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So it appears the PO used the wrong cotter pins in the brake pad retainer pin on the front brakes.... even though they were just replaced before I bought the car and parked it two years ago...
So the pin fell out of the passengers side and the inner pad worked its way up wedged between the inner rim and caliper... this caused the caliper pistons to bind and damage the piston sleeve walls even though they worked when I freed them up I knew as the pad wear the seals would hit the damaged area and fail.
So I bought a replacement front caliper today from autozone... It was an "OEM" remanufactured unit and to my surprise the pistons are stainless steel! sweet! I didnt disassemble to see if the walls are stainless sleeved however... They seem to be nicely upgraded from the mismatched pistons of the rebuilt units that came from the same store two years ago... I dont know if it was just because the core that they rebuilt had already been upgraded to the stainless pistons before they had failed and were used as cores or what? The aluminum ones tend to corrode...
not bad for $70...
Last edited by augiedoggy; Aug 26, 2014 at 10:18 PM.
Nice to know that the mass market retailers sell C3 calipers that way. Maybe someone who has bought calipers from auto zone can confirm about the SS pistons?-I know that they sell SS sleeved calipers from other people's posts about auto zone. I don't believe anyone sells rebuilt calipers with the iron bore cylinders any longer but who knows. SS pistons are a nice feature but the problems with the OEM calipers was the pitting/corrosion with the cast iron bores, not the aluminum pistons. I have VBP SS sleeved calipers (OEM piston seals, not the lip seals) with the OEM aluminum pistons since 1985 with zero issues. Change your brake fluid every 3-5 years and the calipers are good to go for a LONG time.
The "real thing" as you put it was not designed very well in this case and I think you'll find there are lots of people that agree there was room for improvement...The brakes on these cars underwent a lot of changes from the 60s to the 80s because of it. They had guides inside the piston center that GM removed to save $ and they had poorly thought out iron piston bores that corroded so I believe GM started sleeving them in stainless. they also cheapened the actual housings.
Besides these were supposed to be remanufatured however everything including the iron? Actually looks brand new.... GM numbers there but no delco emblems.
And where exactly can I get remanufactuered oem delco calipers for less than $68?
Last edited by augiedoggy; Aug 27, 2014 at 07:56 AM.
Nice to know that the mass market retailers sell C3 calipers that way. Maybe someone who has bought calipers from auto zone can confirm about the SS pistons?-I know that they sell SS sleeved calipers from other people's posts about auto zone. I don't believe anyone sells rebuilt calipers with the iron bore cylinders any longer but who knows. SS pistons are a nice feature but the problems with the OEM calipers was the pitting/corrosion with the cast iron bores, not the aluminum pistons. I have VBP SS sleeved calipers (OEM piston seals, not the lip seals) with the OEM aluminum pistons since 1985 with zero issues. Change your brake fluid every 3-5 years and the calipers are good to go for a LONG time.
I have to disagree with you on the aluminum piston not being an issue.... I just got done rebuilding my rear calipers which were stainless sleeved but the moisture and dissimilar metels perhaps caused the aluminum pistons to develop a corrosion on them which actually allowed the fluid to leak past them and the otherwise perfect seals.... had to clean the with scotchbrite pads to remove the corrosion...
There's a reason they are selling the stainless pistons on eBay now for $25 a piece.... others have seen the same failure. Constantly replacing the fluid will help depending on where you live or using dot 5 fluid but it won't completely eliminate the issue....although dot 5 fluid is pricey to keep replacing every 3 to 5 years. Time will tell but how the others hold up as I replaced my master cylinder and fluid yesterday as well.
I never had to touch the brakes on my C4 and they worked perfect for 13 years for me right up until I got rid of the car... the pads still had plenty of life even after the 30k I put on them.
Last edited by augiedoggy; Aug 27, 2014 at 08:05 AM.
Depending on my future choice of tires and rims I may paint them but not at this time... to be clear there's old one "new caliper" on the car.... the drivers front was new from advance in 2012 about 400 miles ago and I just rebuild the rears with new seals. They had all been replaced recently and the car had all new pads when I bought it along with new tires.
I have to disagree with you on the aluminum piston not being an issue.... I just got done rebuilding my rear calipers which were stainless sleeved but the moisture and dissimilar metels perhaps caused the aluminum pistons to develop a corrosion on them which actually allowed the fluid to leak past them and the otherwise perfect seals.... had to clean the with scotchbrite pads to remove the corrosion...
There's a reason they are selling the stainless pistons on eBay now for $25 a piece.... others have seen the same failure. Constantly replacing the fluid will help depending on where you live or using dot 5 fluid but it won't completely eliminate the issue....although dot 5 fluid is pricey to keep replacing every 3 to 5 years. Time will tell but how the others hold up as I replaced my master cylinder and fluid yesterday as well.
