Ok, I was driving last week and my front end was really shuddering. When I went home I put the car up and took the front wheels off to see what was going on. After struugling with the lugs because the tire shop apparently had a Lowland Gorilla tighten them, I inspected the brakes. The pads were crumbled on the drivers side and the caliper was siezed. I was able to free the piston after I blew some air into it with the compressor. Cleaned the piston and the rest of the assembly, but noticed the piston was pitted. I put the caliper back together and changed the rotors and pads. A new caliper was nowhere to be found. I started to hunt for rebuild kits or new calipers and I noticed something that confused me. There is a core charge listed on these calipers, what is the deal with that? I have not had any luck locating a new piston for my v70. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

Generally when you buy calipers you are almost always buying re-built units. This is not a bad thing. The core charge is refunded to you when you return your old calipers. If you are changing calipers DO BOTH SIDES. Even though only one went bad, best practice is to replace left and right when swapping them. Another issue regarding core charge is shipping thm back if you've gone the mail order route, can be expensive. You can probably get a pair of nice rebuilt LOADED calipers locally at a NAPA or Autozone. Loaded is ready to bolt on, caliper and pads. Check your rotors. Given your description of the problem, I would just replace both of them too. Yes, you must do both at the same time.
It's an easy job.

 

I rebuilt a set of 4 piston calipers for a friend...............very inexpensive. Just don't forget to use assembly lube on the pistons when putting them back in cylinders. Also....................be very very careful if you are usinng air to blow the pistons out. Stuff a towel in the caliper or else you could have a flying piston when it comes out!
R.

 

Now you tell me. Brake fluid was everwhere.HA. I had one little gap in the towel I was using and the fluid found its way out and all over me and the rest of the garage.

 

DOT 4 makes for a great paint remover also.............. Wear some goggles or glasses when working with that stuff.
R.