Hi, I purchased two NEW rear brake calipers from an eBay store with PayPal, which was for my Alfa 156 as detailed below: Both of these failed, resulting vehicle damage and narrowly avoiding serious injury. I'm seeking to return the calipers and, as a minimum, a refund of the purchase price. They were claimed as new in the eBay advert and therefore, my conjecture is that these are refurbished (badly) units, since new brake caliers should not fail in this manner so soon, let alone two of them fail in such a short timeframe. I have since re-fitted the old calipers. Any help from the community, PayPal or eBay would be appreciated, since I'm getting ignored by the seller and neither eBay nor PayPal have an option to repost such product warranty/liability/refund claims past the 180 days. The purchase details, problem and request to the seller are described below in detail: Transaction ID: 4T199503G0129392Y REAR LEFT BRAKE CALIPER ALFA ROMEO 147 156 166 GT LANCIA LYBRA KAPPA Brand NeW Ebay Item Number 331558438692 REAR RIGHT BRAKE CALIPER ALFA ROMEO 147 156 166 GT LANCIA LYBRA KAPPA Brand NeW Ebay Item Number 331558447032 Total £115 inc. shipping. I fitted these in August 2015 prior to having the vehicle MOT tested and have driven about 3,000 miles or so since then. BOTH of the calipers have failed. On the O/S/Rear caliper the main piston seal failed and caused an accident on 6th March 2015 because I couldn't stop approaching a sharp bend - due to a rapid and complete fluid loss from the brake fluid reservoir. Luckily there was no serious injury but the car has suffered damage to the underside, side-skirts, two wheels and bodywork after leaving the road. This failure could have resulted in a very serious accident and my death. Upon examination I have found that the main piston seal of the O/S/Rear caliper, and also the handbrake mechanism seal of the N/S/Rear caliper have failed to maintain a pressure seal after a short time in use. I have photographic evidence available. The photos I have show just how much fluid was leaking from the handbrake seal, even with minimal fluid remaining in the resevior or any line pressure. In 5 minutes of having a piece of cardboard underneath it was soaked and therefore, the seals have failed catastrophically. Fluid has stripped the caliper paint and also damaged the paint on both rear wheels. These are damaged beyond repair anyway and will be replaced. The piston on O/S/Rear caliper was the most serious failure, and a lot of fluid had cascaded over the caliper surface. It appears that the leak from the handbrake shaft was not so catastrophic but has failed nonetheless. I have since refitted the original used calipers to temporarily repair the car and have therefore removed the new but faulty rear calipers I bought from the eBay vendor. Please note that, because of the way these new calipers both failed, I have little faith in the suppliers build quality and therefore, I would not want to risk fitting a replacement pair from them if this were offered. Instead, to avoid further time and labour costs, I will keep the original used calipers fitted. I requested the company to provide me with the contact details of the manufacturer of the calipers they supplied to me. Given the circumstances, I requested they advise me how they propose to resolve this situation. I'm a professional Engineer, and consider this to be a clear case of innapropriate pressure seal materials used or poor assembly of the apparently new product, but most likely a refurbished unit, given the failures encountered. Dr. James M. Smith BEng. CEng MIET
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