Rear Calipers - What to do?

[kjbrosha at gmail.com (Kevin Brosha)]

On 8/14/06, Brian Haygood <haygood@myway.com> wrote:

>
> As the others have said, you can shop around at a Friendly Local Auto
> Parts Store (FLAPS) and get some with a warranty.  Swapping calipers is not
> a particularly hard job, so doing them yourself will certainly help the
> budget.  If you put the same type of calipers back on, you will be replacing
> them soon thereafter.
>
>
>
> The other basic options are to use better calipers.  Virtually any VW rear
> caliper will fit.  A1 chassis calipers (like ours) fail quickly.  A2 and A3
> calipers bolt right up on the oppositte side.  The bleeders face down, which
> is not a problem at all.  A4 calipers are supposed to be even better after
> about '99 - the earliest ones had trouble according to one person I heard
> from.  I used A4 calipers on mine.  They are aluminum and work very well.
>
>
>
> I used brake adaptor hoses from ECS Tuning.  These are great and cost $45
> for the pair.  Now someone has found that the short flexible lines from a B5
> Passat (i.e. 98 to '95) work, too.  Those are $66 for a pair of new
> ones.  You can probably find junkyard examples for a few bucks.
>
>
>
> Try VW vortex for people parting out the cars you want stuff from.
>
>
>
> Brian


Thanks for the advice Brian.  I looked on the ecstuning site to see what the
brake adapter hose would cost- they have a conversion kit on sale right now
with free shipping for $199, including (taken from the site)

-Brand new MK4 aluminum calipers (Left & Right)
-ECS Stainless Steel DOT approved custom built brake lines
-ECS banjo bolts with copper sealing washers

If people on the list think this is a good option, I may just go with this.
The price is good for two calipers, and it comes with the needed brake lines
- rather than an adapter hose  - sounds good.

I'm going to get new batttery and ground cables, cheap enough and isn't
going to hurt - a good recommendation, thanks.