mkII rear caliper parking brake seized, can I upgrade?

[weeblebiker]

can the siezed parking brake mechanism be fixed and how?
will newer A4 alloy calipers fit?

*edit in response*

well, ok the A4 calipers was an example. to what year can I get calipers from that will bolt up to my carriers?

is there any ways to unsieze the calipers I have? the pistons are working, just the parking brake mechanism is siezed.


Modified by weeblebiker at 8:02 PM 4-14-2005

[TheTimob]

I beleive you have to re-route brake lines, and use a mk4 stub axle, discs, bearings, and make some custom parking brake cables or something.

I don't know for sure.

[jimbilly]

How does one prevent them from seizing? I've noticed if I leave my brake on overnight and it rains, it can stick a bit in the morning, is that related to seizure?

[mr.brown]

A4 rears will fit but require custom hoses - http://www.brakehoseshop.com/d...506-2

[EUROROC]

Quote, originally posted by timbo2132 »

I beleive you have to re-route brake lines, and use a mk4 stub axle, discs, bearings, and make some custom parking brake cables or something. I don't know for sure.

A4 chassis stubs will not work on a A1 car... the newer style stubs do not have the ears to attach the caliper. There are a few other options but they are $$$ and require a European connection.

You can install the calipers on an A1 by flipping them over (left on the right side and right on the left side) but bleeding them requires removal of the caliper.

Search around I think there is a write up somewhere on the procedure.

-Raffi

[weeblebiker]

well, ok the A4 was an example. to what year can I get calipers from that will bolt up to my carriers?

is there any was to unsieze the calipers I have? the pistons are working, just the parking brake mechanism is siezed.

copied up to the first also

[Shislerocco]

that A1 parking brake mechanism is crap. it will continually seize.

i bought a set of new mk3 rear calipers with an upgraded parking brake.

only downside is that you have to bleed the caliper off the car, which is a pain, i just put a block of wood in between and bleed them and stick them back on.

[VTEC_EATER_16V]

Quote, originally posted by Shislerocco »

that A1 parking brake mechanism is crap. it will continually seize. i bought a set of new mk3 rear calipers with an upgraded parking brake.

I will be doing a complete suspension/brake refresh soon. Think i'm going to stick with the a1 calipers. Unless theres something that can be blead while mounted on the car thats better. My e-brake is frozen on 1 caliper .

[Racer_X]

A3 (or late A2) calipers are probably the best option for you. You can re-route your hard lines and use them as they are designed (parking brake lever at the bottom, brake hose and bleeder at the top), or you can mount them upside down and deal with the problems bleeding them with that mounting scheme. Also, the "more reliable" parking brake mechanism on the A3 calipers is only really more reliable if the calipers are mounted correctly (parking brake lever down). The primary difference is that with A1 calipers (parking brake lever at the top), water (and salt and corrosive contaminants) runs down the shaft and collects in the parking brake shaft bore. On the later calipers, it tends to mostly run down the shaft and out of the parking brake shaft bore. So in theory, they don't corrode as much and seize up. In actual practice, some water and crud will wick up in the bore, and they still do have some problems. But they tend to last longer before they seize up.

The aluminum calipers from the A4 platform cars are attractive, but they have much larger pistons and will overbias the brakes to the rear. Two adjustable proportioning valves or a load sensing regulator setup are a really good idea if you try to use those. Also, with 9.4" fronts and the big aluminum rear calipers, a 22mm master cylinder is absolutely required. With 10.1" fronts and the big aluminum rear calipers, a 22mm master cylinder can be a bit long in pedal travel and a 23.81mm master cylinder might be a better choice.

[weeblebiker]

I have some '91 passat rear calipers, and fronts, but the right has a siezed parking brake mehcanism also.

anyone no how to unsieze them????

[rafspeed]

i've just installed this
can't wait to try it
http://www.speedbleeder.com/

[killervr6]

Quote, originally posted by Shislerocco »

that A1 parking brake mechanism is crap. it will continually seize. i bought a set of new mk3 rear calipers with an upgraded parking brake.

