Re: front calipers for '71 Bus

I had a reman caliper fail just a month or so beyond the one year warranty. A
piece of the piston broke off near the sealing ring, allowing all pressure to
immediately exit the caliper. $1100 of body repair later (I didnt hardly
scratch the Ford Taurus I used to stop from about 40mph) the bus is pretty
much as good as new. (Structurally, bus was fine, but outer skin took a real
beating and was replaced, but that's another story). I took a spare caliper
and sent it to our local rebuilder (I work at a Ford dealer) and it came back
with the piston cracked in almost the same area as the previous one broke. I
finally broke down and bought the brand new one from RMMW (RMMW's service has
been, in my experience, excellent).  It is definitely new, came in an ATE box
from Germany with all new hardware (pins, spring plates, and shims). All nice
and cad plated. It is beautiful. Expensive, but beautiful. After my
experiences with reman calipers, I will not use another again as long as new
is available. It is expensive, but so is body work on the bus, and what could
be worse, body work on myself or others. I'll go new next time.

David
'71 Bus
'65 Bug