AutoZone Calipers

[Death Star]

That's the boat I was in. I bought rebuild kits with the hopes of doing it myself. I took the caliper apart and the piston was rusted solid in it's bore. NAPA had a good price (I don't remember now), so remanned units went in.

 

[Whileemptyheadsdream]

I will not buy anything from Autozone, my son and I stopped using any of their products 5 yrs ago. Defective and no longevity. Good Luck..!

 

[LFD2037]

There's sometimes a variance between metal or phenolic - usually they get rebuilt with the same material.... so if factory was phenolic then they will replace with like. Sometimes when the same vehicle has varying brakes (example - a standard car may have smaller/cheaper components than it's higher performance same model brother) there will be a difference.

I'll put it this way.... I wouldn't guarantee that the sealing rubber is exactly the same "quality" between Toyota and non.... but keep in mind that Toyota doesn't make those parts, they outsource them as well. A good example - you can buy a Toyota branded oil pump that is also stamped "Aisin" or for about 1/3 (or less) the price you can outright buy an Aisin oil pump that doesn't have the Toyota branding on it.


A rotor vibrating means it's warped... that could be from the rotor or the caliper. A caliper that is sticky or sticking doesn't necessarily have to be replaced, and as others have mentioned, can be rebuilt. The caliper itself is made out of cast iron - so long as the fluid hasn't gotten so bad that there is massive pitting on the internal of the caliper to where the seals can't retain the pressure (and this is why cast masters will fail and Toyota moved to Aluminum pieces) then it can be rebuilt. Rotors can warp pretty easily..... if you have been hard on the brakes and then you stop for a long enough period with the hot pad against the rotor - that can warp it (this commonly happens when people track their car and then set their ebrake, if it isn't a drum style ebrake.... the hot pad will warp the rear rotor).

If you have a rotor that's warped AND the caliper is stuck or sticky these could happen:
1) you'll hear a rythmic noise where the warped part of the rotor is passing through the calipers
2) if stuck, after driving, you can literally feel a heat difference between the stuck and not-stuck calipers

You seem to be well versed in brakes so you should realize that rotors don't warp. It's when you wear the pad to a high temperature from aggressive braking, come to a stop holding the brake down for a prolonged period of time or use e-brake after heating rotors/pads up, that the pad material itself bakes into the rotor at that specific spot. It feels like the rotors warped but in fact it's just brake pad material fused to the rotor. Do a PROPER aggressive re-bed of the brakes and problem of 'warped rotors' goes away. No more shimmy upon braking.

 

[Tools R Us]

... I think I have a stuck piston causing me no end of grief. Also, do them as pairs? or single caliper only is fine?

It's simple to test for a stuck piston, compress the pads/pistons, they all should move with about the same force. If one side moves correctly, the other is stuck, there is really no need to replace both.

 

[hammerheadfistpunch]

JUST FYI - I had this vibration and the rotors were trashed after a year, I had a hub bearing go bad and it wrecked my spindle so I replaced the bearings and the spindle and had all 4 rotors replaced (the rotor in question was the worst, the rest were just so/so), the vibration is still present which leads me to believe that its the caliper causing uneven wear, and probably the reason my bearing went bad in the first place. When I would compress the pistons for the hub job, one side of the caliper was easier to compress than the other.

 

[LFD2037]

Replace that one and go from there. Easiest and cheapest. I'd recommend a better brand than Vatozone, though.

 

[Tools R Us]

There's sometimes a variance between metal or phenolic - usually they get rebuilt with the same material.... so if factory was phenolic then they will replace with like. ...

Cruiser calipers have metal pistons.

You seem to be well versed in brakes so you should realize that rotors don't warp. It's when you wear the pad to a high temperature from aggressive braking, come to a stop holding the brake down for a prolonged period of time or use e-brake after heating rotors/pads up, that the pad material itself bakes into the rotor at that specific spot. It feels like the rotors warped but in fact it's just brake pad material fused to the rotor. Do a PROPER aggressive re-bed of the brakes and problem of 'warped rotors' goes away. No more shimmy upon braking.

^^^ This. The allowable rotor runout spec is pretty high, have seen them with easily view-able runout and no brake judder. The pistons float in the caliper, so it takes significant runout to cause a problem. Excessive rotor runout will cause longer pedal travel by knocking the pistons back further than normal, so takes more pedal travel to push them back before becoming active. Most brake judder is caused by a thick spot in the rotor, pushing all of the pistons back at the same time, most often caused by uneven pad build up on the rotors.

