Auto Parts Store Calipers--One Problem After Another - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Squiggle Dog · #1 05-13-2017, 12:54 PM

My roommate's 1991 W126 350SDL needs a brake job. Due to the convenience and low cost, he bought a set of remanufactured calipers by BrakeBest at the "O" Auto Parts. His car has Bendix on the front and ATE on the rear, but I like ATE better, so we ordered in ATE calipers front and rear. The calipers that came in actually looked really good.

Unfortunately, we found that the new ceramic pad set he got wouldn't fit between the front calipers and rotors. It turns out they only sell the ceramic pads in 17.5mm thickness and the ATE calipers only fit 15mm pads. Darn. I thought about trying to grind a couple mm off of each pad, but that's a pain to do each time and then there will be issues if they are not perfectly flat. So, we returned the ATE calipers and ordered in Bendix calipers.

The front right Bendix caliper, pads, and rotor fit together perfectly. Awesome. But, the pistons and heat shields in the front left Bendix caliper looked different than the right side ones--like they are cheaper quality. Odd. I did a test fit and the pads wouldn't fit between it and the rotor. I pressed the pistons in as far as they could go and was able to force fit the pads in, but the rotor would not turn.

It looks like on that front left Bendix caliper, that they rebuilt it with pistons that are too tall so you can't use the 17.5mm Bendix pads--you have to use the 15mm ATE ones. The caliper on the left is the one with the pistons that are too tall, while the one on the right is correct.

It gets better! The pins provided in the hardware kit were way too long. The pin at bottom is from the left side caliper, and the top one is from the right side caliper.

When fully seated, the clip isn't even in the bore, so the pins would just fall out. But, the right side caliper that was good had the correct length pins.

I wasn't going to have that, so I ordered in another front left Bendix caliper. The parts store ordered in 2 of them by accident. BOTH of them were rebuilt with pistons that are too tall AND had pins that were too long. But the good thing I can say about them is that the bleeder screws weren't as puny as the on the previous set.

I was inspecting the Bendix rear calipers and the hardware set that came with them was really cheap. The spring wires that hold in the pads were bent out of shape and kept catching on the pad shims. One side came with silver pins and gold springs, while the other side came with gold pins and silver springs. One side had a large bleeder screw and the other side had a small one--both different threads. I decided that I didn't like the Bendix rear calipers and returned them for ATE rear calipers since the pad thickness doesn't matter on the rear.

The ATE rear calipers that came in were not the ones I had returned a few days earlier. One of them was missing the hardware kit. So, I ordered in two more rear calipers. One of them was also missing the hardware kit, and the other was a new casting that looked to be of atrocious quality. But, I was able to come up with a decent set of 2 out of those 4--although the rebuilder ground off the "step" that aids in anti-squeal from the end of all the pistons.

I ordered in another front left and right Bendix caliper in the hopes that the left one would be a good one, and that if not, hopefully the right side would be good so I could pop out the pistons and use them in the left side one. They should arrive today.

In the meantime, I went to "A" Zone and ordered in a set of Bendix front, and ATE rear calipers remanufactured by Duralast to see what they are like. Both the rear calipers were missing the hardware kits and I brought this up. The employee said that if I go onto their website, it will say if they come with hardware or not. I said, "I did, and it said YES, but these are missing it." Not that it mattered as I am content with the ATE rear calipers we have now.

But, I inspected the Bendix front calipers and both of them had pistons that were too tall so the pads wouldn't fit, the same cheap-looking heat shields, and both hardware kits had pins that were too long! Unreal! So I had "A" Zone refund my credit card. But they only refunded me for 3 calipers and 1 core. So, I had to go back and get that corrected. The employee said that I should try Summit Racing.

So, I take it that now when you buy remanufactured Bendix calipers, you can only use ATE pads? But then they also come with pins that are too long and will fall out, so it seems like a big mess-up. This is costing me a lot of time and frustration and reminds me why I spend the extra money to get parts from more reputable sources for the car I own.