to make a long story fairly short(er):

rear caliper froze last december. got hosed and paid $600 for two new rear calipers, pads, labor with one wheel stud replaced.

had problem this summer with grinding/frozen caliper, but when i brought car in, problem went away and they couldn't get the problem to repeat itself so all has been ok since.

last night, i got home and my rear passenger side rotor was glowing! brought my car into firestone today because the manager is a real nice guy and my work does business with him. they inspected my brakes and realized the hoses to the calipers were installed wrong and twisted, on both rear ones. couldn't believe i've been driving with them like that for nearly a year with no problems. basically, rotor is all all thin now and messed up, pads were obviously worn down, and calipers might be messed up too. i know this guy doesn't want to d!ck me over and get money because he did the inspection, fixed the hoses, and various other stuff today for free. he told me to drive on it, see if it still feels messed up like the caliper is sticking and rotor f'd, and if so bring it back in and we'll work something out.

i'm going to call the midas friday, tomorrow is a holiday, and try to see if they'll cover it. i know they're not going to want to because they won't even warranty their expensive calipers for more than 90 days. the manager at firestone told me to explain situation to midas, and have them call him to verify problem and see if they will cover new rotor/caliper/etc because of their incompetence. (he knows one or two of the guys at that midas) if midas doesn't want to help, i'm going to call their consumer affairs office and complain to everyone until someone helps me out and this is all made right.

do you guys have advice as to what i should do. i know many of you do your own brakes and say it's easy, but with my schedule, my location and tools, i don't want to do it on my own and would rather pay to make sure it's done right. the problem with that is that i'm a student and can't really afford to pay $$ and bend over for their bills.

think midas will be good about it or am i screwed? i can't afford to by all new crap. (i told one of the guys at firestone that if i do need new calipers, i'm going to buy autozone ones because they're priced best)

this shouldn't be happening. i shouldn't have a problem with my calipers or rear brakes within less than a year, or for a long time at that. i don't want to get screwed worse than i have. please offer any advice if you can.

IF YOU'RE GOING TO FLAME OR HAVE ANYTHING BAD TO SAY, LEAVE IT OUT OR PM ME. I NEED HELP NOW, NOT NEGATIVE ****. thanks

 

I worked at Firestone store for a while. In order to get workedcoverd by Midas that was done at a different shop you gonna most likely have to go above the store manager. They will probably tell you that you should have brought it to their store, which is correct....but you need to have a viable reason why you did not take the car into Midas. ie; driving was dangerous and you could not make it to their store.

The probably technically don't have to cover what Firestone did. It's all about how you approach the situation and who you are dealing with. Comming with an attitude won't do anything....Play up the fact that you have been doing business with Midas for x amount of time and that you would like to continue doing business with them, but they need to fix this situation.

 

yep, what he said.

Crap hope everything works on man!

 

wow $600 for that work, sorry to hear that my man. I know the calipers are bout $100 each so you got "hosed" for sure....... If I was you I would get some mecanical skills real quick. if you did have a little knowledge of brakes you could've fixed the problem and gotten new slotted disk or something with the same amount.

***** I know its hard to work on your own car afraid you did it wrong but you see the results. *****

 

Get a letter from the guy at Firestone and definitely go back to MIdas. Don't go in pissed off but be firm and take no crap. If necessary threaten legal action because you could have gotten killed or killed someone else. Your car could have caught fire.

 

I would like to know where you can buy a new rear caliper for $100. You probably will pay more than that for a quality reman caliper. If he actually bought new OEM type calipers, he did not pay too much for the parts and labor. He just seems to have had an incompetent person install them.

 

I find it hard to believe that a brake hose would be twisted enough to allow brake fluid to flow into the caliper, but not back out. That makes no sense at all.

Either you have another frozen caliper or the pins that it mounts to were never regreased and they froze.


On anothe note, Midas and Firestone are two chains I'd never bring my car to.

 

Most likely I'm guessing it was the parking brake cable that was twisted. I've seen them do that and when you pull them up by hand, they don't release very far... they'll then cause the calipers to stick and will overheat the rotor, as happened here.