I will be doing a complete suspension/brake refresh soon. Think i'm going to stick with the a1 calipers. Unless theres something that can be blead while mounted on the car thats better. My e-brake is frozen on 1 caliper .

you can still use the a4 calipers right side up but you would have to get metal break lines from an a4 also. it will switch the lines from the bottom of the beam to the top out of the way of debre

[Ghunt521]

Im having the same issue, but my ebrake won't move at all its frozen I cant even pull the ebrake it won't budge lol. My caliper works but i dont think the ebrake parts of the cailper isn't. I was just going to get new ebrake cables and rear calipers and see if that works.

[killervr6]

Im having the same issue, but my ebrake won't move at all its frozen I cant even pull the ebrake it won't budge lol. My caliper works but i dont think the ebrake parts of the cailper isn't. I was just going to get new ebrake cables and rear calipers and see if that works.

if your going to do that get some a4 vr6 calipers. just got done test fitting my vr6 jetta calipers and its a direct bolt on as long as you use the stock scirocco caliper carriers. you would have to get a custom break line and a4 rear metal break lines to make it all work good and properly.
thats what i plan on doing to my rocco along with some corrado rotors for a 5 lug conversion i also have the vr front calipers that i plan on putting on but not sure if i would need to upgrade my master cylinder due to bigger piston size on all 4 corners. anybody know of a 22mm+ mc that will fit my 87 rocco with out too much work? will i also need to upgarde my servo along with my mc??

[Ghunt521]

why go vr? when you can replace stock? whats the benefit? 16v cailpers are junk?

[cuppie]

Yes, they are. The iron A1/A2 rear calipers are crap. And, they're expensive crap, too.
A4 calipers are a fairly priced (and far more reliable) upgrade. They bolt directly to the Scirocco's carriers.
As was said earlier, if you want to use the existing brake cables & hardlines, you'll need to mount them inverted, and use (IIRC) B3 Passat hoses.
An extra 10 minutes to pull wheels, pop the calipers off, block the pistons, and put it all back together when I'm bleeding brakes or doing a fluid change? Well worth it.

BFI will sell you two A4 calipers w/ rubber hoses for slightly less than what two new A1/A2 iron caliper costs. GAP is slightly higher, yes; but, they give you SS hoses, too.

[killervr6]

why go vr? when you can replace stock? whats the benefit? 16v cailpers are junk?

16v calipers are not junk. pretty good for what they are. but with the vr's you get peace of mind with the better ebrake design and the pistons are noticably bigger. dont have a caliper to measure the differance but it looks like a good 4-6mm. plus the weight savings is huge! you will know what i am talking about if you get vr calipers. you can still use your stock rotors but i think the vr break pads have a bigger surface area to clamp down on the rotor. not sure on that one thou.

[killervr6]

A4 calipers are a fairly priced (and far more reliable) upgrade. They bolt directly to the Scirocco's carriers.
As was said earlier, if you want to use the existing brake cables & hardlines, you'll need to mount them inverted, and use (IIRC) B3 Passat hoses.

hey i plan on doing my break upgrade the right way(bleed screw facing up)
do you know what break lines would work for me or would i have to get some custom ones made for the extra leingth??

[83mk2scirocco]

Mktree rear caliper of the jetta GT.
Bolt em up no funny bleed process.
i have not hooked my cable yet.but i was told that the
Stock scirocco cable will work.

[killervr6]

Mktree rear caliper of the jetta GT.
Bolt em up no funny bleed process.
i have not hooked my cable yet.but i was told that the
Stock scirocco cable will work.

the scirocco cable does work. but some people say that the cable tension is tight.
does anybody know where i can source some break lines to hook up my a4 vr6 calipers to my scirocco?
if they need to be custom made whats a good company to go to?

[sciroccohal]

Personnally I'd buy a rebuilt caliper and be done with it.
S-2's are NOTORIOUS for seizing the rear brakes....the guy who designed them has been fired and is now designing boat anchors. This was a problem when I was running my VW shop in VT 25 years ago.

