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If it was my car my first move would be to remove the offending caliper and have it in bits, cleaning and lubricating all the moving parts in the hope I could make it last another few months. That's what I'd do before shelling out £175 anyway... And despite what the doom and gloom brigade of experts might say, I would only replace the one caliper if only one of them is faulty.

Cheers, Simon H

Hi Gram

I take it that the rear brakes are disc brakes then and not drums. In any case it may as Simon says become gunged up with brake dust over the years and a good dismantle and clean with brake cleaner and lube with antiseize grease may solve the problem. Its always the nearside brakes that wear out first because they are the ones nearest the road drains getting all manner of s**t thrown into them.

Jon

I would strip the caliper , clean it and replace the seals .

atb

Wizard

Quote: Originally posted by guzgog on 26/4/2006

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What car is it

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Gram, I'm not sure where you are but I recently contacted our local Mazda dealer for a price for a rear caliper for a 1998 323Zxi - must be similar to yours? They came back with a price similar to your quote BUT, they said they could do a massive discount if I wanted to order one. (I never took it any further, it was just an exploratory enquiry). That was JCT 600 in Bradford.

Hope that helps a bit

Cheers, Simon H

give japanese car parts a call theres bound to be one near you, they are quite cheap on brake and clutch parts for jap cars.

being a mazda trained technician ive done quite a few stripdowns of these calipers and they have a spring inside that shears and wont release the caliper tidy, then the moisture in your brake fluid rusts the cam into one place.

as for replacing them both theres no need, if it were discs or pads then yes but not the calipers.......hope this helps

oh and btw i have worked  for vauxhall for some time now and have never changed a caliper yet :P.........................its usually the car that falls to bits and the calipers are ok..............LOL

gram

if the on caliper is ok then just change the siezed one, as long as they both work ok for the mot (ie nearly the same amount on each wheel) i wouldnt worry

As a mechanic, I can assure you that it is not nesessary to replace both calipers, but i would advise you to replace the pads on both wheels.