Replacement for PBR phenolic pistons

[mavil6]

I've gone ahead and ordered up a set of PBR calipers (phenolic pistons and all). I also sent an email to Centric asking if they could provide dimensions for that #14645009 piston referenced in this thread. The car I am putting them on will probably get driven twice a week for as much of the year as Wisconsin weather will allow. Did I miss it somewhere in this discussion if someone had provided an actual hands-on measurement of the PBR piston. I know I've seen places where it is referred to as a 44.5mm, but if that were the case then there's no way those Pathfinder pistons would have gone in there.

[DPDISXR4Ti]

I have registered on this forum for the sole purpose of reviving this thread. I am interested because I am swapping SN95 spindles onto a fox body T-bird and was planning to use the PBR calipers. So, anybody come up with anything since this was last discussed on here?

I wish I had something to share with you, but I still haven't gotten around to swapping in the steel pistons from the G60 calipers into the PBR. I will never again run the PBR calipers with the stock phenolic pistons. I'd sooner run the older cast iron caliper, which is precisely what I'm doing right now. That's been 100% reliable on two different cars. And that's with calipers that were pulled at the junkyard and slapped on.

[hEaT]

I have registered on this forum for the sole purpose of reviving this thread. I am interested because I am swapping SN95 spindles onto a fox body T-bird and was planning to use the PBR calipers. So, anybody come up with anything since this was last discussed on here?

I wish I had something to share with you, but I still haven't gotten around to swapping in the steel pistons from the G60 calipers into the PBR. I will never again run the PBR calipers with the stock phenolic pistons. I'd sooner run the older cast iron caliper, which is precisely what I'm doing right now. That's been 100% reliable on two different cars. And that's with calipers that were pulled at the junkyard and slapped on.

I gave up on mine finally too and have gone with different calipers.

[my8950]

I gave up on mine finally too and have gone with different calipers.

Such as?

[hEaT]

I gave up on mine finally too and have gone with different calipers.

Such as?

Wilwood DynaPros

[Dangie]

Good Day to All! Fitting that I would be digging up this thread from the grave after Halloween weekend. So our road race XR had sticking front calipers despite being fresh remans and using quality racing brake fluid. The RF was kind of bad but the LF was stuck solid. Mark, my teammate, pulled the caliper, put 150psi through the caliper and neither piston would budge. He had to destroy the pistons to remove them.

Alas, we have found a solution! He purchased some pistons from Rock Auto, Centric part number 14645013 and they are a perfect fit bore-wise. The piston is about an 1/8" shorter than the phenolic but that's not much of a concern since we check brake pad wear regularly. For those of you with issues, this will be a permanent, off the shelf fix.

[jkxr4ti]

Nice find. Here are the cross reference applications for that PN
Centric 14645013
According to the caliper specs the Piston Size is (OD) (mm) 44.96


CADILLAC CTS 2008-2014
CADILLAC SRX 2010-2016
CADILLAC STS 2009-2011
CHEVROLET CAMARO 2010-2015
CHEVROLET CAPTIVA SPORT 2008-2015
CHEVROLET EQUINOX 2007-2009
HYUNDAI EQUUS 2011-2016
HYUNDAI GENESIS 2009
HYUNDAI SANTA FE 2007-2019
HYUNDAI SANTA FE XL 2019
KIA K900 2015-2017
KIA SEDONA 2002-2005
KIA SORENTO 2003-2006
PONTIAC TORRENT 2007-2009
SAAB 9-4X 2011
SATURN VUE 2008-2010
SUZUKI XL-7 2007-2009



The 2000 mustang piston centric 14545006 is listed as:
Piston Size (OD) (mm) 45.0088

Applications

BUICK RAINIER 2004-2005
CADILLAC CTS 2003-2007
CADILLAC ESCALADE 2002-2006
CADILLAC STS 2005-2011
CHEVROLET AVALANCHE 1500 2002-2006
CHEVROLET SILVERADO 1500 2001-2005
CHEVROLET SSR 2003-2005
CHEVROLET SUBURBAN 1500 2000-2006
CHEVROLET TAHOE 2000-2006
CHEVROLET TRAILBLAZER 2002-2005
FORD FIVE HUNDRED 2005-2007
FORD FREESTYLE 2005-2007
FORD MUSTANG 1999-2004
GMC ENVOY 2002-2005
GMC SIERRA 1500 2001-2006
GMC YUKON 2000-2006
GMC YUKON XL 1500 2000-2006
ISUZU ASCENDER 2003-2006
MERCURY MONTEGO 2005-2007
OLDSMOBILE BRAVADA 2002-2004
SAAB 9-7X 2005

So by the specs these appear very close.

[jkxr4ti]

Looking at the Cadillac STS application calipers.. the banjo and bleeder fittings are the same size as the mustang and those calipers at least look damn close. The banjo fitting is just at the bottom corner vs the back on the mustang calipers. I’m tempted to go to the parts store and do a little comparison.
STS caliper on top mustang caliper at the bottom...

[DPDISXR4Ti]

Nice work guys. Good thing you didn't wait for me to get this figured out!

[DPDISXR4Ti]

Alas, we have found a solution! He purchased some pistons from Rock Auto, Centric part number 14645013 and they are a perfect fit bore-wise. The piston is about an 1/8" shorter than the phenolic but that's not much of a concern since we check brake pad wear regularly. For those of you with issues, this will be a permanent, off the shelf fix.

So have you actually been running with these pistons installed?

[jkxr4ti]

I’m giving an update on this topic. Doing a rebuild on my PBR calipers before Carlisle and thought I would get a few photos and add to this post.
I bought the pistons listed in this topic centric 146.45013 and they appear to fit great in the pbr calipers. I also bought the seal kit for the same calipers which is a centric 143.62035. I would recommend going with the mustang seal and boot rebuild kit instead of the centric kit made for these new pistons. The caliper seal is a little narrower then The mustang seal by .020
The mustang seal measures .113h x .140w and the STS seal measures .116h x .120w just keep in mind I’m measuring a used mustang seal. The dust boots however look identical between the two.
The funny thing is; and by that I mean funny sad, the PBR’s pistons are stuck in the bore yet again. I had one sitting on the shelf for about a year and that one wouldn’t even go into the bore at all. Just another example of how bad these phenolic pistons suck.
Will report back after a few hundred miles of testing to PA and back and let you guys know how they are holding up.

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[jkxr4ti]

Some more photos

[thesameguy]

Thank you for following up... It's really fantastic when threads don't just die with the thought!

I may be going through this soon... The XR has been sitting for about a year, probably the calipers are seized. OTOH, it may prompt me to go with Wilwoods... They aren't all that expensive and then it's just solved.

[DPDISXR4Ti]

If you arrive in Camp Hill with a crumpled front end, I guess we'll know it didn't work!?

Thanks for keeping on this project. Maybe some day I'll still try the Audi pistons, but don't hold your breath!

[jkxr4ti]

I feel pretty good about these pistons. And honestly the chances are much better that I pass out and die from the fumes or the hanta virus at this point.