I never had to touch the brakes on my C4 and they worked perfect for 13 years for me right up until I got rid of the car... the pads still had plenty of life even after the 30k I put on them.
That may be true but i have not heard that the pistons corrode, just the cast iron bores. If you do a search on SS calipers form just about every reputable vendor, the sleeves are SS not the pistons. My VBP SS calipers-regular GM piston seals and GM non SS pistons-have been on my car since 1985 and no leaks. Just saying….
That may be true but i have not heard that the pistons corrode, just the cast iron bores. If you do a search on SS calipers form just about every reputable vendor, the sleeves are SS not the pistons. My VBP SS calipers-regular GM piston seals and GM non SS pistons-have been on my car since 1985 and no leaks. Just saying….
Your absolutely right but the pistons do often corrode.... There's actually a YouTube video on it if I can find it...
The lip seals are the stock GM style... I thought you said you had prints instead?
Mine were replaced prior to me buying the car in 2012 and one was leaking already... it was stainless sleeved. When I pulled it apart to replace the seals I found they were like brand new. But the piston caused the failure. I'm sure everyone's mileage varies.
So it appears the PO used the wrong cotter pins in the brake pad retainer pin on the front brakes.... even though they were just replaced before I bought the car and parked it two years ago...
So the pin fell out of the passengers side and the inner pad worked its way up wedged between the inner rim and caliper... this caused the caliper pistons to bind and damage the piston sleeve walls even though they worked when I freed them up I knew as the pad wear the seals would hit the damaged area and fail.
So I bought a replacement front caliper today from autozone... It was an "OEM" remanufactured unit and to my surprise the pistons are stainless steel! sweet! I didnt disassemble to see if the walls are stainless sleeved however... They seem to be nicely upgraded from the mismatched pistons of the rebuilt units that came from the same store two years ago... I dont know if it was just because the core that they rebuilt had already been upgraded to the stainless pistons before they had failed and were used as cores or what? The aluminum ones tend to corrode...
not bad for $70...
They do look really nice! I would assume they put bids out to venders for their rebuild services. Hopefully they'll maintain this level of quality!
The "real thing" as you put it was not designed very well in this case and I think you'll find there are lots of people that agree there was room for improvement...The brakes on these cars underwent a lot of changes from the 60s to the 80s because of it. They had guides inside the piston center that GM removed to save $ and they had poorly thought out iron piston bores that corroded so I believe GM started sleeving them in stainless. they also cheapened the actual housings.
Besides these were supposed to be remanufatured however everything including the iron? Actually looks brand new.... GM numbers there but no delco emblems.
And where exactly can I get remanufactuered oem delco calipers for less than $68?
SS sleeved calipers from GM on new cars? I don`t think so. your calipers have Delco numbers but they don`t say "Delco-Moraine" I would like to see that, please post a pic of the side of your caliper.
I've purchased multiple sets of rebuilt calipers from Autozone... assume Autozone and Advance Auto purchase from similar vendors. Sometimes I get rebuilt Delco-Moraine and sometimes I get aftermarket (not original Delco-Moraince) calipers. You have to open the box and see if they are original or not. Used the non-original for years without issue. Then when I developed a small leak due to my own negligence, I simply returned and got a new, rebuilt caliper. This time it was an original.
jbL82-78 said "I have VBP SS sleeved calipers (OEM piston seals, not the lip seals)"
I thought OEM was lip seals and not o-rings.
augiedoggie said "I thought you said you had prints instead?"
What are "prints"?
Are you guys talking in code?
lol sorry that was my damn tablet.... I was confused by the same thing you were...he said he had gm seals then said the were not the lip seal type. perhaps gm used orings at some point on the high performance version?
SS sleeved calipers from GM on new cars? I don`t think so. your calipers have Delco numbers but they don`t say "Delco-Moraine" I would like to see that, please post a pic of the side of your caliper.
I would have to take the wheel off but I can assure you theres just rough casting were the number would be... also the bright fresh metal does not appear to be the usual refurb type of finish...it really looks brand new.
I think that you will find that they are brand new and from China. NAPA sells them as well. As they do work just fine.
those are different from mine though... different markings, hardware and mine has the delco numbers molded on them...
they likely are new from china though..
I've purchased multiple sets of rebuilt calipers from Autozone... assume Autozone and Advance Auto purchase from similar vendors. Sometimes I get rebuilt Delco-Moraine and sometimes I get aftermarket (not original Delco-Moraince) calipers. You have to open the box and see if they are original or not. Used the non-original for years without issue. Then when I developed a small leak due to my own negligence, I simply returned and got a new, rebuilt caliper. This time it was an original.
Advance auto calipers..