Get your new parts....have them powder coated. Spray with LITHIUM grease every month in the winter. Use the parking brake everyday. don't use it you lose it.

[83mk2scirocco]

Personnally I'd buy a rebuilt caliper and be done with it.
S-2's are NOTORIOUS for seizing the rear brakes....the guy who designed them has been fired and is now designing boat anchors. This was a problem when I was running my VW shop in VT 25 years ago.

Get your new parts....have them powder coated. Spray with LITHIUM grease every month in the winter. Use the parking brake everyday. don't use it you lose it.

The mk3s are so close it aint funny,I like how the piston for e brake is on the mk3 are.
Find em a dime a dozen now the mk3s are getting plenty full in the scap yards.

[Ghunt521]

Personnally I'd buy a rebuilt caliper and be done with it.
S-2's are NOTORIOUS for seizing the rear brakes....the guy who designed them has been fired and is now designing boat anchors. This was a problem when I was running my VW shop in VT 25 years ago.

Get your new parts....have them powder coated. Spray with LITHIUM grease every month in the winter. Use the parking brake everyday. don't use it you lose it.

This is what im doing, Why go to a different setup? Remani. stock 16v calipers should work fine

[red16vdub]

Yes, they are. The iron A1/A2 rear calipers are crap. And, they're expensive crap, too.
A4 calipers are a fairly priced (and far more reliable) upgrade. They bolt directly to the Scirocco's carriers.
As was said earlier, if you want to use the existing brake cables & hardlines, you'll need to mount them inverted, and use (IIRC) B3 Passat hoses.
An extra 10 minutes to pull wheels, pop the calipers off, block the pistons, and put it all back together when I'm bleeding brakes or doing a fluid change? Well worth it.

BFI will sell you two A4 calipers w/ rubber hoses for slightly less than what two new A1/A2 iron caliper costs. GAP is slightly higher, yes; but, they give you SS hoses, too.

You have no clue dude stop spreading misinformation . 16v calipers are not junk there excellence units and far better than the aluminum ones. remember these cars are 24 yrs old what you except there're supposed to last forever

bajan 4g

[haygood]

Wow. A lot of crazy stuff hapening in this thread. Here's my experience:

The rear calipers on your scirocco will have the e-brakes seize eventually. You can apparently disassemble the things and get them unstuck, or buy new ones and wait for them to stick. No, it doesn't take 24 years for new calipers to get stuck. The design is bad, the piston cocks sideways a tad, and they stick. I saw no reason to invest in more of those calipers.

I put A4 rear calipers on. I swapped them to the opposite sides and used the Scirocco II's same e-brake cables and whatnot. The eBrake cables have to be taken out of the wires that guide them near the trailing arm bushing, but that has never posed a problem and I don't see how it ever would. The A4 calipers are much lighter.

I bought hoses marketed for this swap, but that was a while ago and I can't find them now. Not long after that, someone realized the rear brake lines from a B5 Passat worked fine.

So, get calipers from any A4 (yes, I do believe all of the A4's used the same rear caliper, but I could be wrong there - look them up), and brake hoses from a B5 Passat ('98 - '04, I think). The bleed scews will be on the bottom, but that's really not a big deal. It just means you need to undo two caliper bolts, put a piece of wood in place of the caliper, and bleed them. Heck, that might even make it easier to not drip brake fluid all over the place in the process.

If you don't want to have lighter weight calipers with reversed bleed screws, the A3 ones will work for that. Also, as some have noted, you might could get different lines made and a different e-brake cable to allow you to mount the A4's right-side-up.

[red16vdub]

I never said you'll get another 24yrs ok. anyways like you said if the design is bad Mr designer/fabricator/engineer do us all a huge favor and make a new caliper. I'll be first inline.

bajan 4g

[killervr6]

You have no clue dude stop spreading misinformation . 16v calipers are not junk there excellence units and far better than the aluminum ones. remember these cars are 24 yrs old what you except there're supposed to last forever

bajan 4g

read over the posts again dude. the a4 calipers are much better. they are lighter. designed better and have a bigger piston. a big upgrade over the stock scirocco calipers. i know i have both sets in my garage and i have already compared them to each other a few times. the a4's are much better over all.

