Question: Caliper

[mainevette]

Next item on the list is rebuilding the brake calipers. Would anyone reccomend the new "o" ring option? Do I have to by new pistons to fit this "o" ring option? Seems to me, an "o" ring will stay in pretty much any shape groove, unless of course it is not deep enough into the piston.

 

[TimAT]

There's really no bad thing about the original style lip seal calipers. That said, I rebuilt mine with o-rings, but it's really not on the road very much- I think about 30 miles last YEAR!. 250 nights a year in hotels around the world will do that.

As I see it, just my opinion here, if the lip seals are not used much, the weight of the pistons makes them kind of "sag" to the low side, then when you step on the pedal, they jump back to the center. True or not, I don't know.

O-ring vs. lip seal is a debate that's been going on a long time. The groove in the piston is different, so if you decide on o-rings you'll be better off just getting a kit from one of the vendors.

 

[Hib Halverson]

Either sealing system works well.

What I've used on the C3 I've owned for 30 years are stock calipers with stainless steel sleeves, stock pistons and the stock sealing system. Once I want to stainless-sleeved calipers, I've never had trouble.

 

[killain]

I had on and off problems with my brakes on my 79, But I finally decided it wasn't working out doing a set of caibers a year and I bought four rebuilt 'O' ring calibers from Vette,brakes & products and a set of 'hawk' pads. That was the last time I ever had a problem with the brakes !

 

[mainevette]

So the sleeves actually fit into the original caliper bore?

 

[Vettehead Mikey]

No, the bores are machined out to accept the sleeves. The finished ID is the same as a stock caliper.

 

[JohnZ]

So the sleeves actually fit into the original caliper bore?

You can't convert them to SS sleeves at home; if you have one of the very few cars that still has its original iron-bore calipers, you have to send them out to be sleeved. If they've already been sleeved (as most have), you can replace the seals and pistons with either the OEM-type lip seals or with O-ring seals.

 

[heavyd]

o-rings vs lip seal style calipers

Duntov has a detailed, educated column on their website about this very issue. I went with their years of advice and have installed the lip seal style with stainless sleeved calipers.

 

[mainevette]

Well I replaced the front seals with the kit from Napa, and so far so good. No leaks, but I check on them constantly just to be sure. For now the car stops like it should, my guess is it needs to be driven to see what else is wrong with her and hopefully the brakes will continue to work. If not then out come the O-rings. Thanks for all the replies and help everyone!