Hey all,

It came time for me to replace the old rotors and pads on my 240 and so, after one halfhearted attempt on my own, I brought it into a local shop to do it for me over the weekend. Well, push comes to shove and I realize I forgot something in the car and so I go back to the shop on Saturday afternoon, hoping that they have might have accidentally left the car out and unlocked. However, I saw that it was instead up on the lifts inside (away from my paws), but, to my surprise, with the calipers just hanging limply from the brake lines, unsupported by anything else. I'm certainly no expert, but the videos that I've watched of people doing the brakes on their 240s always included a step of "now zip tie your caliper to the coil to support it" or something of the sort, and so I was a bit concerned to see that mine had been left hanging not just for the day, but for an entire weekend. That concern was amplified when, come Monday morning, I got a call from them telling me that my calipers were leaking and would need to be replaced for a hefty sum.


I don't know how to properly handle this. Any thoughts? Can 24 year old brake lines really support the weight of their resident calipers for a weekend without damaging the connection? How should I address this with the shop?


Your wisdom is greatly appreciated!

Jonas



P.S. Any preferences/references for parking brake shoe and caliper replacements? I've looked at IPD, eEuroParts, and Advance, but don't want to miss any other options.

 

Sounds like 2 issues to me. 1st I would like to see the calipers where they are leaking. Go to the shop and ask to see them. Make sure it is not the brake hoses that are leaking. If it is the calipers then you'll need to either rebuild them or replace them. Next look at the brake hoses and see if they have cracks and if it were me I would replace them anyway because of age and wear.
Last is workmanship. I would tell them I was surprised when I saw the calipers hanging from the hoses where the normal practice is to support them after they have been removed. Ask why they did that. The only reason I would assume is that they saw the calipers leaking and they would need to replace the hoses if they do the brake system rebuild.
Last point is don't scrimp on brakes as they save your life . If you don't trust the mechanic then take the car somewhere else.

 

@jagtoes: thank you - that all makes sense. I appreciate the response!

 

Almost no chance that BOTH calipers would be leaking. Leaving them hanging over time is not prudent, mechanics 101 is that you need to support them. Curious what they will say about that, please do tell.

Modern brakes rarely fail, they are pretty much idiot proof in spite of what people do to them. Even metal to metal will stop you, even better than lining to metal. If you pay any attention at all, you will have plenty of warning that brakes are going bad, can't think of a way where brakes are fine one moment and don't exist the next...