Re: Perfect stop remanufactured brake calipers. Don't buy!

Post by **scot850** » 25 Apr 2017, 23:25

I needed a replacement RH front caliper as the existing one had a 50% blown out dust seal, and it had clearly been that way for some time as moving out of the way exposed rust on the actual piston.

I had been in two minds to remove it, blow the piston out and try to re-seat the dust shield in it's groove and re-use the caliper. The rust on the piston cancelled that idea. The thought did cross my mind to try and clean the majority of the rust off and try it again, but the work involved and a possibly high chance of failure, meant I decided to go down the re-manufactured caliper route.

I buy my calipers normally from a local parts supplier called Auto Value in Calgary. They are a chain in Calgary and area and not sure if they are national. Anyway, they only offered me one option which was their 'house-brand' called Perfect Stop - Exact fit. Cost was $90 CDN (about $65 US). Comes in a nice box and proudly states re-manufactured in the US. Surely had to be ok as made in the US?

Well all I can say is it is the worst piece of junk I have seen sold as a re-manufactured brake caliper. The piston is a rusty old piston that has been crudely buffed on the top and the interior of the piston is full of deep rust. They have used the cheapest of slider pins to hold the bracket to the caliper. They have been driven in so hard that they have rounded the internal hex heads. I'm guessing it was maybe a 1/4" rather than a 6 or 7mm hex as neither of the metric ones fitted. The 7mm was too large and the 6mm just turned. I tried jamming a 1/4" Allen key in to the pin but could not get it to loosen no matter how hard I tried and it felt like it was about to round. Finally they have painted it in a fashion with a cheap black paint which has come off in many places or has been scraped off in manufacture.

Bottom line, do not buy this junk! I now have a Nu-geon unit on order with Napa for tomorrow morning. It will be about $5-6 more but it has a rust prevention coating, and if it is as good as the 2 on the rear of my 'R' then the were well finished with new pistons. I guess I will find out tomorrow!

Below are a few pictures of the Perfect Stop item:

: Rounded head on slider pin

: Nice box!

: Hard nasty slider covers

: Caliper piston (1)

: Caliper piston (2)

Neil.

Post by **tryingbe** » 26 Apr 2017, 06:55

Wow, that's really bad.

Personally, I'd just buy the seals and change them on your existing caliper.

Post by **scot850** » 26 Apr 2017, 08:07

Problem is the piston is rusted due to the seal dust seal being 50% out of it's seating. So piston will need replaced too. I had considered this initially.

Neil.

Post by **mecheng** » 26 Apr 2017, 08:43

Most of the rebuilt calipers I bought were locally Remanufactured in Ontario and Quebec and were high quality., maybe the US location is closer to you.

Post by **theWIFES_S70** » 26 Apr 2017, 09:19

You're right, that really is a nice box...

Sorry you had to go through this. I'd rather rip some knuckle skin than get a bad or poorly rebuilt part. The delays caused by oversights in management or quality control are a real detriment to the economy if you consider the frequency of issues like these...

Post by **abscate** » 26 Apr 2017, 09:59

Might be picture but that looks like a pot metal caliper slide screw - seriously??

Post by **scot850** » 26 Apr 2017, 10:18

No it is not the picture! That is just what it looks like a cheap piece of useless crap! Now off to return it and pick up a Nu-geon unit from Napa.

Neil.

skloon · Post by **skloon** » 26 Apr 2017, 13:00

That is the worst I have ever seen- makes some Cardone ones look like factory new

Post by **cn90** » 26 Apr 2017, 16:46

The aftermarket rebuilt calipers are flooded with Chinese parts...
You need to do your own thing.

Options:

1. Go to ebay UK website and search for "Volvo S70 brake rebuild kit", you will see that in the UK, they sell the complete kit for about US $40:
- Piston
- Seal
- Boot
etc.

2. Go to junk yard and get a good caliper for $20 (make sure the boot is intact) and fish out only the piston.
You only want the piston.
Then go to rmeuropean etc. and buy the front seal/boot kit: PN 271583 for $9:
http://www.rmeuropean.com/Make/PartNumb ... rch=271583

So basically:
- Re-use your caliper.
- Transplant the new piston from junk yard (clean it first).
- New ATE seal/boot.

And you just bring the quality back to stage 0.

I posted the procedure below.
viewtopic.php?t=37721

Post by **scot850** » 26 Apr 2017, 23:01

Ah, that is much better! Returned the piece of crap, and went to Napa to collect the Nu-geon remanufactured unit. Took it out of the box at Napa to confirm it is a Volvo core rebuilt base unit.

Comes in a much less fancy box:

: Nu-geon packing box

Unit looks so much better than the previous one and reminds me of the ones I hunted out for the back of the 'R'. They have an nice anti-rust coating which I've been told not to paint for a year as it would void warranty. No big deal there I suppose!

: Back of caliper

: Non-nasty slider pins

Pin quality is so much better and not cheap pot metal type!

: Front of caliper and the caliper bracket

Note nice shiny piston.

: Complete front of caliper

Just can't get over the improvement over the other one. The only issue I had was to swap the guide pin rubber boots over with the original as the supplied ones, while soft and feel a reasonable quality are the wrong shape and the caps wouldn't fit.

Caliper is already fitted waiting for the replacement axle to be fitted and then the brakes can be fitted up and bled.

Neil.