marlinspike

If I replaced just one caliper on an old car, where the other one seemingly works fine, will that be ok as long as its the same brand/type of caliper, or will it pull like someone told me it will?

DirtyEF

Its fine

Fabrik8

As long as both calipers are of the same type and in good condition, there will be no problems. It's just a fluid chamber with piston(s) and seals to keep the fluid inside, so if they're the same caliper than they will work identically if there aren't problems with seals sticking, etc.

marlinspike

Damn it, the "someone" is a dealer tech. Who is right?!?!?!

To be honest, I can't see why it should pull, because otherwise that would mean my brake bias is all screwed up now.

nftuatn

the stealership tech is trying to get you to spend money at said stealership when you only need one caliper...dont fall for the "game"

nftuatn

and it may pull if you only replaced one rotor or that side pads...but not the caliper

Fabrik8

Maybe the dealer tech got confused and was thinking about the wrong part? Pads or rotor would make more sense causing a pulling problem. So yeah, as long as you replace pads on both calipers when you do the swap, you'll have the same starting point and everything should be the same.


Is the bad caliper sticking or frozen...?

marlinspike

He's just a dealer tech I know, not even in this state.

If I bring you a caliper, you interested in replacing it? AFAIK the only special tools it requires is a 11mm flare wrench and an air wrench. And a rubber cap to seal off the brake line while the work is being done.

What happened is I was replacing my pads, and as I was compressing one of the pistons this ring around the piston popped off (also the rubber boot was torn before I touched it). The dealer tech told me that the ring around the piston is useless and to just finish changing the pads. However, now the right caliper seems to stick (pulls to the right ever so slightly and the right caliper felt a little hotter than the left when I parked).

If you're game to replace the caliper, PM me with a price on the labor.

nftuatn

pming

Fabrik8

Most rubber parts on brake calipers are pretty important. Don't know why the guy would say something like that. If you have a torn boot, and the pistons work fine (not frozen, corroded, etc.) then you should be able to get away with a rebuild by replacing the seals and boots. If the calipers are having age problems with the rubber parts, both calipers should either be replaced or rebuilt for the same reason that the one has already torn.