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.

 

[1955moose]

Blame it on greedy landlords of commercial buildings. When you take a $5,000 or $10,000 per month rent, Jack it double or triple, and you no longer can make your parts here. Nobody's going to pay $300.00 for an upper control arm, when a made in China one is $40.00. Where are they going to be built when China and Mexico gets too high. It's going to get to a point where only the richest of Rich will afford cars and trucks. Imagine in 10 years how bad aftermarket replacement parts will be. Really a shame, but back to what I said, blame it on greedy. Greedy people are never happy with 100 million, they want 500 or more. Sad part is, they all give it away in the end!

Sent from my N9131 using Tapatalk

 

[blue oval guy]

I think most would be surprised to see that genuine Ford or Motorcraft parts are very comparable in price to some of the aftermarket junk you might find at local parts stores. There is a lot of stuff coming from China made with poor material quality, fit and finish that pass off as OEM replacement. The only aftermarket stuff I'm okay with is some of the Napa premium line parts.
My 2 Cents.

 

[TobyU]

I think most would be surprised to see that genuine Ford or Motorcraft parts are very comparable in price to some of the aftermarket junk you might find at local parts stores. There is a lot of stuff coming from China made with poor material quality, fit and finish that pass off as OEM replacement. The only aftermarket stuff I'm okay with is some of the Napa premium line parts.
My 2 Cents.

I don't think you will find many Motorcraft Parts comparably priced to what is available at the local parts stores.
Now if you are only comparing to the Napa you mentioned then the price spread is closer.
I can go to O'Reilly Auto Parts, Advance Auto Parts, or AutoZone and get a complete upper control arm for a mm 1 Expedition like I did a couple of years ago 4 32 to $37. Even with RockAuto Ora Tasca Parts, motorcraft is going to be double that.
It is very smart to stay on top of prices though as sometimes certain things will fool you. Many years ago after starter prices at local stores first started to shoot up in price, we were able to get a starter from a local Ford dealer for only about 14 to $18 more than what the local stores wanted.
Remember back when you could get all the GM front wheel drive vehicle starters the 6206 numbers I believe they were, for 39 99?? But then these parts stores decided to crank up the prices on these reman starters. I'm not a fan of the direction the prices are going at the local places as they are basically just charging what the market will bear and all three of them are the same price anyways. Online competition doesn't seem to do much to keep the local prices down as they still capitalize on the fact that people will pay whatever they charge because they want to buy it locally or they want to buy it right now.
So I'm not a fan either way. I just call it like I see it. I see great prices and the quality is just fine, lasting me for many years on things like control arms and ball joints and other front end and suspension parts, brake pads, starters and alternators.
I just did a quick search for the Motorcraft control arm and it looks like it's 75 to $78 online which is right at Double the price I can get one for at O'Reilly. Now I do have a commercial account at O'Reilly and save a small percentage on parts but it's not a lot. It's not even close to 20%. I don't get this discount when I find the cheapest price online for Motorcraft. Now if someone is overpaying for the Chinese built Moog which is in the 50s then yes, you might as well by the Motorcraft but that's not what the post was talking about. It was talking about the ones available at the local parts stores. Yes, the local part stores carry multiple brands but often the most available one that's in stock will be at their house brand and it's also the cheapest.

 

[BlackCoffee]

Motorcraft is no longer owned by Ford and I have gotten some bad parts from them over the last few years. I find them comparable with the higher end Autozone or Advance Auto brands. I just did front brakes last week because I had a stuck caliper. 50K on a PowerStop (Good name, not so long lasting part) caliper that I thought would last longer. The piston boot pulled loose as the piston travel increased and the piston corroded. It took two trips to AutoZone. Realize most of these calipers are rebuilt, that's why they are charging you for the core, and the one you get depends a lot on the QA inspector at the end. I installed the new caliper and got all the way to putting the clip in place, but it would not hold. On examination, I found that the ridge on the clip hole was gone. Should probably be an inspection point, but I can see how this was missed. AutoZone took it back and gave me a new one. S** happens and I don't blame them. Just saying, no matter what brand you go with, a lot depends on the last guy who used the caliper before the rebuild and the QA inspector at the end.

 

[blue oval guy]

Motorcraft not owned by Ford?! That is new to me??

 

[JExpedition07]

Motorcraft not owned by Ford?! That is new to me??

It’s owned by Ford that post is untrue. Considering Fords website has a direct link to “FordMotorcraft.Com” and that Ford dealers sell Motorcraft parts stamped Ford Motor Company lol.

 

[blue oval guy]

Thank you for clarifying that, I was about to call my Ford guy. The way they explained to me last time was genuine Ford at the dealers is OEM and their Motorcraft line services the aftermarket and serves as a slightly lower cost alternative at the parts counter.

Regards

 

[rjdelp7]

I was told years ago, to avoid 'rebuilt'. I had a reman pop a seal and another sticking/dragging. New OEM are super expensive($150+). Replacing one caliper can cause brake pull issues, so replacing in pairs can be pricey. Many are made in China. Replacing with a factory OEM used, sounds crazy, but has some positives. There are sellers on EBay that sell rust free, OEM used parts from New Mexico and Texas. They are worn in, like the ones currently on the vehicle. I purchased a pair of rear calipers, off a New Mexico Police vehicle. They arrived in like new condition, for $50(free ship). They replaced my crusty originals and have been on for about 3 yrs. No issues.

 

[the bus]

I think most would be surprised to see that genuine Ford or Motorcraft parts are very comparable in price to some of the aftermarket junk you might find at local parts stores. There is a lot of stuff coming from China made with poor material quality, fit and finish that pass off as OEM replacement. The only aftermarket stuff I'm okay with is some of the Napa premium line parts.
My 2 Cents.

I discovered napa premium calipers are cardone. When you like warranty they reference cardone. So I just end up buying cardone from rockauto.

 

[BlackCoffee]

It’s owned by Ford that post is untrue. Considering Fords website has a direct link to “FordMotorcraft.Com” and that Ford dealers sell Motorcraft parts stamped Ford Motor Company lol.

I may be wrong, but it was the Ford guy at the dealer parts counter that told me Ford sold off the Motorcraft parts division. Yes, they are still branded the same, but they are not owned by Ford any more. Also, I have had a number of Motorcraft replacement parts that did not last nearly as long as the originals. Most recently an Alternator where the rotor broke free from the pulley shaft at 3 years and an A/C clutch where the bearing went at about three years also. Both original parts last 15 years.

Also, I do agree that you can find Motorcraft parts at reasonable prices. Especially on line. FordPartsGiant.com works off the parts geek model and leverages local distributors for a lower price.