On my 86 300SDL I am considering replacing my front calipers with a set of re-man calipers. Question: Has anyone had experiences and how well did it go? I want unloaded so I can select my pads. I see FastLane has rebuilt, but to my knowledge they are loaded. If you have done this, where did you go to find the unloaded calipers? Two possible suppliers/brands I have looked at are
ACEI (not sure if supplied unloaded) and those by Cardone.
Thanks,
Ron
86 300SDL
The above is to give her a happy 19th Birthday

I haven't installed them yet, but I got reman calipers from O'Rielly's. It is ACEI, which is compatable to the ATE mine originally had. Unloaded they were $45 to $51 bucks or so, depending on wagon or sedan.

__________________
Jimmy L.
'05 Acura TL 6MT
2001 ML430 My Spare

Gone:
'95 E300 188K "Batmobile" Texas Unfriendly Black
'85 300TD 235K "The Wagon" Texas Friendly White
'80 240D 154K "China" Scar engine installed
'81 300TD 240K "Smash"
'80 240D 230K "The Squash"
'81 240D 293K"Scar" Rear ended harder than Elton John

A pair of calipers from Fastlane just means that you get a set of new pads with them. They don't last forever and you can experiment with brands after these wear out.

Everyone has their own favorites. I prefer organic Jurid, Textar, and ATE for street driven cars. The truth seems to be that all bonded pads work pretty well.

__________________
You can get farther with a smile and a gun than you can with just a smile.

1984 300D
1985 300CD
1980 300SD
1993 SL500

Should make very little difference in price as remanufactures cost for pads negligable. Have remanufaturer identify his pads and if not what you want toss them or pass them along to someone.In fact one reman may sell you his loaded cheaper than another reman unloaded. check it out.

I have just replaced all the calipers on my car with ACEI which I have had very good luck with in the past..I do not use the pads they supply with the calipers but rather always use brand pads...Considering the cost of new calipers I think these are a deal...

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83 300CDTurbo 307,000
2005 Honda Element 266,000
56 Nash Ambassador Country Club Special 34,000(under restoration presently)

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/car-audio-multimedia/125099-123-install-extreme-dynamat.html

I would suggest that you call Phil at Fastlane and talk to him. He may be willing to substitute a different set of pads.

I have never been picky at all about the pads I used in the 123 brakes. I actually have had best luck with cheap pads that I used to get from a local Foreign Auto Supply and packaged under the name Beck Arnley.

Hope this helps,

If I remember correctly the ATE calipers on Fastlane cost like $245, while the Bendix are under $100. Why is this? Are the ATE's new and not rebuilt?

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

I did the same job on the SDL in the fall. I was fortunate to find a set of rebuilt calipers for this vehicle on e-bay at a very good price.

However, I had researched it a bit prior and came across these fellows:

http://www.brakewarehouse.com/

You can get an unloaded rebuilt caliper, in either Bendix or ATE, your choice, at very reasonable cost.

Please note that I have not personally used them so cannot vouch for the quality or the service.

I got an unloaded rebuilt ATE caliper from AutoZone for my '80 300SD for about $90. For an extra $6 they gave me next day delivery.

The only reason I didn't rebuild it myself is because the casting was cracked and not rebuildab.


lP E H

I appreciate the feed back from all. Good help and I will look into all the suggested ideas. Will advise soon on my findings and end results of the job.
Thanks,
Ron
86 300SDL
Black/Paomino