Reman Calipers; Trustworthy Brands

[CTX-SLPR]

Time to replace the calipers on my Suburban. I was going to go with the "Eclipse" stuff from NAPA but they are a bit more expensive than the Centric and A1 Cardone Ultra Premium on RockAuto. Any suggestions or brands to avoid?

Thanks

[JamesMayberryIII]

Welp, you get a rebuild kit, and hardware and pop the piston out,, and rebuild it..
all the reman's have issues.. of,, one might last for ever and the next one,, last a week.. most are all the same, in a different box with a different label on it.. but from the same rebuilder..

[CTX-SLPR]

Bleeders are stuck in the calipers otherwise I'd just flush the system since they aren't leaking.
I do want a good rebuilt/reman, coated calipers since most of them are bare and rust, and the small parts (boots, pins, etc) replaced so it doesn't nickle and dime me.

[CTX-SLPR]

Price Comparison:

	Part	Core	Total
NAPA Eclipse (regular)	$41.99	$50.00	$91.99
NAPA Eclipse (HD)	$52.49	$50.00	$102.49
Centric	$24.79	$25.00	$49.29
A1 Cardone Ultra Premium	$27.79	$47.00	$74.79
AC Delco	$35.89	$0.00	$35.89

Now the NAPA and A1 Cardone actually list coatings, boots, pins, and such on their listings though the NAPA HD's match the grade of stuff (silicone boots etc) that the Ultra Premium's list. The Centrics list everything but coating, and the AC Delcos don't list anything other than coating (not even semi-loaded).

[67ragtop]

I would use the NAPA Eclipse for my suburban

[CTX-SLPR]

True, I can throw them through the window* if they suck.

*DISCLAIMER: Figurative only.

[SuperBuickGuy]

It's remarkably tough to screw up a caliper rebuild.... granted, if it's a e-brake/caliper rebuild that's a different story - but a front, GM truck? as for quality look for new pistons - that's about the only wear item in the entire unit and presumptively if they use new pistons, they opened up the bore to remove any rust pitting.

That said, it's pretty easy to use air pressure to pop out the piston to be sure they did an appropriate surfacing of the bore.

[tardis454]

Bleeders are stuck in the calipers otherwise I'd just flush the system since they aren't leaking.
I do want a good rebuilt/reman, coated calipers since most of them are bare and rust, and the small parts (boots, pins, etc) replaced so it doesn't nickle and dime me.

Stuck bleeders can be removed in a few minutes with a MAP gas torch.



I bought a set of remanned calipers for my XJ from O'reilly's with a lifetime warranty. They work fine.
I worked at Napa for a while, and the Ecilpse stuff is ok, but not worth the extra money in my opinion.
With Eclipse you're paying for the Napa brand name and a paint job, the rest is standard rebuild parts.
They're no better or worse than most parts store remans. Prettier to look at maybe, but that's about it.
Buy a reasonably priced set or remans, and a can of good high temp paint and call it an Eclipse...

[diagnostics]

NAPA's Eclipse brand ARE Cardone. Cardone makes three main lines (with many specialty lines), A1 Cardone (Entry level), a mid grade that NAPA rebrands as Eclipse, and their own Cardone Ultra Premium calipers. The Ultra Premium's are a lot better than Eclipse (which is just an A1 with a paint job), they hold their finish a lotlonger, Eclipe don't hold up the finish for long at all; road dust/debris acts like a sand blaster on calipers. They are only a few bucks more (literally less than $15 more at retail parts stores). Cardone covers them for 10 years or 100,000 miles, which is really no different than a so called "lifetime" warranty. Most cars have a good 100K+ on them when the first set is dead, at least 200k for set #2 should pretty much take you to end of good life, or at least enough to justify the cost of replacement. NAPA is just a rebrander that likes to pretend they are exclusive so their products cannot be compared. They don't actually manufacture anything, they just slap their name on it.

https://www.cardone.com/products/brakes/brakes-products-remanufactured/cardone-ultra-premium-calipers

[tardis454]

NAPA is just a rebrander that likes to pretend they are exclusive so their products cannot be compared. They don't actually manufacture anything, they just slap their name on it.

Yep, just like the rotors they sell, you can get standard white box (no NAPA sticker), or premium white box (with NAPA sticker). NAPA stickers are expensive.

[Dan Barlow]

Good info guys .

[DanStokes]

NAPA's Eclipse brand ARE Cardone. Cardone makes three main lines (with many specialty lines), A1 Cardone (Entry level), a mid grade that NAPA rebrands as Eclipse, and their own Cardone Ultra Premium calipers. The Ultra Premium's are a lot better than Eclipse (which is just an A1 with a paint job), they hold their finish a lotlonger, Eclipe don't hold up the finish for long at all; road dust/debris acts like a sand blaster on calipers. They are only a few bucks more (literally less than $15 more at retail parts stores). Cardone covers them for 10 years or 100,000 miles, which is really no different than a so called "lifetime" warranty. Most cars have a good 100K+ on them when the first set is dead, at least 200k for set #2 should pretty much take you to end of good life, or at least enough to justify the cost of replacement. NAPA is just a rebrander that likes to pretend they are exclusive so their products cannot be compared. They don't actually manufacture anything, they just slap their name on it.

https://www.cardone.com/products/bra...emium-calipers

Hey Diagnostics - Thanks for signing on and welcome to the silliness that IS BS! Always happy to have another person, especially someone who knows something. Helps counteract folks like me who don't know nothin'.

So watcha got, whatcha building? We love pics.

Dan