fragmare

A little back story on this... a couple years ago, I let my mom, as a Christmas present to me, pay to have my front brakes done and have a rear wheel hub replaced on my 93 Civic DX Coupe. I normally don't let anybody work on my car but me, but I was broke at the time and I figured it'd be pretty hard to screw up brake/hub installation. Anyway, we roll into the local Firestone, where she has work done on her car, and they proceed to install the 2 new calipers, 2 new rotors, a set of new ceramic pads, and the rear wheel hub.

Everything is fine for about 9 months, then I start to notice my brake fluid getting low. I get under the car and the back of the caliper is wet with DOT3. So I jack up the car, get under it, have a buddy pump the pedal a few times and sure enough it's coming from the back of the caliper itself. The pads and calipers are warrantied for life, so I take it back to Firestone and they install a new front-right caliper.

11 months later (last week)... brake fluid is getting low again, so i look under the car and the back of caliper is wet with fluid again. I figured there was no way it would be the caliper again, so I jack up the car, get under it, have a buddy pump the pedal again... once more, it's squirting out of the back of the caliper. Where the little circular plate is behind the top slider pin. I limp it back to Firestone and they replace it, once again. I ask them where they are getting their calipers from. Turns out they're just running next door to Pep Boys and getting their reman Pro Stop calipers. I figure i'd just had bad luck with the first two and decide to give it one more try. Today, I notice my brake fluid is low once AGAIN and, sure enough, it's coming from the front-right caliper...

Does anybody else have any experience with Pep Boys Pro Stop line of calipers? If i let them replace this one with the same brand, this will be my *FOURTH* caliper on that wheel within 2 years. I'm tempted to pull up a site with the Honda OEM caliper for sale and tell them, "look, you guys guarantee these for life, right? At this rate, it'd be cheaper for you to just replace it with an actual OEM part. It'll probably save your company money in the long run, since it'll likely last for 150,000 miles or more, and I won't have to keep coming back here." Part of me wants to just say "**** it" and install two new OEM calipers myself. But another part of me wants to hold these guys accountable for being pretentious enough to guarantee their work for *life*. Frustrated and wondering if anybody else has gotten a bunch of junk calipers from Pep Boys. Feedback would be appreciated.

HondaPartsHero

Just googling around I couldn't find anything that would indicate that they are any better or worse than any comprable reman unit. If it were me at this point I would ask the shop to install a different brand caliper altogether. If they are smart and have good customer service skills this shouldn't be an issue. Just be polite but stand firm and don't threaten. Only if need be should you take the next step. It's only fair for the time you've lost.

crazyhouse2011

I WOULD GET DURALAST CALIPERS. THEY HAVE A LIFETIME WARRANTY ON THEIR PARTS, SO WHEN YOU STACK 2 LIFETIME WARRANTIES YOU GET.....

Marvin1985

iTrader: (5)

See if they will refund you the price they charged for the calipers. Then just go get oem ones.

EsotericImage

iTrader: (8)

Wilwood finally has a direct bolt on upgrade with pads for civic and integra..

price isnt too bad either

Marvin1985

iTrader: (5)

But not for smaller dx calipers.

EsotericImage

iTrader: (8)

If your looking to brake upgrades, using smaller DX discs/calipers shouldnt be in the thought process.

b20bFourDoorCivicLX

damn...

fragmare

I'm not looking for stop on a dime racing stopping power, i'm just looking for calipers that won't squirt fluid everywhere lol. i just went back there and had them buy from somewhere else besides pep boys this time. hopefully it holds up.

fragmare

incidentally, this time around (probably from all the clamping/unclamping recently) that brake hose sprung a pinhole leak too. so now they replaced the caliper and i'm now currently out in the garage replacing a brake hose (as well as a tie rod and my rotors, but i was expecting to do maintenance on those today anyway). oh well... more garage/classic rock/beer time on a beautiful Sunday. I'm down.

EsotericImage

iTrader: (8)

happens to the best of us.

good time to get stainless lines since your right there.