It's an easy thing to do, but that still doesn't make the situation any better.

As you've suggested, the only thing I can offer you for advice is to have it fixed at your firestone friend's shop and then have them draft a letter to Midas explaining what had happened to the car (rear brakes destroyed due to improper installation at Midas), and see what you and Midas can work out. Unfortunately, you're probably not going to get far because the service was done a year ago.

Honestly, the only things you may/will need are new pads and rotors... you can probably get away with just one rotor even and a new set of pads. you're looking at about a hundred bucks in parts for that, and an hour of labor. (that's aside from the labor already spent on the car, but still.)

 

check this page out:

http://catalog.buyautoparts.com/meri...=Brake+Caliper

 

That is most likely a reman caliper since they charge you $75 for a core.

 

thanks for all the replies guys. i would have liked to bring it to a mechanic originally that i could better trust, but i needed my car fixed asap at the time and it was the only local place that could fit me in. i talked to the midas and updated them on the situation and had them talk to the firestone manager. i made it clear i wasn't mad at them just mad about the situation in general because i shouldn't have this issue after so much money was spent. i was polite to them and they were back and seem to want to help me out as best as they can. i left the car with them because i won't be around home and i just want it taken care of so in the meantime they are going to check it out to see what is going on. the manager told me he knows my situation financially because i'm a college student, and said he isn't in this to make a buck off of me since i paid so much last year. i'll keep you updated on what they say when i find out.

they said they're going to closely check the hoses and are questionable to what firestone said, but they'll get to the bottum of it and will work something out with me. luckily i don't need my car this weekend and can get rides so i'm hoping the new rotors i need won't cost me an arm and a leg.

 

i had a similar probem, one of my rear calipers was siezed, and the seal on the other piston all torn up. unfortunately the only way to make sure its done right is to do it yourself. i was aftraid to try it myself but after my freind showed me i was amazed really how easy it is.

i bought 2 new calipers, and gave them my old ones for a rebuit cost=160 for both! try your best to have someone show you how to do brakes, thats probibly the best way to learn, dont get discuraged its rather simple! good luck.

 

thanks super6, next time i'm gonna try to do it on my own, just currently my location and timing hasn't allowed me to. it's pretty cold out here these days and i live right on the ocean so the wind makes it even harder...and i'm a full time student and also working so i never have any daylight free.

update: they're going to replace the hose on it and charge me for that, but all labor is free plus a free set of rear brake pads with no labor charge. i'm hoping the issue is resolved. i might do my rotors in a few weeks or months myself so for now, it's not really costing me all that much.

thanks for allowing me to vent my issue, i just wanted to obey that new rule of following up on our problems.

 

Glad to hear that you're getting good cooperation from Midas. I hope they fix the problem for good this time.

 

It's very possible it can happen. I've seen perfectly fine looking brake lines (no crack, not dry rot, very pliable) from the outside, but internally it was collapse causing the caliper to stick. As you mentioned fluid will go into the caliper but will not go out.

So if his brake line was twisted for a year it's very possible that could have caused the premature internal wear in the lines.

FYI
Before condemning a caliper has being frozen because you can't squeeze the piston back in, try opening the bleeder screw then see if the piston can go back in. If the piston doesn't go back in with the bleeder screw open, you got a genuine frozen caliper. If the piston goes back in with the bleeder screw open, you got a internally collapsed brake line

MIKE

 

If the rear brakes locked up like that, then wouldnt you feel the back tires trying to make an effort of stoping you?

 

wow i never knew that, thats very intresting, wish i had that info before i got a new caliper but everything seems to work now so i guess it was my caliper and not the line.

 

I agree that if you go there with an attitude nothing will get accomplished. The best thing is to explain the situation to the store manager and if that doesn't work call the executive office and the cosumer affairs office.

$600 does seem a little steep. My car only sees the shop of my dads best friend. HE charged me $500 for changing all the wheel studs, change all 4 rotors with new pads, new rear calipers because they froze, new brake line cause it was busted and labor. Plus he took me out to lunch.