Rebuilt vs New brake caliper, Opinions?

[DCExplorer]

I’m planning on replacing my front calipers with rebuilt ones from NAPA. Just looking for anyone’s opinions or experiences with rebuilt calipers from the various venders (NAPA, Carquest, Advance, Etc). If I get many negative responces, I’ll just go with new one’s from Ford, but I obviously would rather not. A properly rebuilt one should be just as good.

To make a short story long. I noticed a bunch of brake dust on my front passenger side wheel. Sure enough, something is very wrong. Pads are trash and rotor is starting to get scored. Driver side is still fine with plenty of wear left. I don’t know if the hardware or the caliper failed, so I’m just going to replace both. As long as I’m tearing it down, I decided to upgrade to the PowerSlot rotors and Hawk Superduty pads, which I’m putting on all four corners ($422 from Truckperformance.com). However, I’m only replacing the front calipers, since I have no reason to think there is anything wrong with the rear ones.

The other thing I’m planning on doing is flushing the brake fluid before the install. I’ll then of course bleed the air out after the install.

 

[CDW6212R]

I think changing the front calipers is a wise decision. Any time the wear seems uneven or odd, suspecting the calipers should be high on the list. Rebuilt calipers from most parts stores should be fine. Many vehicles never need calipers changed.

Please take great care to keep brake fluid in the system at all times. Do not drain the fluid, or allow much air to get in. The big deal is maintaining fluid inside of the ABS unit at all times. You don't even want to have air above the ABS, and try to bleed it through. If air gets into the ABS unit, then it must be bled by a special tool which Ford uses to manually cycle the pump.

Try to swap the calipers and lines very quickly. Maintain brake fluid in the master cylinder, and bleed them out immediately after each one. That extra care will; be worth it to avoid dealing with air in the ABS pump. Good luck,

 

[97BlackX5.0]

i have not seen or heard about too many bad ones and i worked at an auto parts store for about 6 months. another thing... when you take off the old calipers to take back for cores... dont let the hoses just hang and drain for too long.... this lets air back through the system which can get into the abs module and then you have to have special tool to cycle abs while your bleeding. i would bleed all the old fluid out of the system before you put the new calipers on and then quickly switch the calipers and bleed the air out again quickly.

 

[DCExplorer]

Thanks for the advice. I've replaced many calipers over the years, and I don't expect the Explorer to give me much trouble. And yes, I know about the ABS pump.

and i worked at an auto parts store for about 6 months.

That's interesting, I've worked at many auto part store myself over the years from Albany to Philly to Greensboro. This was back before the days of computer databases behind parts counters. We had to look everything up in books, which were supplied by the manufactures. This meant we had to look up the same part in different books to check on the comparative prices and availability for a part. It took a good long time before you would get good enough to be able to look up parts quickly.

I know the failure rates of rebuilt calipers isn't that high, I just wanted to double-check with everyone to see if there was anything I should avoid. I didn't want to put any crappy parts on my truck if I could avoid it.

 

[410Fortune]

A properly rebuilt caliper should be within the same spec as a brand new caliper.

They are not too tricky to rebuild so I dont mind buying rebuilt units from places like Autozone or Cragen, where as I would steer clear of both those places if we were talking a heater core or alternator.....

 

[X-North]

Thats right and rebuild caliper is ecological..because less pollution of new caliper production I just put one rebuilt caliper for 30$ and its good from Canadian tire. Fenco caliper I think.
Anyway i will have only to bleed the brake...but I want to know...If reservoir fluid had remaining brake fluid does i need to bleed all brakes or just the one i changed caliper?

 

[aldive]

You should be fine with quality rebuilt ones.

Good luck ...

 

[CDW6212R]

You may have an issue with bleeding the ABS if any air got back up into it, but the other three wouldn't need bleeding. Hopefully you plugged the brake line when the caliper was removed, to keep air out of the ABS. If you get a good solid pedal when driving, then you are good. If it feels a little weak/soft, or takes more effort to stop, that's what air in the ABS module feels like. Good luck,