Im looking for an opinion on autozone front calipers. Are they comparable to oem? Im normally oem or napa biased. But I'm sitting on the side of the road with a smoking front caliper. Autozone and shucks are my only options since its Sunday.

Autozone calipers are Cardone remanufactured. Likely the exact same product you will find from any parts store, certainly as CSK.

 

 

They're hit or miss. Cardone just takes the core caliper that they get back from a sale, clean them up and put some new seals in them.....if the core was in decent shape, you will get a great caliper for a great price. If the core was really chewed up, you might only get a year out of it.

 

 

Should be lifetime warranty though. And Autozone has a pretty sweet system for warranties, don't have to save your receipt, don't have to worry about the information expiring. Any Autozone in the country will have a record of your purchase under your phone number, so if you should have a problem again, you can swap it out for a new one.

 

 

 

 

FYI, I work at an Autozone

Edited February 10, 201313 yr by Numbchux

i buy the rebuild kitts from subaru and redo them myself is not to hard and get good results kitt is like 20 $ takes 35 min to do have to buy the ebrake boot seperate

Numbchux that's good to know about cardone. Napa called me back and said they could have a set by noon. Its from Napa united, which cost more than their car done series . any options on those?

PS I'm 20 miles from. I've been driving 5 miles and then letting everything cool down. So I have a lot of time to over think this.

I have used AZ reman calipers on several occassions without problems. And should any problem arise their warranty is excellent.

Ok i installed the autozone calipers, along with new duralast rotors.  Hearing about the warranty makes me feel better about some of the negatives I've about read.  The calipers in the box were rebuilt OEM's and the hardware is similar to original.  I'll post back here if i ever have a problem.

On a side I bought a set of pads, that i didn't up needing.  The clerk told me that the pads were also lifetime warranty which includes normal wear and tear.  You guys weren't kidding when you said they had a good warranty.

I use Centric calipers and Pads. 

 

I have not had a lot of luck with Autozone components but I have a friend that works at the Zone now and he says they have improved quite a bit. 

 

GD

Ok i installed the autozone calipers, along with new duralast rotors.  Hearing about the warranty makes me feel better about some of the negatives I've about read.  The calipers in the box were rebuilt OEM's and the hardware is similar to original.  I'll post back here if i ever have a problem.

 

On a side I bought a set of pads, that i didn't up needing.  The clerk told me that the pads were also lifetime warranty which includes normal wear and tear.  You guys weren't kidding when you said they had a good warranty.

Yeah that warranty policy has convinced me to purchase from Autozone several times.  The one thing is that you have to be prepared for the possibility that the reman part may be bad out of the box.  The "bad out of the box" situation has only happened to me a couple times out of hundreds with Autozone and it does seem like their quality has improved, but if you troubleshoot a system by replacing parts (not recommended) then you can't necessarily trust that the "new" part is functioning properly and move on to another component of the system.  Of course this is true of any basic parts provider's reman parts, so Autozone is not exceptional in this regard.  If the part is testable like an alternator, then I have them check it before I leave the store.  Obviously calipers don't fit into that category.  

 

As a testimonial to improved quality, I purchased an alternator from them years and years ago.  Last time I swapped it out (at no cost to me) was several years ago and it's still running perfectly.  Before that, they seemed to last about a year and a half before I would swap them out.  Also, I watch my gauges like a hawk, so at the first sign of abnormal behavior I would replace the alt immediately.  Every time they tested it in the store they tested fine, but I just tell them that I checked it with my multi-meter and it is not functioning properly along with a visualization of my mood if I end up stranded on the side of the road because the old alt failed.  They have replaced it every time without problems, but it took a little convincing at times.  They are a great deal for certain components.

Of course this is true of any basic parts provider's reman parts, so Autozone is not exceptional in this regard.

This. Autozone is just a seller. Most remanufactured parts at most parts stores are Cardone. Alternators, CV axles, Calipers, etc. etc. Autozone is obsessed with putting the "Duralast" brand on the boxes, but it's the same part inside.

 

 

 

Also, an interesting bit about Napa. Most Napa locations are Franchises. The upside there, is local ownership, etc. But they are not as carefully regulated as many of the corporate stores. They can buy parts from other sources, and don't have the nationwide database to pull from.

 

The location here in Duluth has started getting these really terrible knockoff rotors. All the shops (and many of the retail customers as well) know that they're junk, so they don't buy them. But they still price them out, and make the other parts places price match them.

Edited February 11, 201313 yr by Numbchux