 

[toyotaspeed90]

You seem to be well versed in brakes so you should realize that rotors don't warp. It's when you wear the pad to a high temperature from aggressive braking, come to a stop holding the brake down for a prolonged period of time or use e-brake after heating rotors/pads up, that the pad material itself bakes into the rotor at that specific spot. It feels like the rotors warped but in fact it's just brake pad material fused to the rotor. Do a PROPER aggressive re-bed of the brakes and problem of 'warped rotors' goes away. No more shimmy upon braking.

We're getting into semantics here.....

a hot spot can take place where the pad can leave material behind..... you can sand that down with 80g DA then rebed the pads, but if the problem persists, you may need to turn the rotors (if there's enough material) - but rotors can warp.

 

[hj 60]

Well if you rebuild the piston is most likely stuck so air wont press it out (watch fingers warning)
You can also use a grease gun to force the piston out slowly.

My thread was damaged so waited another month for the helicoil to arrive, was send back at the border because adress error

my pictures are here, to much to copy paste:
hj60.freeforums.org • View topic - Brake bleeding: LSPV= FIFTH BLEEDER SCREW

 

[Hornd]

You seem to be well versed in brakes so you should realize that rotors don't warp. It's when you wear the pad to a high temperature from aggressive braking, come to a stop holding the brake down for a prolonged period of time or use e-brake after heating rotors/pads up, that the pad material itself bakes into the rotor at that specific spot. It feels like the rotors warped but in fact it's just brake pad material fused to the rotor. Do a PROPER aggressive re-bed of the brakes and problem of 'warped rotors' goes away. No more shimmy upon braking.

http://www.stoptech.com/technical-support/technical-white-papers/-warped-brake-disc-and-other-myths
-Warped- Brake Disc and Other Myths

 

[LFD2037]

-Warped- Brake Disc and Other Myths

My point to the 'T'! Good read for those interested. Thanks for posting.

 

[jtwopark]

I would not give a penny of my hard earned money to AutoZone. They are a bunch of crooks!!! Parts are crappy service is crappy and everything else that is crappy!! Support your local auto supply store and dump the big guys. They don't care about your, they just care about the money you bring them.

 

[Phildoh]

I see no problems with Autozone parts, for the warranty and the price. I also could throw a rock and hit my local Autozone from my house. Get in the zone!

 

[Phildoh]

That said, I do have many dealer parts, that I feel only should come from the dealer. Electrical items, u-joints and other specific items. But, day to day wear and tear items, I'll hit the zone. Or carquest, even orielly since they're open till 11pm! It's personal preference really.

 

[Azca]

Put autozone calipers on mine, all the way around, over three years ago. One of the fronts did pop a piston gasket, possibly due to me pinching it when loading them. Other than that, flawless...

For the cost and work, I believe the remans are fine on these. Only my opinion however.

 

[aae42]

i just bought 2 rears from rockauto, the raybestos brand ones...
not real impressed with the quality but they seem to work great

 

[ranma21]

I would buy bearing ( Timken), engine oil, rebox OEM item (denso, aisin ), spark plug, grease, aft, touch up paint, battery ( Johnson control) . But for sure not cv shaft, alternator, ac compressor, brake related item except it is made by Akebono. Even autozone provide life time warranty but their alternator goes bad every year and I have change it every year! Same with cv drive shaft, my time and sweat is worth more than that! Bought their ac compressor one time, the damn thing busted the seal the moment it was turned on, so I have to pay my mechanic twice the labor to remove it and install another one and freon cost too!!

Bought a set of reman caliper. Got home, jack up the car, removed all the components, open the box, try to muscle the bolt and align it to the mounting thread for 30 minutes under the sun, it just would not work, messed up the bolt. Eventually found out it was slightly bent!! Bet it was bent in an accident on the original vehicle. Got stranded on the spot since no one home and that was the only vehicle I have at that time. After few hours of waiting and cursing, finally went back to the store to exchange another set.

With Genuine parts, I never experience such unforgetful incidents just yet.

Long story short, after those few experiences I swear to myself no more reman item from autozone unless in emergency situation and no OEM parts available.

After getting into parts business now I realize even OEM parts can be tricky too, for example the Denso aftermarket ac condenser and toyota box Denso condenser are make in different countries, Toyota Denso condenser made in Japan and Denso aftermarket condenser made in Indonesia, same as their radiator. Build quality and finish is different as well. Lesson learn! You pay for what you get! You just gotta know where and what to get for the best quality parts, it takes times, buku of research experience, cursing and frustration to learn, at least that is my case. Yours may be different. With Genuine Toyota parts, you do not have to doubt, guess, or worry about fitment, quality.

