Fellow '88 owners know the difficulty of getting calipers for our cars; especially the rear calipers. Old cars and few in numbers does not make for easy pickings. Long and short of things I had my calipers rebuilt at Phoenix Caliper in Chicago. While I have yet to test them, nor will I for a time yet, they look really nice. Cost was $270 for all four + shipping to and from. Shipping costs will vary depending on who you choose and how far you're shipping. Phoenix return ships via UPS. All told I was in for $350 or $87.50 per. I like that I still have the original calipers to my car. I marked them before hand. Given my frustrating search for calipers I am very happy with this cost. Including shipping I had my calipers back in 8 days. Phoenix says, "Rebuild and return service within an hour of drop off for Chicagoland customers."
I have other repairs on going. I hope to road test my car in a month or so. If you're in need of caliper service you may want to consider contacting Athanasios Athanasiadis @ phoenixbrakeco@gmail.com .
------------------ Stanton '88 Formula, red on gray
[This message has been edited by oneinch (edited 11-16-2020).]
AWESOME I think I'm going to have to send mine to get redone... This week, my car started pulling to the right when brakinig, and with my swap happening, I want to make sure the brakes are 1000% in order.
Update us on how they all work, especially the rears with their parking brake activation, they are the ones I'm most concerned with rebuilding myself.
------------------ "Discord" Red 1988 GT under restoration!
They looked pretty bad. Filthy and rusty. This car had been sitting quite awhile. Surprisingly Phoenix said that internally they were in good shape, but needed rebuilding. They did clean up nicely. The paint they put on isn't anything special. I think it more to protect the bare metal than anything else. I still have on going repairs so I can't test them yet. I did get them installed today.
------------------ Stanton '88 Formula, red on gray
Any update on how they work? I troubleshooted my brakes pulling a little bit tonight and I need my back left caliper rebuilt, it's not applying (not warming up when driving around with my foot on the brake) and there's also no restriction in the hose! If they work well, I may as well send the four of them off to get rebuilt and cleaned up pretty while the car is resting through the cold weather season...
------------------ "Discord" Red 1988 GT under restoration!
Let's Go Mets!
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
[This message has been edited by Shho13 (edited 11-22-2020).]
Sorry, no road test yet. Hopefully soon. I have to fix my EGR system next. Fingers crossed that when I tear into this I don't find something else that needs fixing. It'll be early December.
------------------ Stanton '88 Formula, red on gray
Heh, it's all good, one step at a time! It's always something else that pops up on projects! Haha!
I sent two of my rear calipers out to them tonight; my driver side that was on the car that has a stuck caliper... And the other; a passenger side caliper that has been sitting in my shed ever since I replaced it back when I first got the car years ago when the parking brake stopped adjusting (I forgot to do a core return oops, now it will be a spare). Thanks for the reccommendation!
------------------ "Discord" Red 1988 GT under restoration!
I got my calipers back last night from Phoenix Calipers, and they look fantastic and seem to work flawlessly when playing with the rear parking brake lever, unlike not moving at all before I sent them out! After seven years of owning and resto-modding my car I'm very excited to finally have a functioning parking brake for once lol. They were a pleasure to deal with; super nice on the phone. Highly recommended to send your tired calipers out to them if they need work. Turn around time was a little over a week, (including Thanksgiving holiday though) including shipping time to and from.
Gonna fight through the cold and install them when I get home from work later, along with my new master cylinder, Yellowstuff pads, and rotors... My car will be all set to be sent away to Pickardt Performance this winter for it's now officially happening LS4 swap!!! 😁😁😁
------------------ "Discord" Red 1988 GT under restoration!
Let's Go Mets!
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
[This message has been edited by Shho13 (edited 12-03-2020).]
I'm glad you're pleased. Much improved over what you sent in. I felt the Phoenix was great to work with as well. I'm in my shop today doing clean up before I start working on the car again. Still waiting on some EGR parts from Rodney Dickman. I can test both my new brake system and clutch system once I get the car's EGR system functioning.
------------------ Stanton '88 Formula, red on gray
Good to find a shop that will do this job at a reasonable price...Question; Did they replace the inner seals on the rear pistons? That is the biggest problem with these calipers.
Also, I painted my STEEL bridges with Caliper paint, color; Aluminum.....But left the aluminum caliper/housing bare...Brake fluid is (Basically) a Paint stripper so will dissolve most paints. (Side note; Never mix brake fluid in with used oil- at the Coast Guard air station where I worked I had to put signs on the waste oil barrel because guys were dumping brake fluid in them...."Brake fluid goes in waste PAINT barrel")
Another possible rebuilder is Centric brakes but I can't remember what they charged me (Back in 2016) for my rear caliper.
From my understanding, and what Phoenix told me, they go through the entire assembly completely, all the inner seals included. The outer pistons on both of my calipers appear to be the same ones I sent them out with... however, they were both cleaned up, and on the opposite "side" when I got them back. They both adjust when pulling the parking brake lever, which they didn't do when I sent them out.
I finally got my car back together completely today and drove almost 100 miles, and I must say, the brakes feel SUPERB; I highly reccommend Yellowstuff pads, the car stops on a dime. Car doesn't pull to the right anymore, either. It's also amazing to have a parking brake, after seven years of owning my GT and COUNTLESS projects over the years, I never bothered to get that working until now. 😳
------------------ "Discord" Red 1988 GT under restoration!
Phoenix says they do this and that. Who knows really? I'm not disassembling them to double check their work. We just have to trust one another sometimes. My calipers look great and I hope that they are in fact truly great.
------------------ Stanton '88 Formula, red on gray
