beware of napa parts

[scythefwd]

OK folks, I know this is a given.. but I need to vent a little.

I hate doing brake work.. its always messy, and nothing every seems to be perfect.. stuck bolt, pads dont fit in the cage right, etc...

SO here we go.

Traded my truck for an a4 Monday. He says the radio works well enough, AC is cold, needs a new cat, and the driver side rear caliper needs to be replaced. Some weld in cats are in the trunk (they are), as is a set of pads, replacement caliper, and disk...

I fix the radio and ac controls (sticky from someone spilling soda in em.. probably from that overhead cup holder), and decide to tackle the caliper.
Who ever mounted the wheels used an impact wrench.. and went ape nutz crazy. My 220 lbs bouncing on the lug wrench didnt do a thing. Ended up beating the wrench with a hammer to imitate an impact wrench.. they finally break free.

Start pulling things off, things going smooth. Get everything off, swap caliper onto the fuel line (man it'd be sweet if that fitting spun instead of having to spin the caliper around it lol), parking brake reattached.. time for reassembly..

get things bolted back up, cage has powder coat in the holes so I have to chase them out or the bolts dont work (warning bells are starting to ring.. lets carry on). Get the cage bolted up around the new rotor.. makes me really miss my vw. The vw had a screw to hold the rotor to the hub while you were messing with the cage.. Made things lining up so nice and easy. ANYways.. get the cage bolted up, look at the rotor.. its now off center. Looks like the cage is a out of spec.. and the rotor wont line up with the center hub... no go.

Swap in old rotor to see if the off brand rotor is at fault.. nope.

Swap out the new cage with the old rusty one.. bam.. perfect fit. Slap .. it fits. got her bled and locked down tight now..

sorry.. had to vent. Box was marked Napa eclipse. Yeah, I know.. stick with OEM parts or a known entity, not store parts. Just figured you guys could use the heads up. The piston was perfect (which is good since the other piston was frozen), but that brake cage was so far out of spec that it couldnt even be made workable.

[Bordom]

What cage are you referring to? The caliper carrier/bracket?

[scythefwd]

yup.. keeps the pads in place (like a cage), and is what the piston slides on and attaches to.

[A4ski]

Sounds like a possible case of mixing FWD with quattro? I had to get a rear carrier from (gulp) Autozone, and it was fine. I like my local NAPA, in part because they press bearings, and in part because the old dude there will tell you straight up when a part they carry is "Chinese bullshit" (his words) as opposed to a decent replacement.

[redline380]

Yeah, napa actually has good shit and honest guys working there.

And not that it shouldnt be, but what's the big deal about using your old carrier? If the problem is fixed, nothing to be pouting about. Yeah, I get you should get what you pay for, but you paid to have the problem fixed, and it is now, isn't it?

[scythefwd]

not saying the guys that work there aren't good, and not saying they dont have good stuff.. but at the same time.. I'd wager that store branded part, with audi and vw logos cast in was a remanufacture.

You think fwd vs. quattro would make that much of a difference? this thing was off by a very small amount.. less than 1/8th inch. The powder coat they sprayed it with was also in the bolt holes (making it dang near impossible to put a bolt through it. I ended up having to put the bolt through when it was off the car (chasing the powdercoat out of the threads)

I like a lot of the gear napa has.. but this was definitely NOT in spec, by any means.

Anyone got a bently or access to the parts # for the fwd vs. quattro parts? The caliper itself (the piece with the piston) was dead on and bolted up to the old carrier...

Its not a problem.. Major annoyance that I had to disassemble it all again. There isnt a dang thing wrong with using the old carrier either, or I'd not have used it. The part was not compatible though.. all I'm saying is pay attention.. heads up, parts either arent in the correct box, there was an honest mistake, or the part was genuinely out of spec.. Regardless of the cause, it didnt fit. I doubt we'd see that issue had it been an original part or ordered via part number. Take it as you see it.. but its something that shouldnt have happened.

[redline380]

FWD and Quattro carriers are different, or at least have different part numbers

[Bordom]

Aren't FWD and Quattro rear calipers situated differently? Thus the reason for different parking brake lines

Everything graciously mispelled by Android

[scythefwd]

Interesting.. If this was the carrier for a FWD, then it appears the rotor on the FWD would also be smaller..