A tale of two calipers

After a less than sterling performance at the MoT last month, I decided to give the brakes on the old girl a good seeing to. I fitted new pads and discs on the front, which is when I discovered that the existing calipers were in a bad way, with one piston requiring massive force to free it. These are early type calipers, which are a bit more expensive. In an effort to save a few beer tokens, I managed to track down a genuine one from a MG parts supplier on fleabay. The other was ordered from a very well known supplier, who claim to not sell inferior parts from the far east. Sadly a blue badged box appeared, despite paying £130. I thought it would be worth having a close look at them both, to see what the difference was.

well one split pin pad retainer and the other solid pin ,worth checking securing bolt hole size, i think id have bought britpart ones

The casting on the blue box item was a bit rougher, but that's not important, and as James has spotted, different pins. Before fitting, I thought I'd check the pistons on both, so out came the footpump to blow them out. The pistons on the genuine item came out quite easily, due to having a little bit of lubricant. I gave them a quick smidgen of brake lube grease and popped them back in. The pistons on the blue box item took a lot more pressure - then had obviously been fitted dry. The machining inside the cylinders was a little bit less smooth, but the seals looked fine, and after a bit of brake lube was applied, the cylinders moved easily and smoothly. While putting the pistons back in, I noticed that one of the four caliper assembly bolts wasn't fully home, despite a felt tip mark which suggested some kind of quality check. It was just more than finger tight. I tightened it and checked the others - all fine. Considering this is a major brake component, the lack of quality control is a worry. The lesson is - if you buy a blue box item, give it a good check before fitting it.

Securing bolt sizes are the same. I happen to have a set of pins for the pads - as I was sent the incorrect type for my existing calipers at one stage.

You can fit the later type calipers/pads.