Originally Posted By: Shaman
People here just don`t know how to take care of their cars. You will hear 3 year old cars making noises. My wife didn’t know to change her oil, so it went for 1.5 years without an oil change (search my user name for more info.) They are throw away things. Like Quest mentioned, it gets easier to change cars than repair. As you can tell from the first post, a brake caliper is $250 here, and what, $50 in the US? Oil change was 5,000 yen, and doing it yourself is 800 yen filter(CHEAP!), 1,400-6,000 yen oil, and 400 yen to recycle it at the store. There are no “parts” stores, and I don’t even know if the word core charge is in the Japanese language. The auto store across the street from my apartment looks part motorcycle shop, and part pepboys.
Originally Posted By: cjcride
Wow.
We should pool our money and book a car carrying freighter. Fill it with 5 year old Japanese cars bring them to North America and invest the profit.
Maybe not
Originally Posted By: Burt
"I usually get remanufactured ones at about $40-$70 each and replace after 10yrs/100k miles or so."
I have a 160k miles on my 12 year old windstar with original calipers on the front. Do I really need to replace them just because the are old and a lot of miles? We don't get a lot of corrosion in Texas.
Might not be a bad idea next pad change. Rubber gets old, and heat is its worst enemy. The area of the piston where the seal rides wears, and has only the boot to protect it from moisture and grit. As the boot ages, it stiffens and may no longer do a good job sealing. When I worked in a brake shop, we often sold a set of pads one day and the next day the guy was back for a new caliper and begging for a way to salvage new pads with brake fluid on them. The calipers were fine until the piston was pushed back intothe bore.
People here just don`t know how to take care of their cars. You will hear 3 year old cars making noises. My wife didn’t know to change her oil, so it went for 1.5 years without an oil change (search my user name for more info.) They are throw away things. Like Quest mentioned, it gets easier to change cars than repair. As you can tell from the first post, a brake caliper is $250 here, and what, $50 in the US? Oil change was 5,000 yen, and doing it yourself is 800 yen filter(CHEAP!), 1,400-6,000 yen oil, and 400 yen to recycle it at the store. There are no “parts” stores, and I don’t even know if the word core charge is in the Japanese language. The auto store across the street from my apartment looks part motorcycle shop, and part pepboys.
Originally Posted By: cjcride
Wow.
We should pool our money and book a car carrying freighter. Fill it with 5 year old Japanese cars bring them to North America and invest the profit.
Maybe not
Originally Posted By: Burt
"I usually get remanufactured ones at about $40-$70 each and replace after 10yrs/100k miles or so."
I have a 160k miles on my 12 year old windstar with original calipers on the front. Do I really need to replace them just because the are old and a lot of miles? We don't get a lot of corrosion in Texas.
Might not be a bad idea next pad change. Rubber gets old, and heat is its worst enemy. The area of the piston where the seal rides wears, and has only the boot to protect it from moisture and grit. As the boot ages, it stiffens and may no longer do a good job sealing. When I worked in a brake shop, we often sold a set of pads one day and the next day the guy was back for a new caliper and begging for a way to salvage new pads with brake fluid on them. The calipers were fine until the piston was pushed back intothe bore.
