Stainless steel brake pistons
01-23-2014, 01:39 PM
#11
UK Moderator
There was a thread on here the other day where a few people were talking of replacement pistons for standard calipers an using different materials. Since then I have been doing some research and it seems that the most common replacement material for brake pistons is stainless steel and for those with a large wallet; titanium. Now I am far from finishing research on the pros and cons of these materials, differences in expansion co-efficients and thermal transfer properties so depending on the results of that I may just abandon the idea but...
How much interest would there be for sets of brake caliper pistons made from stainless? (rears may be difficult as they aren't a hollow type)
Would there be any interest in ones made from titanium , bearing in mind these would be probably £100 per piston?
Thermal conductivity is lower for both materials when compared with the standard steel applications so those of you that would suffer with brake fade due to high fluid temps would definitely benefit.
How much interest would there be for sets of brake caliper pistons made from stainless? (rears may be difficult as they aren't a hollow type)
Would there be any interest in ones made from titanium , bearing in mind these would be probably £100 per piston?
Thermal conductivity is lower for both materials when compared with the standard steel applications so those of you that would suffer with brake fade due to high fluid temps would definitely benefit.
An alternative to Ti pistons is to use Ti heatshields / pad shims. You might like to investigate these, they might be a lower cost alternative.
Chris.
01-23-2014, 02:03 PM
#12
Thread Starter
Fatigue is the issue for titanium. Over time it yields and loses strength under dynamic load conditions Would this be a factor on a suspension bolt under dunoc loads ? I don't know but I know I wouldn't want to be the one to find out. Especially for minimal gains when a £1 of grease would have the same anti corrosion effect.
Bolts under correct tension shouldn't be under dynamic load conditions, they are subject to static loads. You would have to adjust the suspension 100,000,000 times before a titanium alloy bolt would start to suffer from fatigue enough for failure to even be considered.
I saw a few of them whilst looking, I think the cost of titanium round bar would be prohibitive for making cylinders judging by the reaction to the bolts. I'm not sure how many people suffer with brake fade and whether it would be worth getting any plates made up either.
01-24-2014, 12:27 PM
#14
Thread Starter
On the standard suspension the bolt clamps the hollow metal tube in the centre of the bush against a mounting boss either side of it. Once torqued up to the correct setting the bolt is subject to tensile forces, not shear forces. The only time shear action would come into play is if you hadn't tightened the fastener up to the correct torque and the centre tube on the bush could act sideways on the bolt, even then this would tear the bush apart before it did anything to the bolt.
01-25-2014, 02:12 PM
#16
Only £60 pair anyway with seal kit 
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