best replacement caliper -oem

[the bus]

Hi all.

Just wanted your input into good brands of replacement calipers.

Heard some brands are junk ... Others are okay. And on rockauto centric says it can be used on the left or right which I find weird. cardone has a 10year warranty on one of theirs. I generally buy from rock or advanced but open to anything. if mail-order I probably try to do one without a core charge. I could even just do the rebuild kit with a new piston and seals with centric parts. Right now I have powerstop drilled and slotted rotors and akebono performance brake pads up front and original oem calipers.

I got a stuck caliper and have not dug in yet. It could be the caliper, slide bolts, or a collapsed hose.

Thanks!!

 

[JExpedition07]

I used a NAPA Total Eclipse when I did my 2007 over the summer because one seized. Still working perfect.

 

[TobyU]

I have never had a bad or inferior caliper from any local parts stores.
Most have lifetime warranty. I am not a fan of internet parts with lifetime or long warranties that I might replace in the years. I want to take it off and go swap in it 15 mins and be back putting the new one on.

Harder to get rebuild kits as they really don't like to list them.
I got kits from O'Reilly Auto Parts for my E-450 Super Duty party bus rears for 4.89 each. What a deal.

No reason to pay more for and brand of rebuild kit. Just a seal and a dust boot....all going to work the same regardless of what they say in the marketing. It's not like brake pads

 

[Trainmaster]

I just always buy Motorcraft parts because I assume the quality control is best. I'm willing to pay extra to avoid doing the job twice.

Many rebuilders are a hit-or-miss with their quality. A caliper is certainly the simplest thing to rebuild and hard to screw up. Yet, over the years I've gotten two Cardone Mexican rebuilds that leaked, a China DriveWorks with a Helicoil insert in it and a bunch of other junk from other rebuilders. The Chinese "new" stuff is nearly always bad, doesn't fit, has to be filed down, etc. I truly wonder how they screw up a brake caliper.

When I was in high school I'd put up with anything to save a buck. Now I'll spend anything to save grief, labor and time. I'll put my money on Motorcraft. Never let me down, though I've paid a lot extra for the luxury over the years.

 

[TobyU]

I just always buy Motorcraft parts because I assume the quality control is best. I'm willing to pay extra to avoid doing the job twice.

Many rebuilders are a hit-or-miss with their quality. A caliper is certainly the simplest thing to rebuild and hard to screw up. Yet, over the years I've gotten two Cardone Mexican rebuilds that leaked, a China DriveWorks with a Helicoil insert in it and a bunch of other junk from other rebuilders. The Chinese "new" stuff is nearly always bad, doesn't fit, has to be filed down, etc. I truly wonder how they screw up a brake caliper.

When I was in high school I'd put up with anything to save a buck. Now I'll spend anything to save grief, labor and time. I'll put my money on Motorcraft. Never let me down, though I've paid a lot extra for the luxury over the years.

Hopefully Motorcraft quality will stay up there to at least adequate or slightly better than that but we're still not getting what we're paying for compared to previously. Many of these parts are not lasting like they used to even Motorcraft and OEM. Then you have companies like Moog who are living on the reputation of their name. They're making their stuff in China and the quality is nowhere near what it was just a few years ago but people still pay top dollar because it says moog on the Box

 

[TobyU]

I do a lot of work replace a lot of parts so I would rather learn and make decisions based on my own experience. If you have always bought and had very few to no problems and long life then that's great but you never know how much money you could have saved if you bought other brands and could have very well still had the same or very near the level of satisfaction and longevity.

 

[the bus]

I used a NAPA Total Eclipse when I did my 2007 over the summer because one seized. Still working perfect.

View attachment 33754

After a little research napa buys rebranded cardone calipers. And bought the cardone with powercoat finish just like these with a 10 year warranty.

 

[the bus]

I have never had a bad or inferior caliper from any local parts stores.
Most have lifetime warranty. I am not a fan of internet parts with lifetime or long warranties that I might replace in the years. I want to take it off and go swap in it 15 mins and be back putting the new one on.

