Go on to Ebay and search brembo +decal* and there will be a seller called atmdecals. He makes the Brembo decals in hi-temp vinyl and he will make any size you want. I measured mine, told him the measurements and he sent an exact match. That is what I used and you cannot tell they are not on there from the factory. No issues at all so far.
It is off warrant and I did not even ask them too. Not wanting to PO anyone who might work for a dealership I will only say that I have been "let down" by one too many and the only trip I will make to a dealer now will be to buy parts I can't get anywhere else.
The purpose of this post is to consolidate all the pics and text into one coherent narrative to post in the next SRT chat session. This issue has potential to be widespread in the not too distant future. It could be a warranty issue for someone who has not washed their hands of the Chrysler service network. Please provide feedback and suggestions and I will edit the post as needed. Thanks for the help in advance. Everything below the line will be cut and pasted to the next SRT chat session. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Let me start by thanking you guys for an awesome machine! It is worth every penny. It has operated nearly flawlessly as a daily driver rain, snow, and shine. Early in July I attempted to change the brake pads on my 2006 (build date 03/06) Chrysler SRT8. The pad change was initiated due to the fact that the rear pads were nearing the "squeeler" pad wear indicator. They still stopped the car like always but it was time for a swap. Upon removing the right front pads I noted the plating had come off the face of the caliper pistons. (pic below taken much later after calipers were removed) The car is a year round daily driver in Northern Michigan and has approximately 36,000 miles on it. The pads are original and the rotors were replaced per TSB# 05-006-06. The below pics shows the wear on the front pads at the time of the discovery. It was noted that the pistons on the inboard side of the caliper would not return to the bottomed out position. The dust boots were rolled back and it was noted that the plating on the pistons had been compromised all the way down to the pressure seal. One of the pistons was removed for further inspection. (pictured below: The top pic is of the piston upon removal, the bottom is after brushing the loose plating away to show the extent of the plating failure.) The plating on the outboard pistons did not appear to be as bad. The driver side showed signs of the plating on the face failing (see pic below) but it did not fall off during dis-assembly. Uneven resistance was noted on the inboard pistons of the driver side when placing them into the bottomed out position. The dealer had no caliper parts available other than dust boots. They were more than willing to sell me calipers to the tune of $400 each. I have since fixed the problem for considerably less than the cost of just one new caliper. On a side note the rear pads showed a bevel or taper to the wear. (see pic below) What is the purpose of the shim on the rear pad and it's unusual shape? (pic below) Would not the fact that the piston is bisected by the edge of the square holes cause binding of the piston in the bores? Just curious? No doubt you are impressed with my brevity. Have you noted other failures of this nature? Is the caliper still an "unserviceable" part as the 2006 Service manual indicates? Are their plans to offer caliper parts in the future? Have materials or design changes to the SRT8 calipers been made since the production cycle began? If another experienced this problem and was willing to let a dealer tech work on the car would it be a warranty item? Would custom stainless steel pistons work in the caliper without other alterations? (I know, but I have to try. )
Tony: Great write-up and great pics. I had to pull out the extra set of Brembo pads that I bought a while back. They do not have the same shim or plate on the back of them that you show in your pics. In fact, the shim has no cutouts in it at all (not the larger rectangular ones or even the small triangle). It is just a solid plate. Sam
Tony!!! You are not alone bro I apologize for the bad photos in advance: I went in to to have my pads changed and told them to check the caliper pistons. Here's what we found on the driver/front: In my case, the passenger/front was not as bad - maybe just starting to show signs of corrosion but it was evident on most pistons. We just re-assembled the fronts with no additional disassembly because the pads were maybe only half worn and they could not be fully serviced/fixed right now and they seem to work fine for the time being so I wanted to leave as is. My rears seemed to be okay to maybe slightly showing signs of corrosion or all looking good. They were almost all the way worn down so we replaced the pads on both sides. Mine did not wear at an angle, I asked the guy at the shop what he though and he said they might wear at an angle if the pistons were sticking. Something to think about because a lot of people report that tapered or angled wear. I could not get as many and as good of photos as I would have liked, but this may be more common than we think. Cannot wait until the next chat session to see what the SRT engineers have to say about it. Lord knows an actual Chrysler dealer would probably be worthless about this. I have 22,900 miles on the car. Edit: Couple thoughts, the rears which both showed minimal to no signs of corrosion had a metal plate between the pads and the caliper pistons. The fronts did not. My mechanic said he sees brakes all the time like our rears and the pistons in them were like all those he has seen on other Brembo equipped cars, he had not seen any like our fronts before - and that backs up your research Tony that our fronts are unique to our cars. They certainly seem to corrode WAY worse than the rears. Eric
I just spied something interesting. This pic was taken from Dave Zeckhausen's thread about the Posi Quiets:http://www.300cforums.com/forums/te...-how-installing-low-dust-brake-pads-srt8.html It clearly shows a piston of a different desing in the caliper. They appear to be the cup design similar to the rears.
