My rear passenger caliper is frozen and it's making an annoying sqeaky noise. I don't have time to replace it myself, and a family friend that owns a Meineke store is going to do it. He recommeded to do both rear ones at the same time. His reasoning for this is that the new one will work better than the other side, and it could cause that weel to lock up, and send the car into a spin in wet weather.

I am thinking it's bull **** because we have anti-lock brakes to prevent this exact thing. Now, mechanically and hydrolically speaking, the brake fluid would take the path of least resistance, and the new caliper would work smoother than the old one. I am not sure if this lab scenario applies to real-life conditions.
Has anyone here replaced just one brake caliper, and had any problems? Or has everyone always replaced both?
Thanks in advance.

 

I will give you my opinion, and it is merely that, seeing that there is no hard and fast rule on this subject.

It is customary and preferred to replace any component of the brake system in pairs. That is, rotors, pads, calipers and other such items. This will assure that you have even braking and performance. Occasionally, if there is a problem with one side of the axle, there is an impending concern with the other.

You may find it difficult to find a reputable shop that will repalce only the offending part of a car's brake system. But you could do it on your own and probably be fine.

 

It is fine to replace one caliper! I just had my rear passenger caliper replaced. Rear driver caliper was fine, no need to change. Braking has not been any different than when they were both original ones working. Of course pads you will need to do definitely in pairs, but as far as the caliper you are totally fine with just replacing the bad one. If you want to replace both then that is totally up to you. Good luck!

 

+1..I agree. I just changed the rear caliper on my friend's Accord and everything is fine. (different car, I know.. same concept) Also, when I was still driving my Acura Legend, one of the brake lines popped and a shop wanted to change all 4 "because the brakes work in pairs and such." I changed the line in question and was fine for last 40k miles i had the car.

 

great. thanks for the replies. i have brake pads for all 4 wheels in my trunk. they will all be put on this week to go with the new pads on the one caliper. all the pads only have a month or so of life left anyway.

 

The caliper is not really a wear item and therefore does not need to be replaced in pairs. If you have ever taken it apart before it is basically nothing more than a piston (duh) with a seal around it. With a caliper it either works correctly or does not, there is no middle ground of "kinda working OK" You are fine just replacing 1