So, drove my car over the weekend and it looks like both of my rear calipers had seized. You can tell by how dark the wheels turned and the caliper paint cracked on both sides. Obviously, there needs to be some checking to see if it's the calipers themselves or the brake lines, but if it is the calipers are there any suggestions as to where to buy replacements and/or brands?

OEMs look expensive and not sure if it is worth putting those on vs aftermarket.

 

I would rebuild them with new sliding Pins, new Piston with seals. They should work fine after that if they are not broken entirely.

The Rebuild Kits are not hat expensive but ist a bit dirty to do ...

Greetings
Thomas

 

They're about $100 per caliper at any local parts store, provided you give them your old ones

 

$60.89 + $75 core charge for Centric calipers on rockauto.com.

https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/...b,caliper,1704

 

Tom's suggestion is sound for a quick turn-around.

They are pretty robust calipers and may just need a good fluid flush and new slide pins (with grease!). I find most floating caliper failures are related to slide-pin wear due to them not being cleaned and greased. You'll need a caliper turn-in tool as the parking brake is integrated into the caliper. You press the front caliper pistons in but the rears must be screwed in.

This isn't the best one, but it is the cheapest ($6 at O'Reillys) and is compatible with our calipers.
https://www.rx8club.com/attachments/...img_0601-1.jpg

 

Whew. When I read your subject – Rear brake calipers seized – I thought you were complaining that the government took them.

 

If you buy re-manufactured calipers they rust like crazy in my experience. It's like they sandblast them and don't put anything on to prevent rust. I would suggest painting them or pay more for the powder coated ones (they only come in red though and are double the price). Rebuilding is cheaper and usually pretty easy unless the piston is super stuck. I did this on my last car since my calipers were painted a custom color.

 

I did put a set of the Centric calipers that I linked to above on my car. Centric's website outlines their re-man process and they do claim to put a corrosion coating on their re-man calipers (after tumbling to remove any rust and deposits). The set I received did appear to have that coating. I also painted the calipers, to add a another layer of corrosion protection. I'll have to wait and see how well they hold up as they have been on my car for all of 3 weeks now.

 

Agreed on the rust. The marketing mumbo jumbo is meaningless. I have installed remans from all the major brands (Wagner, Centric, A-1), and unless you get the powder coated ones, they all rust at the first exposure to rain--no matter what coating or plating or whatever is claimed. Too bad the powder coated ones are all red. How about black or charcoal gray for those of us who are over the age of 17?

Agreed on rebuilding yours. It is easy to do, but messy. And, you normally need an air compressor to pop the pistons out of the fronts.