That would be a "shim". Usually there to prevent squealing? The fronts didn't come with them on our cars.
Recieved my remanufactured calipers from the Brake Warehouse yesterday. Some observations: The pistons are of the solid design: All my talk of them being made of steel was only partially true. The center section which includes the mounting bracket is steel. The outer portions (where the brembo logo would be) are not. I assume they are aluminum??? You can see that my hi speed $200 Snap-On refrigerator magnet sticks. My stainless piston idea would require sleeving. :slap: The nicest thing about them is that they appear ready for paint.
Looks good. I'd strip them down and have them powdercoated instead of paint. Its much more durable. Did that price from Brake Warehouse involve you sending your back to them (core charge, etc.)? If no core, its a great way for people to go who want to upgrade to SRT brakes. Even with a core, its a great deal for those who want to paint/powdercoat their calipers without having the car down...
Their is a core. I forget what it is, I'm not at home right now to check. I do recall that even with the core it was cheaper than the dealership price for new.
Finally got things back together today. Just haven't had time to wrench on it. Painted and baked in the gas grill to cure the VHT caliper paint prior to putting on the logos. Hi-temp vinyl logos off e-bay. Next to the stock peices just for comparison. The logos are bigger than stock and the paint obviously is not clearcoated. I could not find rattle can clearcoat that I was confident in. I have four extra logos so if I have to redo them it will be pretty easy. They are a reasonable approximation to the originals. Mounted up prior to bleeding. Sat like this for four damn days. The pads. Initial impressions after the bedding procedure recommended by EBC is that they feel a little stronger than the stockers. Not sure how long the brake-in compound lasts or if you would notice a difference when it is all worn away. Quiet under moderate to hard braking. Squeels like a worn out city bus under light braking when rolling up to stop signs. Hope that dosn't last long. People are staring at me. In the end with shipping, brake fluid, paint and stickers it cost around $300 to replace both front calipers. $100+ less than the cost of one caliper from the stealer. The pads were around $200 for all four corners.
A well know Performance Brake Vendor is working on an option for fixing this problem when (not if) it arrises for others. This thread strarting at post #14 has some good info. http://www.300cforums.com/forums/sr.../58807-brembo-caliper-piston-corrosion-2.html
Click here and be astounded. http://www.cherokeesrt8.com/forums/showpost.php?p=225680&postcount=91 This guy should work at a dealership. Apparently I am overreacting??? Had I forced those pistons back in and put in the new pads those brakes would not have functioned correctly. It's not like I was or am looking for freebies. If my calipers failed, which clearly they did, that means others will fail with fewer miles. I am astounded by the lack of communication here. Even a simple, "We'll take a look at this." or "Thanks for the heads up, we'll check with the dealers and see if they have had any issues that we are unaware of." Wow. Not the way I would deal with the situation if I were talking with a customer while hundreds of other customers look on. Sad.
It is obvious to me that this guy did not look at all of your pictures or read your entire post. I will go and read the entire chat session, but was this the total extent of his answer?
He answered other questions about specifics in previous posts. They were short answers. That last one made me feel like I was talking to a service writer.:getlost:
Oh - and I suppose I will start to go about fixing this myself. I just don't have the patience to let the dealer take my car apart, think about it for several days, and then maybe give me new calipers or just re-assemble it and tell me it is okay. Getting new calipers may only be a temporary solution anyway if it has these pistons in them again. I wonder how I could go about getting the dimpled pistons like we have seen of those early build cars? Think I should try Cleveland Pick a Part? Is it against the law for a wrecking yard to sell old brake parts? Eric