[cuppie]

You have no clue dude stop spreading misinformation . 16v calipers are not junk there excellence units and far better than the aluminum ones. remember these cars are 24 yrs old what you except there're supposed to last forever

Dude. It's the Scirocco folder - we try to keep flaming here to a minimum (if at all.) It's family, man!

I never you'll get another 24yrs ok. anyways like you said if the design is bad Mr designer/fabricator/engineer do us all a huge favor and make a new caliper. I'll be first inline.

As would I. Oh, wait, VW already did - MkIV calipers!

I never said (or even hinted) that I expected my new calipers to "last another 24 years." In fact, I have full service records for my car - the iron calipers I pulled off last spring were nowhere near that old. IIRC (I'd have to dig thru a stack of paper), the RR caliper that puked last spring was ~5yrs. old.
And, you can't blame salt in my case - the car is never driven in winter.

I installed my MkIV calipers the same way that haygood did - upside-down, different hoses, existing cables (slightly re-routed, and cable brackets on calipers tweaked for proper slack.) Works great, looks great (they won't corrode!), lighter, and the parking brake holds awesome.
Even if the pistons are a littel bigger (I didn't look that closely when I did the swap), I haven't had any brake-bias issues (and, I'm damned hard on the car. )

[J. Daniel]

The aluminum calipers from the A4 platform cars are attractive, but they have much larger pistons and will overbias the brakes to the rear.

Bigger pistons are not an "upgrade" when they lock the rear tires way before the fronts are close to maximum braking effort.
All these people yakking away and only one, Racer_X, mentions this major point!

Then there's the issue of the english language. Breaks??? Brakes!

[83mk2scirocco]

Bigger pistons are not an "upgrade" when they lock the rear tires way before the fronts are close to maximum braking effort.
All these people yakking away and only one, Racer_X, mentions this major point!

Then there's the issue of the english language. Breaks??? Brakes!

Thats why you use 16v porportioning vavles,.....

[J. Daniel]

Thats why you use 16v porportioning vavles,.....

If 16V proportioning valves are right for the stock rear caliper then their pressure reduction is not enough for an A4 caliper with a much larger piston.
But what the hell, go for it. Just don't be surprised when your car goes sideways when you stomp the brakes in an emergency.

[killervr6]

If 16V proportioning valves are right for the stock rear caliper then their pressure reduction is not enough for an A4 caliper with a much larger piston.
But what the hell, go for it. Just don't be surprised when your car goes sideways when you stomp the brakes in an emergency.

driving depends all on the driver. ive driven my brothers car with pads worn out so it was metal on metal durring the rain. i had to stomp on the breaks once and the wheels locked up. sure the car slid sideways a little but i was able to control it. i pulsed the break pedal to simulate abs in the rain. if your worried about that then learn how to drive.
im upgrading my calipers to a4 calipers in the rear. but i will also be doing the front a4's as the newer calipers are better all the way around any way you look at it. bigger pistons, better design, about half the wight of the cast iron ones, and bigger selection of break pads if you want to upgrade those also.

[killervr6]

i forgot to mention you would need to upgrade your rotors too

[Blaines_Rocco]

If 16V proportioning valves are right for the stock rear caliper then their pressure reduction is not enough for an A4 caliper with a much larger piston.
But what the hell, go for it. Just don't be surprised when your car goes sideways when you stomp the brakes in an emergency.

Jeez you guys are a little hostile in here. As for slamming on the brake with MkIV rear calipers, I've never had a problem with control.

[killervr6]

i found some brake line adapters online so you would still be able to use your stock scirocco lines.
female side is M10x1 male side is m12x1 gona use these to do my conversion. will put pics of it up later. did some fittment testing today and you actually dont need the rear metal lines from an mk4 to make it work. the stock ones are long enough and flexible enough to bend over the axle and right over the caliper. they might actually need to be cut down a little. and the ebrake feels perfect for me. not too tight and no slop in the cables