brakes Ordered a brake caliper, got the wrong side

[Motorcitydak]

Just curious if this has happened to anyone else. I ordered a drivers side (left) front brake caliper for my '74 Tii. I got it today which only took 2 days which was nice. I quickly went out to the car, took the tire off and started getting the caliper off to get the new one ready. I then noticed that the new caliper had the 3 fluid bleeders facing the wrong way. If i would have mounted the caliper the bleeders would be facing down which obviously not work. I went on the website that I got them from to see a picture. Sure enough the one that i got which was listed for the left side pn a-1 19-226 has them pointing down and is actually for the right side. The one listed for the right side, pn a-1 19-227 is actually for the left.

I called the place and talked to customer service who said that they had 20 some orders for that same part without a problem. Some people had ordered both calipers so maybe they just swapped them without even noticing. I also remember reading that the brake calipers were also used on some other cars. Maybe they were mounted on the front side of the rotor?

Anyways just wanted to throw this out there so others do not make my mistake

[c.d.iesel]

i think the mistake is replacing just one caliper.

if the other side is 9+years old, then you will have uneven

braking for many reasons.

and your right - the company you ordered from

has not experienced any problems of left/right

because all their customers replaced the calipers

IN PAIRS.

Cross yer fingers.

[nbcbird]

It happens many times--particularly since the calipers used on the 2002 big brake conversion are reversed from the original E12/E24 mounting position (to the front of the rotor).

[JohnS]

I had the same thing happen to me when I ordered a pair of "rebuilt" calipers from the local Kragen/O'Reillys. I originally ordered a pair of calipers and they sent me two of the same side (passenger side). So, I returned one and ordered a left side and received another (passenger side). Eventually got it figured out, but wasted about three weeks in the process. Another thing I found was that you weren't guaranteed that you were going to get a "rebuilt" original Ate brand caliper from them. Sometimes you did and sometimes you received what looks like a brand new knock-off of an Ate caliper. It seems like the Cardone company that supplies their rebuilt units sometimes provides you with a newly reproduced part (Made in China, I suspect). Now I've resorted to keeping the cores from my original calipers and having them rebuilt. Costs a lot more, but I know what I'm getting...

[Motorcitydak]

i think the mistake is replacing just one caliper.

if the other side is 9+years old, then you will have uneven

braking for many reasons.

and your right - the company you ordered from

has not experienced any problems of left/right

because all their customers replaced the calipers

IN PAIRS.

Cross yer fingers.

The new 'right' side one is on the way, fingers crossed. The right one on the car still looks like new so it must have been replaced just before i got the car. It brakes nicely and the wheel spins perfectly free if i lift it off the ground. The left one is a different story, It looks very old and it will not let off the rotor...ever. I was going up and down the snow covered driveway over the weekend and the front left tire was locked up most of the time. I just drove with it acting more like a ski. I even got suck for a little while at the end of the drive because I was spinning the tires but the car would not move because of that tire being locked up. Im hoping for good things with 2 nice and working calipers on the front end.

I also have to say that i am pleasantly surprised by size of these stock calipers. Makes me quite confident in the braking performance I am hoping for with this car