Yeah, i know, this has NEVER been asked...

So, are these things junk? Serious question.

My 68 Cadillac had front discs. That thing sat, pretty much undriven, for THIRTY YEARS. One time i did not touch it for three. I did a brake job once on it, in 1997, but the calipers were still perfect, and not the problem (bad master and pads/shoes/rotors turned). It NEVER leaked. I've never had a Mopar caliper leak, no matter how long it sat. Get in, brakes work. Period. EVERY time. I'm talking a LOT ov Mopars. Very few ov my GM's i had when i was young had discs, but the few that did, never gave me problems. Many ov those had sat too.

How does GM's halo car get this so wrong? These things are stone-axe simple.

Here is my other question: Will just buying Wilwoods just bypass this whole curse. Obvious answer, but i'll still ask it.

 

I'm guessing you are having Caliper issue's.
Yes many complain about it.
No, I haven't had issue's since I stainless sleeved mine years ago.
You can change pistons and convert to O ring style and then they will be like your MoPar brakes.
Or you can buy wilwoods and have aluminium housings that save unsprung weight. But other than that no real difference to an O ring conversion. No gain in braking performance anyway.
Perhaps I'm lucky. but I really can't complain. But I do take mine out for a spin when I can. Yes I still run lip seals and Dot 5.

 

The secret to corvette calipers BLEED them every year and you will have no problems. Also i do not know what the best brake fluid is and may be some one could tell me, but why are some more expensive than others?

 

Been visiting over here from the C1/C2 forum for some expertise I can't get over there, and came across this thread. What to do about brake calipers is another one of those topics that just doesn't get a clear answer, just a lot of people talking past each other.

You might find this webpage helpful. https://www.duntovmotors.com/tech-calipers.php

The long and short of it is the lip seals in from the factory or stock rebuilt C2/C3 calipers tend to develop leaks if they're not put under pressure for more than a few weeks. This is more than likely what you're experiencing. You can reduce the chances a lot by pumping the brakes a few times every 2 weeks or so if the car isn't being used. More than a few people have tried o-ring seal conversions and claim to have good results. I tried those about 15 years ago and suspected what was going to happen even before I put the calipers back on the car. The seals just made too tight a fit in the caliper bore and sure enough, exactly what the Duntov Motors article says would happen did in fact happen. First pump on the pedal after a few miles of no-brake, the pedal would go almost to the floor. Second pump, right back at the top. So those came off and back to lip seals.

With all that, I've had DOT 5 silicone brake fluid in the car for longer than that, and I've never developed a seal leak even though the most recent storage was two full years without being anywhere near the car. Brakes worked perfectly the first time out and no leaks.

So, re-seal the leaky ones and flush the system with denatured alcohol or methanol, and then refill with DOT 5. There's a lot of stupid argument about that on the C1/C2 forum too....lol Much more heat than light. Then again, no one on that forum has EVER posted about a seal failure in an actual, on the car brake system using DOT 5. It would STILL be a good idea to pump the brakes periodically when the car isn't used for more than a week or two at a time, because I'm not positive DOT 5 solves the seal leak problem fully.

 

well i think the cadillac has one piston? so half the chances to leak

 

Yes, Wilwoods will solve your problem.

 

I think the piston bores on OEM Corvette calipers are cast iron. Brake fluid collects water and the iron bores eventually rust and leak. Corvette calipers are rebuilt by pressing in stainless steel sleeves to prevent future rusting. My OEM Corvette caliper knowledge is REALLY dated. I haven't messed with them for decades. Are the piston bores still just bored out from the cast iron bodies of the calipers or did GM eventually start making them with stainless steel sleeves?

 

I installed Wilwoods in 2012 and haven't had a problem since.

 

Alrighty. I get it. To be honest, i've never really taken a good look at all these other cars' calipers... so i cant say what the difference is. All i know is that EVERYONE complains about C3 calipers, and i've only had a C3 for a year, and already both front ones leaked. Wilwoods sound like a good investment. I REALLY like saving weight too.

 

I put rebuilt o-ring calipers on my 77 when I restored it five years ago. Since then I have driven the car 18,000 plus miles, and I have ZERO leaks ever. I also bled it first time by gravity bleeding and MityVac suckdown, which gave me good hard pedal. I bled it again when I switched fluids.....again, no problem. I read about these "caliper" problems all the time on this forum.......but they have worked flawlessly for me.....so far.

 

And I too see lots of complaints about leaky Calipers.
But those of us with no issues have nothing to write about.
Think about it. How many people are going to start a thread out of the blue, just to say they do not have any leaks in their brake system?
Perhaps, Just for fun I could start one!

 

mine leaked in 2013 after the car sat undriven for like 6 months.... I rebuilt them (oem lip seals) .... a year later I had one of the back ones leak a bit over the winter... pumped the brakes a few times and the leak went away and has been gone for almost 10 years.. 3 of 4 of mine are not sleeved... YMMV but they dont like sitting especially if theres moisture in the brake fluid. moisture expends in cold weather causing issues and particles of rust and trash in oil fluid also can interfere with a good seal.
as far as reliability? The stainless sleeved c3 calipers with orings SHOULD be just as reliable as any aftermarket setup really. the issue is theres a few half assed rebuilders out there that dont do things right it seems as well as folks who dont pay attention to things like runout which is a concern on these cars. The rotors were riveted on for a reason.

 

Time to do some research on unsprung weight savings

 

Pretty sure they were free floating mounted calipers and not solid mounted like C2 - C3 calipers.

 

Yes, they sure were.

 

No, but they are different. They work really well, when maintained.

They are fixed caliper, 4 pistons per caliper (plus an O-Ring between the halves), so 5 easy places to leak from. If the rotor runout isn't perfect, they will "pump". Original lip-seals are especially susceptible to this, but the rotor runout is crucial for all calipers. Original bores could corrode if the fluid was not changed regularly. As others pointed out, the stainless sleeves and O-Rings mitigate some of these issues, but it's a 40+ y.o. sports car, you still need to maintain it.

After C3s ended, the fixed, multiple piston caliper didn't come back to Corvettes until the C6 Z06 (and only in the front, I think). Today, lots of performance-oriented cars have them (usually only in the front). Cars can get away with it because they are newer, more disposible, and have rotors/hubs/bearings that are replaced as an assembly.

 

Leave a link here when you start that thread! I've gone through both cars, and have zero leaking calipers (right now). If something leaks, I'll fix it, and continue driving the car!

The internet in general, and Forums like this one in particular, amplify complaints. For every "look at what cool thing I did with/to my car" thread, there are a dozen complaints, problems, or folks asking for help. And the C3 enthusiasts seems to be a lot better about handling adversity than most car communities.

 

Yea, C2 - C3 brakes are pretty good.

 

Research has long been done. Just gotta find the extra scratch to get it...

 

Well... i am TRYING to get past the complaints stage. But when you underpay for a cheap car... thats 50 years old... well, i might be here for a while.