My car is literally 15 y.o. as it was a 7/97 mfg, and I've had it since 3/98. Front calipers are original, but I'm on my 3rd set of rears. Seriously, even at $80 ea. it gets expensive replacing every year! I'm just wondering if it's the quality of the rebuilds (last time I used NAPA), or the design. I did my rear-right a weekend ago, go to inspect the car, and they tell me the rear-left is leaking fluid....DOH!

 

My front calipers are still OEM but I replaced both rears 4 years ago with refurbished ones from autozone. The left rear seized up after 4 years (58,000 miles) so I replaced both rears again last week. They come with a lifetime warranty so I paid nothing for the second set of refurbished calipers. They only cost $55 each so I'm content with replacing them every 4 years since I intend to paint them that often.

 

It is a pretty common issue. The design of the caliper is pretty bad and is prone to corrosion. Leaks, frozen slide pins, seized piston, sticking parking brake, etc.

I bought AZ reman calipers 10/04 and 01/05. I installed them but they were never 100%. My buddy crashed his G20,so I took his calipers 07/06 . Same issues over the years. I cleaned them quite often and even rebuilt them a few times. 10/10 I replaced them again, AZ free replacement. So far I have had no issues, but I have rarely driven my Max in the last 6-7 months.

I have also worked on plenty of other 4th gens with the same problems.

 

bought mine new in 95 has 75K now. still on original front and rear calipers, rear rotors.
changing the rear rotors and pads next week so I'll see how the calipers are but for now working fine.

 

Damn man sad to hear, havent had no problems with my calipers, but not a 4th gen, but havent heard any of my 4th gen friends say anything about em....

 

Shoot I got the NAPAs through someone else who had an acct.....I bet if we had all the paperwork they would have been covered...live and learn! Well, she's good for the next year as I got the inspection stickers yesterday. Passed 12 out of 15 inspections in her long life....

 

I replaced my OEM's at 120K with cheap rebuilds, and just did them again last year with 150K on the car. This time I used the higher end rebuilt calipers that come with a new piston. Hopefully they last a bit longer. I believe they were Cardone's. I'm in the Northeast, so it seems like every winter I have to keep my eye on them.

 

Exact same thing here. Seems like its every summer. Contemplating to save my funds for a reman OEM unit.

 

ive replaced mine every year for the past 5 years. the stupid ebrake gets stuck. i figured next time around seeming i need to do it again im gonna dip the spring and ebrake parts in grease to keep it from happening again. luckly i have the auto zone lifetime warrenty thing. but they corrode so fast from salt. guess it has to do with where you live as well

 

The rear calipers on my 99 were replaced @ 60k and 120k miles.

 

No.

13 years and 190,000 miles.

It's all about the maintenance.

 

I recently replaced both rears. Left side was replaced 5 years ago with one from autozone and it recently froze on me, warrantied that Mitch. Right side was original but figured it had done it's job after 15yrs so I changed too. If I'm lucky they'll last 5 yes, then I'll warranty th again.

 

Mine is 3/97 with 197k still have all 4 original calipers.

 

I went through 4 on my '92SE (retired @ 163K); Now my '97 SE (139k) and '97 I30 (136k) each need one. The Brake Bleeder has been one of the more useful tools that I've had to purchase.

 

I would like to know what you do to keep them working. Also, is your car garage kept?

 

 

I havent had to replace min in the three years I've had it. 96 at over 270K. Kept outside, but we don't get snow here generally, and don't salt the roads.

 

Ok this is understandable. Now lets hear from njmax since he is in NJ.

 

Bumping this. Today I realized that I've probably been driving with little to no rear brakes for a couple of years. Both rear pistons are completely frozen, rusty, and rear pads show little wear. Cannot budge the pistons with the rented tool. No wonder it felt like I had weak brakes, and braking on ice was scary. In retrospect I feel pretty stupid for not checking them sooner. I don't drive that much, but still....driving down some of these canyons in Utah it could have been disasterous.

My front driver's side caliper had a seized pin and one pad was worn to the metal, but at least I had some warning (noises mostly). There was no clear indication that the rears weren't functioning well. Tomorrow I'm going to buy the Autozone Cardone remanufactured units ($50 each) and plop those in. Luckily I'm moving to a place where the car will be seeing a lot less salt... I HATE ROAD SALT!

 

I had a passenger side rear start leaking on me so I replaced that, now it is time for the driver side since it is seized up, first time for each side in 11 years. But this is my first year in a snow salt zone.