Any reviews on Vick's standard brake calipers?

bb4re

bb4re

86X 22,000 miles
Can anyone provide me with a first hand review of Vick's brake calipers? I have an 86X that I recently picked up. Genuine barn find with 22K miles. Put away in 1994. The guy that I bought if from pulled it out last summer. Fired right up and idled smoothly after I cleaned the tank and put on a new Bosch fuel pump. Needs all new belts, fuel lines and hydraulics (of course). Changed oil and gear oil. Unfortunately I may not end up keeping it...haven't an indoor space to work on it or store it. I would prefer to get it sorted prior to selling...but we will have to see. Vick's caliper prices are good....but what is your first hand experience with these? Thanks in advance.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20181025_172048.jpg
    IMG_20181025_172048.jpg
    496.7 KB · Views: 127
  • IMG_20181025_171955.jpg
    IMG_20181025_171955.jpg
    471.5 KB · Views: 126
  • IMG_20181025_171922.jpg
    IMG_20181025_171922.jpg
    331.3 KB · Views: 133
  • IMG_20181025_171902.jpg
    IMG_20181025_171902.jpg
    244 KB · Views: 128
bb4re said:
Can anyone provide me with a first hand review of Vick's brake calipers? I have an 86X that I recently picked up. Genuine barn find with 22K miles. Put away in 1994. The guy that I bought if from pulled it out last summer. Fired right up and idled smoothly after I cleaned the tank and put on a new Bosch fuel pump. Needs all new belts, fuel lines and hydraulics (of course). Changed oil and gear oil. Unfortunately I may not end up keeping it...haven't an indoor space to work on it or store it. I would prefer to get it sorted prior to selling...but we will have to see. Vick's caliper prices are good....but what is your first hand experience with these? Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

The lack of fade in the burgundy upholstery tells you this was a garage kept car from new.
 
Are the calipers on the car actually problematic?

My view is the OE parts from back then are better than the new parts being sold today. I would replace the hoses and pads and call it good.
 
I am just guessing they are frozen up from such a long rest....but maybe not? They weren't locked up onto the rotors.
 
The car looks to be in very good condition overall.

I recently looked at the availability of calipers in general. Seem to be in somewhat limited supply. I saw the ones listed on VAS site. No information about them is given. I assume for that price they must be import items (but not from Europe if you know what I mean). That could be very good or not so much, depends on the particular manufacturer. It will be interesting to hear if anyone has purchased and mounted them to give a review.
 
I had a vick new caliper on the front and it was fine. Nothing special on installation and bled fine.
I than needed to replace a single rear caliper. The vick caliper has a much shorter ebrake cable pull. Therefore the ebrake only works on the vick caliper and not the old caliper. I now need to decide which side I am going to replace so them are the same.
Side note; Doing a spirited drive with the ebrake on with only 1 caliper tight does ruin a rotor.
 
Can't help with caliper review. If you were keeping it, the front brake upgrade they offer is worth it.

That car does look great! Besides the unfortunate dents :(
 
Doubt I would go that far on brakes. I have owned nine of these cars over the past 35 years and never felt like I needed more brake than I had...acceleration is another story. Lol
Pretty sure I am just going to let this one go. I wasn't really in the market when I crossed paths with it. I actually had already ordered a complete set of the Vick calipers, but was told that they are complete crap...even though the person in question had never tried them (he was just quoting experience from all the other Asian Vick equipment he had attempted to use. Since it is deep into Winter here and I do not have an indoor environment to store or work on it, I am thinking I will just throw it on eBay and include the new tires, calipers, rotors, belts, hoses, heater valve and hydraulics I have purchased for it. It takes up driveway space. As long as I get my meager investment back, I will be satisfied. Paint does need attention, quite a few chips and those darn two dings. I have a couple of paintless dent removal tools I want to try out. Might see if they pull out at all. Probably won't work, but it's worth the effort.
lookforjoe said:
Can't help with caliper review. If you were keeping it, the front brake upgrade they offer is worth it.

That car does look great! Besides the unfortunate dents :(
Click to expand...
 
Will do. Most likely list it over this coming weekend. I will post it on XWeb when it is up. It will need sorted, but is an extremely low mileage X.
 
toddr124 said:
I than needed to replace a single rear caliper.
Click to expand...
When it comes to brakes, I've always felt the best policy is to replace/repair things in pairs (both sides). Applies to pads, rotors, calipers, hoses, any brake (safety) related item. I've known people to replace just one pad when they wear unevenly, keeping one old used pad on the same caliper. Or keep all their old used pads and mix/match the "better" ones to put back on. Or buy used unknown brake parts from junkyards and install them as is. All of it can be done, but not a safe policy in my opinion. Don't get me wrong Todd, I'm not saying you have done any of this or that replacing one caliper was wrong. This is just a general note of my opinion when it comes to brakes and safety...which is funny when you consider some of the other really dumb things I do. :oops:
 
bb4re said:
I am thinking I will just throw it on eBay
Click to expand...
Please consider posting it for sale here first before going to eBay. This forum represents a major segment of the X1/9 world and the members might appreciate the opportunity to buy a good example of one before the rest of the world can.
 
Dr.Jeff said:
Please consider posting it for sale here first before going to eBay. This forum represents a major segment of the X1/9 world and the members might appreciate the opportunity to buy a good example of one before the rest of the world can.
Click to expand...
I have decided to auction it on eBay and the rules here state that a price must be listed on all sale ads. I will state that the reserve will be reasonable. I believe I can post a link to the sale here, without issue. I will do so, and everyone here will have the opportunity to watch/bid for the duration of the auction, or message offers.
 
Last edited:
Thomas

Ebay or BAT are good choices. You can post the auction link here on Xweb when it is live. I will try not to buy it. ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top