Rear Calipers - What to do?

[kjbrosha at gmail.com (Kevin Brosha)]

On 8/14/06, John C. Worden <johncworden@verizon.net> wrote:
>
> At 06:23 PM 8/14/06, Kevin Brosha wrote:
>
> >Why are these things such a pain in the ass?
> >
> >I'm not very good mechanically, but why are these calipers failing so
> >often?  Is it worth going to the dealer to get their calipers (which cost
> >over $300 each, instead of the $150 each the others cost)?  Are the
> >mechanics doing something wrong to cause this to happen?  The e-brake has
> >been seizing constantly, even the day after the last new caliper was put
> >on.  Got it adjsuted, thought things were good.  Guess not.    I've gone
> to
> >3 different shops for the work, I find it hard to believe that 3
> different
> >shops would all be doing things wrong, I dunno.
>
> Shop around.  The last set I bought were $65 each with a lifetime
> warranty.
>
> John


John - that's an amazing price.  Do you remember where you got them?  I'm in
Canada, but a cheap American source is still better than an expensive
Canadian one.


Cathy - what did the dealer charge for the reman?  Any warranty?  I may
check with the VW dealer, but the nearest one is an hour's drive away.
Ahhh, ain't it great living in small towns!

Regarding the replacements I've had -the two rear right calipers that both
seized and leaked the same way (at e-brake) were bought at Canadian Tire -
with a one year warranty, which is expired - I'm guessing/assuming there's a
problem with their brand for two in a row to have the same problem.  I don't
know where the left caliper came from, but the shop only offered a 90 day
warranty on their work - this was done in January.  I'm hoping I can get
that caliper replaced under warranty, and just pay for the labour.  The
original calipers lasted 17 years - the most recent, a few
months.  Something's not right.

This car has spent more time being repaired than being driven.  Which would
be ok if I did the work myself, but costs way too much $$$ the way it is
with no tools or place to work on it.

A quick unrelated question to my frustration with the calipers - how likely
is an intermittent loss of spark to be caused by a weak coil?  I just
replaced the coil on my Red Beast because it tested weak (Ohms about 3x what
they were supposed to be by the Bentley).

I'd posted about this problem awhile back, never really resolved it, haven't
been driving the car as a result.  Someone had asked in that thread whether
the tach dropped to zero when it lost spark - answer is yes, which I didn't
know at the time.

Also, the car has somehow managed to kill 2 new batteries in the span of
three months in the past past year - luckily the replacements were free
under warranty - what could theoretically cause this, other than a string of
bad luck?  Related to the loss of spark problem?

This car is a beast.  A picky, problematic, lazy beast.

But hey, at least it's fun to drive - when it feels like it!