Harder to get rebuild kits as they really don't like to list them.
I got kits from O'Reilly Auto Parts for my E-450 Super Duty party bus rears for 4.89 each. What a deal.

No reason to pay more for and brand of rebuild kit. Just a seal and a dust boot....all going to work the same regardless of what they say in the marketing. It's not like brake pads

I agree there really isn't much to a caliper. The square cut seal is the most important part and a clean rust free piston. the centric rebuild parts was almost as much as a rebuilt version. I paid about $30.00 on rockauto for the powder coated version.

 

[the bus]

Hopefully Motorcraft quality will stay up there to at least adequate or slightly better than that but we're still not getting what we're paying for compared to previously. Many of these parts are not lasting like they used to even Motorcraft and OEM. Then you have companies like Moog who are living on the reputation of their name. They're making their stuff in China and the quality is nowhere near what it was just a few years ago but people still pay top dollar because it says moog on the Box

Agree with Moog, was my go to but after my last fitment issue, I started using high grade mevotech. motorcraft is actually trw!! At least they got the fitment of the upper control arms right on my early 04 expedition. It actually uses 03 UCA!! Called Moog tech support and they thought I was crazy until I started quoting motor craft parts and sources. Quality of aftermarket went down and that is why I asked about calipers. Motor craft does not have them any more for my 04. And napa is using cardone. Returns are fairly easy with rockauto so there it is. Rebuilding them myself is not hard and I get to keep my core by buying these. So for $30 on rock and same rebranded high end napa. Going to give it a whirl. If I need the vehicle i would have had to use local parts store.

 

[TobyU]

I replace an upper control arm on a 2000 Expedition a few years ago because the way it's set up it's a hassle to try to just replace the ball joint because there's a different one for OEM or different one if it's been replaced and all that crap. They need to stop doing that. So anyways the entire upper control arm at O'Reilly Auto Parts was like $36.99 so that's what I got. Whatever house brand they have which is what I almost always use for ball joints and front end suspension parts they all have a lifetime warranty and I can't remember ever having to replace one Summit wearing out or failing after I've installed it.
I really don't understand everyone who complains about the off brands are house brands not being good enough for whatever as I've never had one fail or we're at. They all have greasable fittings and they have worked just fine for me. A lot of people are just fooling themselves buying Moog and they're really getting the same quality part but they are paying more for it.
If you have a big lifted vehicle with much larger tires in stock and you go off-road and such you might notice a decrease in lifespan of these parts but I doubt it would be that significant of a difference.
There are some vehicles or applications out there for even fact you original is not good enough to last very long after you modify them. This is when aftermarket companies used to make high quality beefed up parts to compensate. Very few people are in these situations and should worry about that.
I will continue to spout what some people call crap but I'm telling you... Most of it is all in people's minds! They have no actual experience or proof that certain brands or cheaper brands are not as good as the brands they choose to buy. They might have a couple of people here are there on the internet say they're bad but once again those people don't have any proof either. It becomes a big Brand loyalty and bashing contest on the internet without any actual testing or proof to back any of it up.
Now I will show Counterpoint while I'm at it, I tried to eBay window regulator assemblies one for a 2000 Grand Am and one for a 99 Plymouth minivan. Sure they were both under $40 but neither one lasted over 45 days. I doubt they had 20 Roll-Ups on them. So I will bash these cheap products. If the quality ever increases I won't know it because I won't buy any more of them. I will go to O'Reilly's and buy the dorman for 79.95 with a lifetime warranty. That way if it breaks I can swap it out in 30 minutes and be done with it but I've never had any Dorman's fail. They are not as good as OEM but they usually last for many years if not the life of the vehicle I put them in and the price is usually almost three times less.
So I don't always buy the cheapest thing out there but when I had great experience on house brands of engine parts or brake pads or whatever I see no reason to spend more because it's just not necessary for me.