Brake Calipers

[PanzerSD]

I'm dumb because I should know this

What's the difference in effect between fixed calipers and floating calipers?
I'm preparing to do a brake job in the front soon, and was reviewing the FSM and noticed that there are fixed calipers in front and floating in rear..

[cliffmac]

the piston pulls the outside pad in via a claw....and throws the load off accordingly....typically the inside pad will wear much quicker than the outside pad.....advantage to floating caliper..cheaper to manufacture, only 1 piston to machine and size, most front wheel drive cars use floating calipers due less wheel offset requirements. Most others do as well due to cost...Mercedes, BMW, Audi/VW, SAAB all use floating calipers as far I have seen.... Porsche uses fixed caliper

[cliffmac]

fixed caliper....much more direct application yet much more expensive...It's all about cake and for most consumer applications floating caliper is just fine......

[cliffmac]

that would be interesting.....cause my 124 has floating....just did them on the front....no question...floating caliper...my caliper was Teves....Teves is good...the piston retracted nicely...wasn't stuck or anything...retracted nicely....