Ilovemountains

I just got my truck back from having the alignment rechecked, turns out the reason its pulling to the right is a stuck caliper piston holding the brake on, its totally ruined my rotor to the point that its a dark blue! I tried last night to get the piston to budge and it refuses... Anyway I'm going to replace both front calipers, I can get them today at Autozone for $47 each but to be 100% honest Ive not had good luck with their parts and being brake calipers I'm very leary about them, but they have them in stock and have a lifetime warranty... Has anyone used their calipers? I have a new set of Brembo blank rotors that Ive had on the shelf for years and am going to pick up a fresh set of PF Carbon Metallic pads and do the entire front brake system hopefully this Saturday. Let me know your feelings on these calipers before I pull the trigger! Thanks again, Matt

Wrenchinjoe

I have not tried Duralast but have had good results with Cardone remanned calipers. Advance Auto Parts sells them.

spdjnky

I recently replaced both front calipers on my '86 and I haven't had a problem with the Duralast so far.

abecedarian

If you're worried, try the calipers with their rotors and stock pads for a few K miles. Mic the pads and rotors before and after and see if the wear is even between the pads and between the rotors. If the wear is even, you're probably okay.

I've got a set of Duralast semi-met pads on my 88 4Runner and they're just under 50% worn after about 20K miles. I bought a set of PF CM pads (even started a thread about it a while back) for my Runner but I have a 22RE and the calipers are different than the 3VZE equipped trucks so the pads wouldn't fit. I didn't want to go through the whole caliper / MC upgrade so returned them.

Overall, if the calipers perform as well as their pads do, I'd be fine with using them. Just thoroughly flush the fluid and you'll likely be fine.

Ilovemountains

Yeah, I replaced my master and bled the entire system out this past fall, hopefully I wont have any issues!!

clydehatchet

i personally dont like autozone anything. duralast has always caused me problems. you could pay a little more and get wagner from oreillys. i have always loved wagner. but thats just my $0.02. others on here have had the opposite experience.

yayfortrees

I agree with clydehatchet, I'm not a fan of Autozone parts. I recently got my calipers from O'reilly's. They were remanned, I forget the brand, probably Cardone. I've been impressed with them so far. They came with a hardware kit, and besides the core charge, were around the same $47 range.

Abecedarian mentioned this above, It is VERY important you change all of your brake fluid, even though you flushed this past fall. With the rotor getting hot enough to turn blue, that means the brake pad was that hot as well. That extra heat will break down brake fluid, and you will have inferior brake fluid starting off with the new calipers/pads/rotor. Just flush everything thoroughly, and you will be set.

anthony1

iTrader: (1)

I'm using the Autozone calipers now. It's working fine. The pads from Autozone is life time warranty. I've only paid about 20 bucks once. I've been going back and exchange for a new one for about 6 yrs now.

Ilovemountains

I ended up getting calipers from Advanced Auto, they are the Cardone brand remans... Autozone tried to sell me a miss matched set, well they were both re manufactured but by 2 totally different companies, one was silver one was black. I also went with the Performance Friction pads, Ive been using them for years now and they held up great with good feel. I'm going to get started on replacing everything this evening, while Im at it Im going to re-pack the inner and outer wheel bearings and lube the axle tubes.... I also ordered a pair of new brake drums for the rear, I got Centric brand on Amazon shipped for $25 each!! Thats half the price that I found them everywhere else, Ive had great luck with their rotors in the past so Im hoping that the drums will hold up too!

94svt50

Good luck with those. I have been using the autozone calipers for about 7 years, about every three years I have to take them back because they freeze up, good thing for the warranty.

dfarr67

Stay away from NAPA, on my third pass side in two years and they die just out of warranty. If you can find them- try Hawk HPS pads, best I've used so far.

LITLRED

Lots of good brake info here.
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=775780