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Brake Calipers; Something Old, Something New….


bazz54

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The 20 year old front calipers on my Gen7 are pretty much seized on; the lockdown has not been good for them. I fully refurbished them 10 years ago, and I periodically clean them up, and they may clean up and work again. As often as not the pads are seized in the caliper and the pistons and sliders are free.

 

In case I need to replace them, I’ve been looking at the price of “replacement calipers” and these vary wildly. What I’m not clear about is whether there are such things as “brand new” calipers (except from Mr T) and whether all the other ones for sale  are actually old refurbished callipers. Perhaps the price variations reflect the quality of the re-build, perhaps not.

 

I’ve generally gone to Brake Parts for calipers, but their prices are not as competitive as they used to be, but maybe their quality is better, and this is an area where quality counts! Any thoughts?

Edited by bazz54
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I've always bought grotty used but genuine toyota calipers, had them blasted then paint them, fit new seals, piston and parts from Frentech, then swap them over. You know what's been done, you've still got Toyota calipers and downtime is minimised. Some rebuild places charge a fortune all in

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Thanks for those comments. When I re-built the Toyota calipers back around 2012, I got the parts from Brake Parts and all went very well and, up till lock down, they been fine.

 

However, I do recall that they did have a bit of rust on the cylinder bores, which I removed with steel wire and that worked out well. At ~20 years old now, I'm not sure what to expect; they might clean up again, but I'm just preparing for "worst case" situations.

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  • 2 weeks later...
Thanks for those comments. When I re-built the Toyota calipers back around 2012, I got the parts from Brake Parts and all went very well and, up till lock down, they been fine.
 
However, I do recall that they did have a bit of rust on the cylinder bores, which I removed with steel wire and that worked out well. At ~20 years old now, I'm not sure what to expect; they might clean up again, but I'm just preparing for "worst case" situations.
Just got these myself pal. Seem good quality.
£140 delivered from brakesint. No need to return the old units either.a5453eb9eea3bc3f74b724d79fcdbffd.jpg

Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk

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11 hours ago, Jim881 said:

Just got these myself pal. Seem good quality.
£140 delivered from brakesint. No need to return the old units either.

Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk
 

 

Yes, I've always been 100% happy with Brake Parts (or Brake Parts Int" as they used to be). There certainly used be a refundable surcharge for return of the old ones; may be as Celica numbers have declined they've stopped doing that?

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2 hours ago, Crazy Cat Lady said:

Bazz, have you considered converting the fronts to Avensis?

No, I have never given that a great deal of thought. Is your thinking that if somebody needed to buy new calipers, big ones (and the appropriate disc)do better than little ones?

If you do upgrade, does any change need making to the brake balance?

Edited by bazz54
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10 hours ago, bazz54 said:

No, I have never given that a great deal of thought. Is your thinking that if somebody needed to buy new calipers, big ones (and the appropriate disc)do better than little ones?

If you do upgrade, does any change need making to the brake balance?

 

Originally the Gen 7 had 255mm front discs, Toyota decided to up them to 275mm, so maybe there is something in better braking with a bigger brake.

 

However, i have no experience driving a Gen 7 with a good working condition set up standard 275 discs, mine were knackered when i bought my Celica, so i took the opportunity to convert it all over to the Avensis 295mm size.

It would be interesting to know what the actually difference is. The brake test machine the MOT tester uses would be a perfect guide to show.

 

All i can say is my brakes work very satisfactory, passes MOT brake test easily every time.

It would seem to be a very safe mod, there is no balance problem between front and rear, but it's obvious to say the rears need to be functioning correctly.

 

One little advantage i notice is Avensis parts often seem to cost a lot less than Celica, a big saving on replacement brake pads perhaps, or perhaps not, i do low milage so only need change them every 50 years...

 

 

 

 

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Well, my pre-face 7 must be on 255, so going to 295 should make a "noticeable difference". Let me see how the current ones clean up; I think I am being lead in to temptation here :laugh2:.

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On 07/04/2021 at 14:16, ams said:

I have some 255 calipers and carriers quite cheap that you could rebuild if you need 

Thanks for that Ams; as soon as I have time to take the existing ones off, if I need to replace, I'll keep that in mind.

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