if the shop is MIDAS then they're probably lying. [does one bad egg spoil the batch?]
I have heard the odd horror story from these guys.
riahon:
Fred99:
Those prices look normal enough to me.
Brake fluid is water-soluble, so traces of leaks will get washed away.
If they were leaking a bit, then rust/corrosion on the piston is probably part of the reason, when the new pads are put in then as they're thicker, then that rusty piston is pushed in further - and they'll quite possibly start leaking worse. Or - if there'd been leaking because of a small pit etc, then pushing the piston in further so that the defect wasn't working on the seal area may have temporarily fixed the leak, but they'll start leaking again as the pads wear.
They weren't going to "replace" the calipers - they were going to recondition them, Presumably the "piston" comes with seals, the "kit" comes with sliders, backing plates, pins etc.
I think you may have overreacted, and that they were probably correct, thorough, and reasonable. They are quite correct that doing one side only may lead to brake imbalance, I'd have DIY,, possibly only done one and see how it went for brake distribution on test rollers, but small garages may not have those and would have needed to take it to a test station or other garage with that facility for testing.
Keep a close eye on your brake fluid level - or you could end up with no brakes at all.
You may also need to get a wheel alignment done. It's possible to replace the steering rack boot and count the turns on the rod making sure that you re-fit it in the same position, but normally a wheel alignment would be done at that time to check/set toe-in.
My response would be a copy/paste of this.
Same with mine. A seal kit is my suggestions, Causeway motors are really really good with toyota and offroaders and they are THE MOST HONEST and fair priced workshop i have ever come across. All my friends use them and they get looked after very well. A friend had to rebuild the front brakes on his pajero from a seized piston and that was around 450.
Anyhow, OP is driving a very heavy 4WD that requires brakes in working order. If you get brake fluid on the disc/pad it is game over. If your in Auckland go to causeway, They are on Barrys Point road.
A leaking calliper piston seal is not always obvious - there's also a rubber dust boot to cover the movement of the piston while protecting the seal from dirt and dust - it needs to be stretched to see if there's any brake fluid inside.
Both sides don't need doing to prevent brake imbalance though - but that misinformation may come from the mechanic's misunderstanding of hydraulics, not malicious intent.
Not sure I agree with that. I get what you're saying, but the pistons can get very tight in the seals over time, with 4WD rear calipers it's quite common for brake imbalance to occur due to partly seized pistons. Water gets past the boots, the brakes don't get hot enough to dry out on short runs and it all gets pretty cruddy. I think what goes on there is probably corrosion in the groove for the seal expanding and compressing the seal very tightly against the piston - you need to get in and clean that out thoroughly when replacing the seal. Can be great fun to get a seized piston out - compressed air a potentially dangerous method - if the piston comes free in a hurry, it'll scone you.
If I was in a workshop that didn't have brake test rollers to check after doing one side, I'd probably want to do both sides. Otherwise the customer might come back at you very unhappy if the brakes failed on test rollers when he took it back to a WOF test station.
4WD rear calipers it's quite common for brake imbalance to occur due to partly seized pistons. Water gets past the boots, the brakes don't get hot enough to dry out on short runs and it all gets pretty cruddy. I think what goes on there is probably corrosion in the groove for the seal expanding and compressing the seal very tightly against the piston - you need to get in and clean that out thoroughly when replacing the seal. Can be great fun to get a seized piston out - compressed air a potentially dangerous method - if the piston comes free in a hurry, it'll scone you.
If I was in a workshop that didn't have brake test rollers to check after doing one side, I'd probably want to do both sides. Otherwise the customer might come back at you very unhappy if the brakes failed on test rollers when he took it back to a WOF test station.
Seizure due to the entry of foreign matter is completely different to leakage though (although it can lead to the latter) and just because one is seized doesn't mean the other is at all affected either. Seizure obviously affects the performance of that calliper - weepage does not but it does indicate an impending significant failure that would.
In any hydraulic system one piston will move before the others when subjected to the pressure and it will move until sufficient resistance is encountered to overcome the starting force (stiction) required for the next freest piston to move and so forth. But this does not mean there is a significant imbalance as the pressure differences needed to overcome the stiction are insignificant compared to the force the pistons are intended to exert in order to affect braking.
And yes - you'd be a fool to use any compressible fluid to try and free anything like a piston.
I note that by the time the garage has charged for seals and pistons for each side at their marked up prices you could buy 2 new calipers. If I was doing it myself I would probably go that way rather than find that the caliper bodies were corroded when everything was in pieces.
Now that the pistons have been pushed right in the leak may not show or if the fluid hasn't been changed regularly the seals could be working in a new rust zone.
they asked me for the car keys before letting me know how much the job will cost and how long it will take. I immediately asked that, they apologised and quoted $240 and 1 hour. The job was done after 1 hour and 15 minutes and the final bill was $256.51 (attached);
When they finished the job, I asked the mechanic which of the rear calipers was leaking. After some hesitation, he told it was the right one;
They told me that even though only one of the rear calipers was leaking, both needed to be replaced because otherwise brakes will be imbalanced. The $535.21 estimation is for both calipers (attached);
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