WARNING - Chineese Parts - Calipers

[duff]

I did a complete brake rebuild in August - Everything - even a master cyl. When pricing parts,
I was told new calipers were $45 (a well known american brand), rebuilt $18.
What the heack, new has to be better right ? Especially since my two daughters drive this old 92 Ex.

When I took them out of the box, I immediately noticed "China" molded into the casting.
After all the news about Chineese products(this was in August now!) I cringed.
But; I went ahead and put it all together.

After a few days I noticed a scrapping sound. A few days later it seemed to quiet down.
I assumed it was just break in noise. Stopping seemed to be as best as it could be.

I don't remember why now. But; A couple weeks later I decided to pull the wheel off to look at something.

This is what I found.

Looking at the pictures, you can see the right side of the pad slot broke off.
The pad pulled forward and started to cut the rotor disk from the hub.

I didn't notice at the time I installed the caliper, but, It was now eveident
that the casting had the slot that holds the pad, too far to the right.
This caused the right side to be way too thin and it broke off.

Below you can see the difference between the original and NEW caliper.

As I mentioned above, this was a well known American brand name part.
I will refrain form posting the name because the customer service was very
considerate. The person I spoke to expressed a concern about subcontracting
to overseas manufacturers, although my impression was that
this was his own personal feelings. Either way, I was reimbursed for replacing
both with NAPA reman calipers, new rotor plus $100 for my labor.

I'm thinkin I should forward this to something like the NTSB or US Govt product safety group.
We MUST be assured that American companies are responsible for quality control and liability
for products they choose to sub out overseas. And; It should be done in this country when the
products arrive prior to distribution. NOT done using a sampling method in the forgien country's
manufacturing plants.

 

[Joe Dirt]

Gotta say- I'm a Wal Mart fan, and I love to get more for my money- but between the toy recalls, the part issues, and the food issues, I really think that we need to get a grip on some of our imports. Sure it's cheaper, but you can't spend the 25% you save when your dead... Unfortunately, since everyone but the US holds most of our debt in investments, it's hard to make them really do anything.

Glad you found the issue before it became a tragedy! I don't see why you have reservations about publishing the brand name of the part- you're not dumping on them, you are simply saying "even though their customer service was very helpful, you may wish to check your calipers if you are running brand XXXXXXXX." I mean- it's a safety issue. I wouldn't buy the parts after reading the name, regardless of how good their service was.

Glad everyone is safe!

 

[Flandry]

...I'm thinkin I should forward this to something like the NTSB or US Govt product safety group. We MUST be assured that American companies are responsible for quality control and liability for products they choose to sub out overseas. And; It should be done in this country when the
products arrive prior to distribution. NOT done using a sampling method in the forgien country's manufacturing plants.

I think you should. If it happened to you, it's probably happening to others out on the road who lack the mechanical prowess needed to prevent possible injury or worse. What happened to you is something I've always worried about. The last time I did the brakes on my XLT, I had to go to five auto parts stores before I could find rotors that weren't made in China or Mexico. I finally bought some manufactured in Canada. But U.S. made was not to be had.

Can't say I like the direction this country's moving in. Even our space program's will be farmed out soon.