I recently ordered a pair of rear calipers from Rock Auto for my 86. Looked them up and decided to go with Raybestos rebuilt calipers. When they arrived, they were in Wagner boxes. Really no big deal since Wagner is a well-known brand.
I finally set about putting them onto the car after purchasing a pair of ThermoQuiet pads. Just doing a step at a time in the early morning and late evening to avoid heat and trying to avoid the pop-up thundershowers. My work flow was to install the left one with pads, leaving the fluid line loose. This was done in the morning.
The right one with pads was to be installed in the afternoon. When I took it out of the box and removed the emergency brake return spring, I noticed that the brake lever was loose. As I tried to tighten it down, I discovered that the threads on the screw was stripped. The lever wouldn't pull down against the seal since it only had a few good threads at the top. The bleeder valve had previously been stripped so a helicoil and a very small bleeder valve was installed.
Called my local AutoZone girl and she said she could have a rebuilt caliper on the counter by 3PM and she'd call me to let me know when it came in. So, I placed the order for a Duralast rebuilt because I wanted to keep the work flow going.
I went online and it was pretty easy to do a return. Go through the online return form, print out a return authorization and even a free return shipping label. At the same time, since the left side appeared good, I did a core return form for the left side caliper. Return shipping label, too. I took the option of having $5.54 deducted from my core refund, because I felt that was cheaper than shipping it back on my own.
On the way back from FedEx, stopped by AutoZone and picked up my replacement and got it installed when I got home. Took along my old right caliper for core. She said she needed to keep the box to return my core, and as she flipped it over, I noticed it was EXACTLY the same box I had just returned a Wagner caliper in. Just a Duralast label on the end. Hardware bagged the same way, too.
So, at this point, I have both calipers with pads installed and the fluid lines are hung up on the springs. Yesterday morning, I dropped both lines down to let them gravity bleed before attaching the lines to the calipers. Once I started getting fluid drips, I installed the new copper washers, tightened everything down and opened the bleeder valves to let the calipers gravity bleed.
After having a couple cups of coffee, I went back out to check the paper towels and had fluid on each, so I closed the bleeders. By that time, it was too hot to work any more. Did other things for the rest of the day.
About 7PM, I went out to see what I needed to do to replace my damaged E-brake cables and found a big puddle of fluid underneath the left caliper. Forgot to tighten the bleeder? Nope! Forgot to tighten the banjo bolt for the fluid line? Nope! But that's where the fluid's leaking from. When I removed the banjo bolt and line, I saw that there were pits in the sealing surface, and a raised shoulder on the thread bore where they failed to de-bur when they chased the threads. Two local auto machine shops couldn't resurface the area because there are no finished setup points on the outside of the caliper to set up on.
Back to Rock Auto Online for a return, but it won't let me. It would only allow me to track the stuff I've already returned. Found a number for Rock Auto through a 3rd party online help service and gave them a call. The guy was friendly and in less than 5 minutes, I had an email with return authorization and shipping label. Bad thing about this is that I've lost my core. I don't believe they will give me the $31.50 for the core I sent them.
As I removed the Wagner caliper from the left side, I wondered what the difference was, since the Duralast was packaged the same way. I took it around to the right side, compared the black "Rebuilt" markings and wouldn't you know, the Wagner and the Duralast have the same stamp on them?
So, I'm getting the same caliper locally, can have it the same day if I order in the morning, get a one-year warranty as opposed to Rock Auto's 30 day return period, and I can inspect it before I lay out the cash, and my AutoZone girl is some pretty decent eye candy.
My recommendation is to purchase from your local parts stores, unless it's something Rock Auto has that isn't available anywhere else. To their benefit, I can say that their return process is pretty much painless and without argument. You just have to wait for a while to get your refund.