Wife and I jumped in the 65' coupe last night for a ride. Brake pedal went to the floor. It would still stop the car though; so back in the garage she went. I filled the brake fluid up to the top and replaced the cap. Pedal still low. I noticed that there seems to be some type of leak around the drivers front caliper (inside tire is wet, inside rim has a residue on it). The rubber hose that connects to the caliper is bone dry. However, the bottom of the caliper is wet. All other calipers look good and dry. Could this caliper be leaking somewhere? Is this possible? I never have been a "brake person". Please help.

 

Yup, that's a leaking caliper; I'd replace both front calipers, and keep an eye on the rears, if they're all the same age. I'd replace both front flex hoses too - they're probably more than ten years old.

 

Leaky caliper. Time to replace with the satinless steel sleeved ones.

 

Thank you. I will have both front calipers & hoses replaced. The previous owner told me that he used silicone brake fluid; I am assuming that stainless steel sleeved calipers take silicone fluid? If not, why switch to silicone? It is expensive as hell!! Should I have the mechanic flush the entire system and use regular brake fluid or stick with silicone? Advice?

Thanks
Tod

 

Pros and Cons for both. There is a good article here.

http://www.intelab.com/swem/Amazonin...ke%20Fluid.htm

 

I recently went through this too, with a front caliper that leaked and wet the pads. First time I hit the brakes I nearly jumped a curb it pulled so bad. I would stick with the Silicone. changing out hoses and calipers and bleeding brakes is messy and I can't keep brake fluid from getting on everything. At least with silicone you don't have to worry about paint damage.

Dan

 

Tod, There is a good chance that you already have stainless steel sleeved calipers already on your car. Most Vette owners over the years made the change already and when they replaced their original calipers and master cylinder they started using silicone brake fluid. Just because someone has stainless sleeved calipers doesn't mean they are not going to ever have problems again because the seals do still go bad. I most recently had a problem in the past year with one of my C-3 rear calipers leaking. I replaced all my calipers with SS sleeved calipers back in the early 90's and went the silicone brake fluid route also. Anyway I just replaced inner and outer seals on my SS sleeved rear calipers and was good to go. If yours are SS sleeved you should do the same. If you are doing the job yourself when you take the calipers off just put one in a vise and split it. Then take the half that you still have in the vise and pop out the outer seal and pull out one of the pistons. You will see right away if a SS sleeve is in place in the cylinder. If they are just do a simple rebuild with new seals. The parts aren't that expensive and it will be cheaper then replacing all the calipers. If you don't do your own work on your car and have to send it out to be done chances are your mechanic will want to just replace the calipers. Alot of mechanics today can't be bothered with doing a rebuilt. They rather just change the whole part.

Fred

 

Stainless steel sleeves are the greatest invention since sliced bread, but they still need maintenance. If you have sleeved calipers and standard DOT brake fluid, the fluid attracts water which in turn can pit the aluminum pistons and cause leaks. Silicone fluids are more expensive but are less prone to absorb water and are not as affected by heat as regular fluids. If you are changing brake hoses you may want to consider braided ones. these have less tendency to deteriorate and expand over time.
Good luck
Russ