I was shopping around for rebuilt front calipers for my car. While they cost a little more than some of the cheaper options the napa adaptive one calipers looked good. They tout all the great stuff done such as making sure all the threads are good plus they are the only off the shelf caliper i saw that were ecoated. Today im taking my time and getting everything all nice. New upper and lower ball joints, new wheel bearings, new rotor/caliper/pads. Well the caliper is the last thing to go on and the brake hose threads into the caliper. There is no banjo bolt. Of course as im tightening down the brand new rubber brake line into the remanufactured caliper the threads strip right out of the caliper. I should have known something was up when the bleeder screw kind of fit loosely into its home. Of course its not a common caliper so i have to order another to get delivered from napa. I understand people make mistakes but it’s frustrating to have to wait for parts again. This should not have passed qc. Luckily its not my daily driver so its just a time and brake fluid everywhere setback.
Just complaining about the quality of rebuilt calipers
- Thread starter joegreen
- Start date
Is it for either car in your sig? 
It's NAPA. I'm not surprised.
I would recommend you keep your OEM caliper and try and find a rebuild kit for it while you have the rebuilt unit on. Rebuild the OEM one and swap at your leisure.
The oem ones are not oem. They are frozen and also one is an ate caliper and the other is a bendix. I thought about rebuilding but it was a waste of time with the two different calipers. The best move would to buy two new ate calipers but that would have been close to $600.
Remember, these are your brakes and your life depends on them. Cheaping out on brake components, IMHO, is not the best way to save money. Can you still find OEM calipers? If not, try a junk yard and rebuild those.
yup just like tires and brake pads..
In that case, try looking for used OEM, junkyard or eBay and rebuild those yourself.
Otherwise, even new aftermarket calipers are all poor quality and will keep on failing.
Well i bought another Napa caliper to replace the one with the bad threads. I opened the caliper box and this caliper has a lot of pitting that has been powder coated over. Overall i am not satisfied with any of the remanufactured calipers. So back to Napa it goes. I ended up purchasing two nice Arizona junkyard calipers. They are completely rust free and in excellent condition. I took them apart and the pistons are perfect. I bought some seal rebuild kits and will be putting these on and forgetting the “rebuilt” calipers.
My experience with new or rebuilt is that they are assembled with very little lubricant.
I always pull the boot back & fill with brake compatible lubricant to prevent corrosion.
This will virtually eliminate stuck calipers.
I also remove bleeder & lube that also then blow brake fluid out of bleeder hole & cap or fill with grease which prevents bleeder from seizing.
Ducati996
I always pull the boot back & fill with brake compatible lubricant to prevent corrosion.
This will virtually eliminate stuck calipers.
I also remove bleeder & lube that also then blow brake fluid out of bleeder hole & cap or fill with grease which prevents bleeder from seizing.
Ducati996
"Quality" and "rebuilt" don't belong in the same sentence
But Cardones slogan is “we build it better” so you can trust the quality! As long as better is better than something that’s been on the titanic since it sank…
Best advice post of the month.......
It's easy to forget
ALWAYS get OEM
Brake Engineering Highlights Critical Defects in New Caliper Brands
Brake Engineering has highlighted critical safety concerns regarding the quality of brake calipers entering the aftermarket.
thebrakereport.com
