Hi all,

The offside front caliper on my 2004 WRX must be sticking as the brake pad is worn a lot more than the nearside pad. I am also getting the occasional squeal.

I'm new to the Impreza so not got a whole lot of experience yet but I know this is a common issue. 

I'm thinking instead of sending off for a refurb....would it be better to buy a new set of front calipers (or newly refurbished) and then sell my current set to make up the difference?

Or, if anyone can recommend otherwise please let me know. All advice will be appreciated!

 

Thanks,

R

It's much cheaper to refurb yourself if you can.

send them to Gaz Watson ( @cusco scooby wagon) get a full refurb done

19 hours ago, Linx said:

It's much cheaper to refurb yourself if you can.

I will have to check it out on YouTube to see what it entails. I've done some minor works on cars in the past so it might be within my capabilities.

The stripping of the calipers themselves is straight forward, you may need a set of piston extraction pliers or blind bearing pullers depending how bad the pistons are. The sliders again are easy but may need to be drifted out with a punch.

Kits are available from places like Big Red.

The one difference which I have a direct experience with is caliper paint vs powder coat. I had powder coat refurb done by Gaz on the rear of my motor. The fronts I did myself with a caliper paint kit.  The powder coating is in better condition than the paint kit, resists dirt and contamination far better.

So whilst you may be able to strip and replace parts yourself I would recommend the calipers themselves are prepped and powdercoated vs a paint kit

Kits for the sumitomo calipers are quite pricey, hard chrome piston kits under half cost of stainless and stainless kits good 35% more expensive than lot of other caliper stainless piston kits unfortunately .
Price for doing it yourself will mount up if need refinish/paint caliper by times include cleaning/prep and refinishing products .
If finish still good then general diy strip and rebuild with decent kit is viable and may save money, as soon as needs total finishing you generally always better off using professional services unless want the project and even more so when got recommended services from other owners .
Not very often we rebuild calipers as professional refurb route tends be cheaper and includes some warranty/liability advantages. only time we tend do them is if customer very specific on what wants or fast turnaround means we need do it get it out on time and do keep some piston kits on the shelf for fast turnaound and also holding some stock enables some control on better part pricing .

Thanks all, appreciate the time and comments. I've looked more in to it, and I think I may send them off to Ian @ Godspeed after numerous recommendations and positive feedback. It will save me time and hassle and I can rest easy knowing they will be 100%!

1 hour ago, Ryu44 said:

 It will save me time and hassle and I can rest easy knowing they will be 100%!

Yes it will

Thank you for the recommendation guys. Godspeed did a tidy job.

They look great. Dont forget to fit new sliders and ream out the carrier, they were the root cause on my car.

Yeah I bought fresh caliper bolts, pins and brake pad fitting kits.