W123 Wagon Front Brake Calipers

[vwnate1]

A few years ago I had a caliper fail on my late '84 300TD and the host here at the time had miltiple choices and claimed the wagons used different calipers than the sedans .

Now I see the part @ is the same for sedan and wagon, what's the deal here, what is correct ? .

I'm asking because I never got the high and firm brake pedal all of my other four W123's got, I've bleed it using pressure bleeder and by foot with a helper, it's had this since I bought the car .

TIA,

[Dr. Sternschnuppe]

Calipers are the same for sedan and wagon.

[vwnate1]

Thank you .

I just bought two rebuilt ATE ones for $20 each .

The old Pelican parts listing that claimed the were different listed steel pistons as the correct ATE calipers for my wagon, it took them over three months to come up with the left front one, it was a brandy new Chinese thing that I want rid of .

[t walgamuth]

The front calipers are the same between wagons and sedans are the same and fully interchangeable. The rears however have slightly bigger pistons but use the same pads between sedan and wagon. This puts a little more braking friction to the rear on the heavier wagon with the weight a bit more concentrated on the back. I suspect the wagon calipers might be hard to come by. If I was sure both sides were the same I would not worry about using sedan calipers on the back. Maybe it will take five more feet to stop with the smaller pistons in back....from 60 mph.

[vwnate1]

Thanx ! .

Maybe I should just go whole hog and replace all four.....

I'm going to order in new brake hoses just to make sure, this is the cheap graymarket wagon you alls helped me find in Montecito, about North of here, much works had been done by the DPO's 'mechanic', most of it poorly or incorrectly done by a 'European Car' shop in Ojai .

I maybe drive it a tiny bit faster/harder than I ought (so says SWMBO ) and the soft feeling brake pedal doesn't inspire confidence at speed .

[t walgamuth]

Perhaps a less than perfect bleeding of the brakes is causing a soft pedal.

[Diseasel300]

I'd be really surprised if the caliper were the cause of a soft pedal. I'd be far more inclined to think there's air in the lines or worn rubber hoses. Replacing the rubber hoses on my SDL eliminated the vague brake pedal entirely.

[Junkman]

I buy remanned calipers locally because of frequent failures out of the box. Failure rate has been better lately but smaller rear calipers have been in the box for larger fronts and the wrong side has been in the box labeled fo the correct side.

I was having pedal issues that were corrected with a new master cylinder back when Roy was on the site and helping with parts.

[vwnate1]

Thanx guys ! .

I was thinking there's air in there too but I've run several quarts of fluid through so it's time to try new hoses and maybe rear calipers too....

I read several comments here over time about swapped calipers left for right causing bleeding issues, I hope I didn't make a basic mistake like that and will give that a look too .

[Alec300SD]

Deerfield Precision has stainless steel brake hoses.
They give a nice firm pedal feel.

[Diseasel300]

What method are you using to bleed the brakes? The only method I've had luck getting a rock-hard brake pedal in my 126 is the two-man method. Even with a pressure bleeder, I still had a little bit of air. I suspect it's the start/stop action of the 2-man repetition that gets the extra air out.

[vwnate1]

Thank you ! .

? Are they DOT certified ? .

This is very important as I've known racers who used and loved them but cautioned me to never buy the non DOT ones because they fail fairly often .

[vwnate1]

EUREKA ! .

Here they are : Deerfield Precision

THANK YOU for the heads up ! .

[vwnate1]

Both .

Originally Posted by Diseasel300

What method are you using to bleed the brakes? The only method I've had luck getting a rock-hard brake pedal in my 126 is the two-man method. Even with a pressure bleeder, I still had a little bit of air. I suspect it's the start/stop action of the 2-man repetition that gets the extra air out.

[tangofox007]

Originally Posted by Dr. Sternschnuppe

Calipers are the same for sedan and wagon.

Even amongst W123 sedans, calipers were not "the same."