..... But I already sent my wheels back and am on the hunt for some other ones. Don't know what I'm going to go with yet though..... To many choices.

 

[Bugracing]

I got my new 17" wheels

The issue is not with your brake calipers but with the wheels. You should send the wheels back and replace them with ones that are designed for your truck.

 

[Hawkeye 04]

Like I said,"I sent them back... "

 

[Matt400]

18's are even better yet IMO. It allows for a bent rim (should that ever happen) to actually keep rolling and get you home. Even the factory alloy wheels have too little clearance for my comfort.