Car just failed it’s MOT on handbrake not effective. Mechanic took all cables off, adjusted calipers , cables and handbrake lever and now it’s ok and it passed MOT. He did say that soon it would need replacement rear calipers as these are worn out!!! Never heard that one before? Don’t you just clean or replace the internals, new piston , seals etc? Why would you need to replace the whole caliper,presumably with a reconditioned one. About £100 a side he said, for parts???
I am not a motoring guru but I am a quite compentent diy mechanic looking after all the families cars, bikes etc.
Calipers do sometimes wear out, but to my knowledge not that often if the car is serviced on a regular basis.
I have just refurbished the front calipers on my 91 Eunos (seals rubbers and new pads) simply because of a sticking piston.
Maybe some of the more technical members could give you a more definitive answer.
If they were worn out he should never have passed it. He is probably trying to drum up business in these hard times. Buy yourself the MX-5 Miata workshop manual by Rod Grainger and it will pay for it self with your first DIY job on your car. Learn about your car and potentially save yourself pots of money. With help from members of this forum and the Manual you won’t gar far wrong.
No, the adjusters wear out. It is possible to set up a handbrake to scrape through a MOT, because the bar to passing is so low (involves lots of pumping on the brakes prior to setting the handbrake); this is a temporary fix (worked for me in 2000, at a time when replacement calipers outside of Mazda were very hard to come by, and living in N.Ireland where at the time there was a 4 week waiting list for MOTs). The price of reconditioned calipers makes the cost of overhauling existing calipers uneconomic, unless you are doing it yourself. The parts might be £30-40, plus add a couple hours labour in addition to refitting the calipers. Replacement rear calipers can be found for £50-70 each.
Just what I was told, the hand brake adjusting bit wears out. I recently had new rear discs fitted and was told at the time that soon I would need new calipers as the adjustment had reached the end of the line. Having a bit of time I was able to locate a pair on Ebay that an owner had bought, never used and sold the car so he no longer needed them. Bought for about £20 I seem to recall. They are now sitting in my garage against the day I need them. Maybe as you have a little time before next MOT you could do the same. Happy hunting on Ebay!
I haven’t got the item number to hand, but there is a company selling a brand new pair of rear calipers for about £85 on ebay. A search for rear calipers will pull them straight up. I looked at these recently, but opted for a re-furb kit instead as there is still plenty of life in the adjusters. £85 a pair beats £100 a side anyday, and as Pollyanna said, get the repair manual, and replace them yourself. It’s a straightforward job, you will save a plenty of hard earned cash, and you can’t beat the satisfied feeling you get from doing it yourself!
If replacing the calipers, I would at the very least remember to change the pads as well. So £100 a side seems a very fair estimate.
These cheap “new” calipers are pattern parts; there’s a youtube video of one of these under braking.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paLKDoNTiKc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1QJ1Om01XM
My god thats bad, i have just stopped an owner from getting two new ones on The bay of e for £80 today,there was also a very strange thing with is old water pump that i have never seen before, that he will be posting up soon, which will be one for you AT.
To be on the safe side, you can obtain recon calipers from here http://www.biggred.co.uk/ assuming you don’t feel confident enough to replace the seals etc yourself (I wouldn’t!)
Holy cow, that’s pretty disgraceful… I am sorry for even thinking to mention them, let alone actually doing so. How can people get away with selling such life endangering tat? Please accept my sincerest apologies!
It may not necessarily affect the calipers offered on ebay, but maybe when purchasing, people should ask a few more questions of the supplier. I’d be interested in who is actually making these “new” calipers.