Brake caliper failures and how to prevent them

[jreed]

Thanks FireFox31... really appreciate your effort on brakes/calipers maintenance and repair. Sounds like your experiences with the Napa Adaptive One have been positive and it's your #1 recommendation for rebuilt front and rear calipers.

[abscate]

Don’t forget you can skip caliper hassle by cutting the hard line and swaging in new.

[jreed]

Haven’t done this before…. Swaging as in installing a new flare terminal and then making a bubble flare in the line?

[FireFox31]

Sounds like your experiences with the Napa Adaptive One have been positive and it's your #1 recommendation for rebuilt front and rear calipers.

I found my older post showing the NAPA Adaptive One calipers after years of use. Assume that the car they were on was as neglected as possible. The left one failing from a cut boot after (surely less than) 3.5 years is unfortunate but might be the fault of neglect, not the boot material.

My experience with the NAPA calipers is vicarious through the previous owner of the car. They seem to be well powder coated. The Volvo rebuilds have clear coat which develops rust underneath (in some cases, right out of the box) and the coat flakes off. The NAPA ones seemed more resilient. Utilizing their warranty might not cost shipping the core back to FCP if your local NAPA can get the caliper for you.

I recommend NAPA based on little experience but based on its low cost and seeming high quality. For my car, I bought four Volvo calipers and had them powder coated. My goal is for them to never fail due to build quality. It might be possible to buy cheaper calipers like Centric and have them powder coated, but do replace the boots with ATE ones (which I'll likely do on my Volvo ones once I reassemble them).

Heck, proactive boot replacement might be the right move. Every two years, failed or not, send them back to FCP for another set from ATE. Anything to stop these failures.

[wheelsup]

11 minute video showing the various brake line fittings and how they intersect, as well as cutting in a new line. Fantastic info for those like me who don't know what they are looking at:

[jreed]

Thanks. Watched this video yesterday and it was helpful!

[jreed]

For some reason the Amazon links to the Stop Shop ISO / Metric / Bubble flare fittings aren't showing up. Is this what you were recommending?

" www.amazon.com/Stop-Shop-Metric-Imperia ... B09MJQKJQZ "

Screen Shot 2023-06-21 at 07.34.56.png (275.3 KiB) Viewed 460 times

[scot850]

I have a pair of the NAPA calipers. They are not rusting at all, but then they are in a box in the garage! I bought them to get better 302mm front caliper brackets as mine were badly worn. It was cheaper than buying brackets from FCP or IPD with the bonus of the calipers! I also had a pair of Altrom rebuilt calipers for my car and they were better finished than most and the parts that were used were not the cheap nasty pot metal stuff.

Been many years since I made flared ends on my brake pipes. It is a skill worth having as well as a decent tool for making them. Worst case you can cut the pipe back and make a joint in the pipe and add new pipe back in if required.

Thanks for taking the time to pass on this valuable info Firefox and the rest of you as well and sharing your knowledge.

Neil.

[FireFox31]

For some reason the Amazon links to the Stop Shop ISO / Metric / Bubble flare fittings aren't showing up. Is this what you were recommending?

I updated the line fitting post with my recommended fittings from the SURR brand. They were in stock at my local Fisher / Sanel Auto Parts. I had one installed in a Centric caliper for over a year in normal conditions (moderate caliper body rust) after it was protected with Fluid Film and it removed easily.

I will continue to complete and improve the first posts in this thread when I have time. There's so much to write and so many pictures to post.

[abscate]

Are they using the nasty Calcium Cloride fluid on your roads in NH?

Im running calipers from 6-8 years old on my Volvos and while they are rusty I’m not having the horrible corrosion problems yet. I’ve bought everything from FCP post 2015 roughly , but used Cardone before that

Worst ones were Shagg rears, which had been replaced in …