Rebuilding vs. buying new brake calipers?

[Saturn_Fan]

I took a closer look at my brake calipers and they look all of the 9 years old they are. Both of them are covered in rust and large flakes of it fall off.

Excuse me for my terminology, but the "piston" or the part that comes in and out when you push the pedal has rust all inside of it as well.

A new caliper from Rock Auto is around 30 bucks for this car and a "rebuild kit" is substantially cheaper.

Is it even worth it to rebuild one of these or is this just a disposable item? I have already installed new caliper bolts on it.

Just wondering if I could take a wire wheel/steel wool/etc. and take off the major rust, put in new seals, and button it up.

 

[XS650]

Short answer no.

Longer answer. If you have to ask, you should get new ones. That is no place to be pinching pennies.

If you can find someone who knows what they are doing with brakes (more that your typical brake shop parts swapper knows) to take look at the inside of the caliper and the wet part of the piston, then maybe you could get by with cleaning things up and kiting it.

 

[bepperb]

Rust inside the piston usually isn't a problem... it's if there's rust on the ouside surface that will now ride against the seal that will be a problem. And obviously the guide pins can't be rusty and you don't want so much rust as to lose the integrity of the caliper itself.

Hard to say, but I don't think I'd rebuild what I can buy for 30 bucks or 120 bucks for the whole car. I'd either clean what I had or start all new.

If you do rebuild, get us some pics!

 

[bdcardinal]

in a shop, you wont have them rebuilt. the kit might be cheaper, but that extra 2 hours a side at $110 an hour makes up for it. the only calipers i would bother rebuilding would be multi-piston fixed units as they are cost prohibitive.

 

[[RT] ProjUltraZ]

right, look for a deal on new or rebuilts

 

[Saturn_Fan]

Thanks for the great input guys.

I only need two of them for the fronts, so I am leaning toward just spending the 30 bucks per side and putting on new ones. Rock Auto has them pretty cheap IMHO. AC Delco OEMs aren't even much more than that on the site.

 

[punisher]

Ditto. Save the hassle and get a pair of rebuilts. By the time you clean them up, sand bores/pistons and get brake fluid all over you, it is just so much nicer having nice clean rebuilts to install.

 

[The Critic]

Make sure you get the brackets as well. They're sold as semi-loaded calipers. The bracket bores usually have a lot of gunk in them. It's nice to have a fresh caliper and a fresh bracket. For Saturns, the calipers are so inexpensive that it'd be silly to waste your time rebuilding them. Also, buy them locally. Rockauto has a core charge. By the time you consider the cost of return shipping for the cores, it wipes out any savings.

A local brake shop here, Les Schwab, installs loaded Raybestos calipers on every brake job that they do. They will not do a brake job without installing loaded calipers. After watching them do a brake job, I understand why. It's just so much easier to do a brake job with loaded calipers-- you just bolt the two bracket bolts on and bleed the system. No need to bother lubing the pads, pins or cleaning the slides.

 

[tomcat27]

I would advise just getting the rebuilts - especially at that reasonable price. I have rebuilt them before - if the piston is metal (as yours is) you frequently replace it unless the chrome is perfect. the phenolic pistons are usually reusable. also, as long as you're replacing the calipers, make sure you flush your brake fluid until its as clear as it is in the bottle. the caramel color of old brake fluid indicates that it has absorbed moisture, which corrodes parts

 

[Saturn_Fan]

Originally Posted By: The Critic
Make sure you get the brackets as well. They're sold as semi-loaded calipers. The bracket bores usually have a lot of gunk in them. It's nice to have a fresh caliper and a fresh bracket. For Saturns, the calipers are so inexpensive that it'd be silly to waste your time rebuilding them. Also, buy them locally. Rockauto has a core charge. By the time you consider the cost of return shipping for the cores, it wipes out any savings.

A local brake shop here, Les Schwab, installs loaded Raybestos calipers on every brake job that they do. They will not do a brake job without installing loaded calipers. After watching them do a brake job, I understand why. It's just so much easier to do a brake job with loaded calipers-- you just bolt the two bracket bolts on and bleed the system. No need to bother lubing the pads, pins or cleaning the slides.


Excellent post and I will use this information to aid me.

Thanks to T_C and all who contributed.



ETA: I did find this on Rock Auto with no core charge and fully loaded, so to speak for 32.89 a piece. Thoughts on this one?

AUTOSPECIALTY / KELSEY-HAYES Part # 4082110 {Remanufactured}
Front Loaded Left Caliper; 51MM [Wholesaler Closeout -- 30 Day Warranty]

 

[The Critic]

Yup, that's what I'm talking about.

However, you should find out what kind of pads are being included. Considering how cheap those calipers are, you could just throw out the pads and buy new ones and still come out ahead. Right now, Wagner and Monroe have mail-in rebates on their pads, making them less than $25/axle.

 

[Trav]

At under $50 each loaded or semi loaded its not even worth messing with kits.Keep in mind that along with the rebuilding kit you will need a hardware kit also,pins,boots etc.This alone can cost an additional $20.

 

[labman]

Originally Posted By: tomcat27
I would advise just getting the rebuilts - especially at that reasonable price. I have rebuilt them before - if the piston is metal (as yours is) you frequently replace it unless the chrome is perfect. the phenolic pistons are usually reusable. also, as long as you're replacing the calipers, make sure you flush your brake fluid until its as clear as it is in the bottle. the caramel color of old brake fluid indicates that it has absorbed moisture, which corrodes parts


+1 If you have let it go 9 years, there is a good chance the piston is shot. There are many sets of new pads ruined when a corroded piston is pushed back in an old worn seal and fluid leaks out.

I have mostly rebuilt my calipers in a timely fashion as PM. I like seeing what is inside and knowing it went back together with Sil-glyd, not brake fluid or a cheap hygrosopic grease. It is getting harder and harder to find kits and more expensive.

The loaded calipers make a lot of sense.

 

[65cuda]

I normally go with rebuilt calipers, but I haven't heard of loaded calipers before. Have you got a link by any chance on them? I'd like to be able to look into it before I do my next brakes on my 05 Grand Caravan.

 

[VNTS]

Usually better to buy the rebuilt calipers and get a better quality set of pads serepate. They usually put cheaper pads on the loaded ones.

Plus most parts stores have to special order the loaded calipers, so you may have to wait a day or two.

 

[Mr_Incredible]

I had to replace a caliper that had frozen up on the truck this summer. I thought for a moment about rebulding it but it quickly passed. I got rebuilt. I'm happy with my choice.

 

[Donald]

Originally Posted By: 65cuda
I normally go with rebuilt calipers, but I haven't heard of loaded calipers before. Have you got a link by any chance on them? I'd like to be able to look into it before I do my next brakes on my 05 Grand Caravan.


If you look through RockAuto for your vehicle you will see (probably) calipers, semi loaded and loaded. A caliper just bolts to the mounting bracket. If the sliding pins are sticking then you need a semi loaded caliper (includes mounting bracket) or to also buy a pin/boot replacement kit and get the old pin(s) out of the mounting bracket and the new pin in. I am told you really should not try and clean up a sticky pin. A fully loaded caliper also includes brake pads but maybe not the quality you want. The problem is you will not know a lot of this until you take things apart. You could maybe get away with just a caliper or might also need the mounting bracket with new pins.