I came to the conclusion that it's all a crap shoot. I thought about new calipers (already got pads, Akebonos) but since I can't demonstrate that any pistons are sticking and there were no slides sticking or bound up rattle clips, a different approach is being taken.

Went to a JY and got two low mile, damage free LH caliper brackets off of Explorers. Both were wearing the pads normally. JY brackets because, the A1 Cardone rebuilds were made from lousy cores that should have been scrapped. Cleaned up the JY brackets using brake cleaner, 320 sandpaper in the bores, q-tips and plenty of brake cleaner. Assembled with Cerami-glyde and all new hardware. Turned rotors. Assembling.

Will be done today, time will tell. It really would have been nice to find an actual, in-my-face reason for the (tapered pad wear) problem then fix it rather than find nothing conclusive that would cause it, and go on a wild goose chase and in the end, research to death, find no wild new ideas (I kinda figured there would be any), build it buy the book hope for the better.

Quote:"the A1 Cardone rebuilds were made from lousy cores that should have been scrapped. "

How do you tell they should have been scrapped vs being re-buildable?

tom

Will be interesting to hear how it goes, so keep the forum updated on this thread.

Rust pits (~3/32" in size I might add) in the region where the dust boot engages with the caliper bracket. Come on Cardone, you're not fooling me, don't be leaving large pits on sealing surfaces that rubber seals should be fully contacting, on a caliper bracket, this is sets the stage for water ingress, rust and a sticking pin. Probably the reason most people would go get a "new" (rebuilt) caliper bracket in the first place.

I didn't buy due to the condition, but it was from Napa and it was in nice, fresh, new packaging. I can't help but suspect that because they only had one on the shelf, that I wasn't the only person who looked at it and rejected purchase.