We all know Landcruiser are tough, realiable and last half a million miles, it will take you to the end of the earth and back and cost more than $50k brand new in the 90s. And parts is slowly failing after more than a decade of service, personally I think your cruiser deserve the best replacement parts to keep its dignity and integrity for decades to come. Of course that is just my opinion, is am sure many people think otherwise. =)

 

[The Bumble]

I put two Autozone front calipers with Toyota pads on my 80 this past spring and am happy with them. One of the mounting holes had messed up threads and needed to be cleaned out and re-tapped, but luckily my brother had the necessary tools. I usually try to go oem, but the budget didn't allow this time.

 

[96Cruiser]

I was in the same boat, I have basically napa / advance auto / and autozone here......looked at what they all had online, would have to order from all, always felt advance rebuilt parts were the worst, and a coworker swears by autozone, but doing two projects at once dictated price concerns so I ended up using napa, they look great with that black coating, got them for front and rear, im still ordering and replacing corroded and hard to remove brake lines [oem ] but about a year ago I had a pad wear uneven, so I bought new rotors and pads, was going to get calipers but my brother[doing the work in his big garage] said it was probably the soft lines so ordered those and did the lines / rotors / pads and still had a little pull at the end of a stop at a red light , so when I replaced all the stuff in the back and then found the rusty line up towards the front on the main rear line, , I pulled the front wheels and called napa and pulled my front calipers[drivers showed uneven wear on the pads even though there was material left on all pads] im still pulling lines and replacing whats corroded and hard to remove, cant wait to get done should be great for a long while.

online, napa and autozone I think, show more options such as beck arnley [remember them from my younger days while running early Celica's and mercury Capri's and a VW scirocco too. but calling the store napa says they only get the black coated line in and the freight was way less thatn the shipping for online orders and you had to ship the cores inteda of turning them in if you bought online so I chose the local store and paid a flat rate 10 freight charge per order.

looked at it this evening but it was raining[its in the driveway for this job, not the big garage 30 miles away] and put a wrench on the hard line above the soft line on passenger side[higher line, not the one to the caliper] and now that line seems like its going to give me grief as well, so I will probably be ordering that tube Monday am, im wating on the short tube from the drivers upper side soft line anyways, picked up 146$ worth of parts today but they ordered that hard tube for the bottom instead of the top so I have to wait on that one anyways, if I cant get the passenger one off in one piece its getting ordered as well.

sigh.....it seems it will never end, and as soon as its back on its wheels I gotta put lower control arms and control arm bushings and maybe struts on my 2001 BMW 330ci [I drive it 550 miles a week every week for work]

 

[jtwopark]

I would buy bearing ( Timken), engine oil, rebox OEM item (denso, aisin ), spark plug, grease, aft, touch up paint, battery ( Johnson control) . But for sure not cv shaft, alternator, ac compressor, brake related item except it is made by Akebono. Even autozone provide life time warranty but their alternator goes bad every year and I have change it every year! Same with cv drive shaft, my time and sweat is worth more than that! Bought their ac compressor one time, the damn thing busted the seal the moment it was turned on, so I have to pay my mechanic twice the labor to remove it and install another one and freon cost too!!

Bought a set of reman caliper. Got home, jack up the car, removed all the components, open the box, try to muscle the bolt and align it to the mounting thread for 30 minutes under the sun, it just would not work, messed up the bolt. Eventually found out it was slightly bent!! Bet it was bent in an accident on the original vehicle. Got stranded on the spot since no one home and that was the only vehicle I have at that time. After few hours of waiting and cursing, finally went back to the store to exchange another set.

With Genuine parts, I never experience such unforgetful incidents just yet.

Long story short, after those few experiences I swear to myself no more reman item from autozone unless in emergency situation and no OEM parts available.

After getting into parts business now I realize even OEM parts can be tricky too, for example the Denso aftermarket ac condenser and toyota box Denso condenser are make in different countries, Toyota Denso condenser made in Japan and Denso aftermarket condenser made in Indonesia, same as their radiator. Build quality and finish is different as well. Lesson learn! You pay for what you get! You just gotta know where and what to get for the best quality parts, it takes times, buku of research experience, cursing and frustration to learn, at least that is my case. Yours may be different. With Genuine Toyota parts, you do not have to doubt, guess, or worry about fitment, quality.

We all know Landcruiser are tough, realiable and last half a million miles, it will take you to the end of the earth and back and cost more than $50k brand new in the 90s. And parts is slowly failing after more than a decade of service, personally I think your cruiser deserve the best replacement parts to keep its dignity and integrity for decades to come. Of course that is just my opinion, is am sure many people think otherwise. =)

Ranma, i will tell you a secret.....get in contact with the DM....they are trained not to tell the customer "NO!" If you bitch at them long and loud enough, they will do whatever you are asking of them. They treat their red shirts bad but treat their customers like kings....well the whole customers.

The District Managers phone number is always posted on the right side of the entrance door.