Brand new ATE brake calipers? Actually new or rebuilt??

[FireFox31]

FCP has front brake calipers which they have listed as brand new from ATE. They include no bracket and have no core charge (as a rebuilt caliper would). Are these newly manufactured parts, thus significantly less prone to failure like poorly rebuilt ones??

The parts are ATE 240617 front left and ATE 240618 front right for $148 each. Yes, their front left is mislabeled so I emailed them about that.

I have had countless brake caliper failures over the decades (and I'm posting this because yet another has failed). I have desperately wanted to stop this cycle of failure by getting brand new calipers, though none have ever been available. So how could they be here now?

Can anyone share their experience with these ATE calipers, specifically in rusty areas like the North East?

These are double the price of the NAPA Adaptive One calipers that I have served me the best recently, but still have failed. I'd pay basically any price to never have a caliper fail again.

[abscate]

I checked my stock and I’m out. With four cars running these, and 18 friends and family , I’ve ordered one of each.

I’m not shipping to NJ , they can’t surf.

[850 LPT]

I put these on our 850 last summer, and they are lasting fine. I am very suspicious about them being new though. One of them had a very pitted casting and the ATE sign was very washed out, the other looked much better. They would be more consistent and better looking if they were new imho. Having said that, I would imagine that even if they are rebuilt, the quality is probably much better than from a cheapo brand.

[FireFox31]

Thanks for the input. How was the surface coating on them? How did the dust boots look?

Never mind cheapo brands, I was disappointed by the expensive Volvo brand rebuilt calipers. Their surface coating was a thick slather of clear coat. Rust easily forms underneath that coating, causing it to flake off. On at least one caliper I got from FCP, it was rusted already in the box.

The cheapo Centric calipers, which FCP no longer sells, had a worse surface finish which started rusting within weeks. My final one of those finally failed, having somehow lasted 3-4 years.

My preferred NAPA Adaptive One calipers have a sturdy black surface finish. I can't see the rust which may be forming underneath but it doesn't flake off. However, I did have a rear caliper fail because both of its dust boots simply let go of the body, allowing the pistons to rust. It was replaced under warranty, but that warranty only allows one replacement before I have to buy it again.

I'll likely order an ATE front caliper to replace my failed one. $70 more than NAPA but I'm curious about the quality.

[coop]

Do they not sell new seals and pistons? You can rebuild your own calipers for less then $10

[FireFox31]

FCP sells boots/seals but pistons are hard to come by. I found some on Rock Auto, which I don't typically trust. Even with new parts, the caliper body piston bores could use honing and I don't have the right tools or methods for that (see Rotor Hone, a maker of rotary honing tools).

Boots often fail because of rust where the boot fits the body. Trying to repair that myself seems very difficult, requiring me to smooth out that area to ensure a good seal. Seems beyond my expertise.

The rusty exterior of calipers can also be a problem. I've had the threads to the fluid line get rusty and expand, gripping the line fitting, making it difficult to remove, destroying its threads in the process. Installing a new fitting would require tapping the hole to fix the threads, and I've yet to find an M10 x 1 tap (though I haven't looked hard). I now make a point to spray the installed fitting with Fluid Film. After a year of use, I was easily able to remove a fitting protected this way.

I'm saying this all from memory which is spotty, but I've posted a lot about it in the past, so I'll recommend searching for those posts.

[coop]

Check summit racing and jeggs too. When I was looking for calipers for my s70 last summer there was somewhere that had some pretty good deals.

[scot850]

I like Nugeon rebuilt units. They typically come with a decent coating and are well made rebuilt units. Careful out there. I recently bought some on clearance from Rock Auto that were marketed as Nugeon but were not. Nugeon were not happy as someone had relabeled the Centric units with false labels. They said they do not supply Rock Auto. One was actually a correct part, and it was a much superior part to the others. Parts were for a P2.

Neil.

[454cid]

I like Nugeon rebuilt units. They typically come with a decent coating and are well made rebuilt units. Careful out there. I recently bought some on clearance from Rock Auto that were marketed as Nugeon but were not. Nugeon were not happy as someone had relabeled the Centric units with false labels. They said they do not supply Rock Auto. One was actually a correct part, and it was a much superior part to the others. Parts were for a P2.

Neil.

Sounds like maybe you conversed with someone at Nugeon that wasn't knowledgeable what Rockauto is. No one supplies Rockauto with any parts because Rockauto is a sales website. They have no warehouses, stores, or even parts. They're basically a broker for wholesalers and manufacturers. Everything is shipped directly from the wholesaler or manufacturer. Google the address from where your order is shipped from. It's always another business.

[scot850]

I was pretty certain that they just retailed other supplier products. The issue with this model is they have no control and no wish to correct the issues this causes, from wrongly packaged parts to used parts being returned in original packages being sold on.

This does not mean I won't buy parts from them, just to be careful what you buy!

Neil.