Brake caliper Akebono or OEM Volkswagen

Okay actually got some stuff done this weekend. Got the new rear spindles, refurbished backing plates, rotors, metal lines and soft lines, re conditioned original calipers…sure I’ll be revisiting these lol.

Added more desirable Akebono calipers to an old Jeep WJ

The little non sport Akebono calipers on q50’s are know for warping the OEM rotors. I went through 2 sets of OEM and kept getting the vibration when braking from highway speed before eventually buying some shtty Chinese “drilled and slotted” aftermarket’s. Never had the issue since.

Brake pedal drops a bit lower before it begins to stop but it is not spongy. They grab really good, shorter stoping distance, and I can make my ABS actually activate. With the original calipers it was pretty hard to activate for some reason, running the same Akebono Euros as this setup so must be the bigger calipers. Great Upgrade

So if you don't want to spend all that money on the full setup, a Mk7 Golf R caliper is direct bolt on fit to the Arteon. I spent $200 for calipers on EBay, $100 for a rebuild kit, $80 for new OE pads and $40 to reline the discs. Bolted right up.

I went with Akebonos with two-piece rotors. No complaints here.

Took it in to a shop today. They said calliper needs replacing. Rear driver side. Said they will put a new calliper, do a brake fluid flush, readjust the hand brake. I said break flush was done just about 3 months ago. It’s a clean light golden yellow color still. The mechanic said still needs to be done to get air out of the system. Seems logical. They quoted $740+tax. Does that sound reasonable?

I actually replaced drivers rear caliper last year, retaining the original actuator and it was perfectly fine since then until suddenly the parking brake failure this year. Old caliper wasn't moving correctly so I ended up smelling and seeing the smoke driving home one day.

Why do I have to screw in the brake calipers with the world's stupidest Phillips?

Wish they offered the same front caliper on Long Range besides the tiny uncoloured one I think it has, that's one gripe I dislike.