Front Brake question Options

[hndyhrr]

Question this morning, will 914/6 front calipers work on my 914/4? Seems my import store gave ( ha ha sold) me these and did some checking on centric web site and these are for a 6. the ones for a 4 have different part number. also each one has a different piston in it. What the heck is that about. One is hallow and the other looks to be correct but then again what do i know (IMG:style_emoticons/default/lol-2.gif)

[Eric_Shea]

No.

Depending upon the year of your car you can make them work but there is no advantage and it will skew your bias toward the front of the vehicle.

Early struts would have the proper offset but you would need to disassemble the calipers and remove the spacers. Later struts will not work at all.

Hollow vs. Flat top are two drastically different piston designs. The flat top piston has a knock back mechanism inside that literally pushes the piston back out toward the rotor. The hollow design does not. The two pistons will react differently in the system. The later hollow pistons have more surface area for cooling.

My guess is they also have a simple "vibratory polished" exterior and an oiled finish. The pistons mis-match, year model mis-match and oiled finish are standard in big-box rebuilds. They have about $10.00 in labor and (Chinese) seals into each one of those calipers. Your local import store makes good money on those. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

The only problem with the oiled finish is this; the only problem with calipers is rust. 99.9% of all caliper failures are because of rust. Rust inside the bore to be precise. After the oil wears off (about 2 weeks outside) they begin to rust beyond recognition. They also begin to rust internally. We tore apart a caliper recently that had rust forming in the bore and, it hadn't even been used. This is why older caliper must be re-zinc plated (not paint either... sorry Big rattlecan Red fans). Zinc in the bore is most important.

Went around the world to answer the question but, there's a bunch of lessons in there about big-box reman calipers. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[hndyhrr]

No.

Depending upon the year of your car you can make them work but there is no advantage and it will skew your bias toward the front of the vehicle.

Early struts would have the proper offset but you would need to disassemble the calipers and remove the spacers. Later struts will not work at all.

Hollow vs. Flat top are two drastically different piston designs. The flat top piston has a knock back mechanism inside that literally pushes the piston back out toward the rotor. The hollow design does not. The two pistons will react differently in the system. The later hollow pistons have more surface area for cooling.

My guess is they also have a simple "vibratory polished" exterior and an oiled finish. The pistons mis-match, year model mis-match and oiled finish are standard in big-box rebuilds. They have about $10.00 in labor and (Chinese) seals into each one of those calipers. Your local import store makes good money on those. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

The only problem with the oiled finish is this; the only problem with calipers is rust. 99.9% of all caliper failures are because of rust. Rust inside the bore to be precise. After the oil wears off (about 2 weeks outside) they begin to rust beyond recognition. They also begin to rust internally. We tore apart a caliper recently that had rust forming in the bore and, it hadn't even been used. This is why older caliper must be re-zinc plated (not paint either... sorry Big rattlecan Red fans). Zinc in the bore is most important.

Went around the world to answer the question but, there's a bunch of lessons in there about big-box reman calipers. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

thanks for info, guess these go back today.

[walterolin]

And then buy your next set from Eric at PMB Performance.

[Spoke]

And then buy your next set from Eric at PMB Performance.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif)