Thread: Ethics behind wrong core exchanges...

I've done that. I don't care. Half the time they just sell them to the metal man anyway.

You guys act like this is something new. This was real big about 3 years ago. One of the companies had an unbelievable price on loaded calipers, and almost the entire board bought those and returned the AD18's.

I understand questioning the ethics, but how many of you guys can tell an AD18 from an AD22 without reading the casting? We are "enthusiasts" and it is difficult. Either do it or don't that is up to each person. You aren't stealing without paying; you are returning a Nissan caliper after purchasing a slightly different Nissan caliper.

/thread.

I went to the junkyard and got some super rusty AD22's. This was in upstate NY at the time so those calipers were super beat. I could have just tossed my ad18's in there but I wanted to keep them just in case.

Yes, but...

Doesn't the re-man sell them at a cheaper price expecting to get the Core back? Thus, the core price is sometimes more than the calipers themselves. If there wasn't even a core price on the calipers, they would probably be a lot more expensive, plus when you are re-man'n parts, you kinda expect the part back otherwise you do not have any more parts to re-man and eventually run out.

I'm not really worried about not getting my core back from a local shop, but I think an online shop like rockauto may inspect them a little closer. But my question is more about the ethics behind returning a wrong part and getting it at a cheaper price. It is kind of like stealing, isn't it? If someone steals $50 instead of the $100 out of the cash register that's still a bad choice...may not be AS bad, but still bad.

If you are questioning the ethics, you are clearly having a problem with the notion at hand. So don't do it.

It's not the "right" thing to do.
It's not fair.
It's not polite.
It's misleading.
It's not what is expected.

Where does that leave you? You would do it to save yourself money. If you want to extrapolate it is stealing, it can be done easily. You are cheating the system. Its not really that difficult.

The rest of us just get it done, don't look back, and enjoy our cheap calipers.

No need to beat around the bush.

Dudeman

if there is a moral dillemma, don't get your core charge back. You arent required to return a core...

Just let us know how you feel once you've had to return a couple loaded calipers that were incorrect. Where the parts guys give you AD18's instead of AD22's. I wouldn't pull my car part, and walk to the store expecting to get the correct parts - get the correct parts and then pull your car apart.

I view this along the same lines as AutoZone and Advanced's "lifetime warranty" on parts. Their computer systems clear your history after 1 or 2 years, so you have to make sure and keep your receipt (that typically fades) so you can exchange your brake pads, calipers, etc at a later date. They can keep other info for years without an issue, but my warranty history has to be purged. I might be rationalizing, but the times I've had to buy stuff a 2nd time makes up for the time I screwed them on a core exchange.

You might want to place your order for calipers and verify they are available. Just b/c they are listed doesn't mean they can actually still get them. There might not be any rebuilt AD22's available anymore.....you know, with cores not being returned.

A little tech for this thread: buy a 10mm flared wrench when you do the brakes especially if you are replacing the brake lines. Don't try to use a standard open ended wrench. Craftsman should have a flared wrench with 10mm on one end and 12mm on the other. Have that in your collection.

Excellent point. I got a 10/12mm flared end for a buck at a used tool store in Tuscan and it works great.

I'm telling you guys most of the old calipers get melted down anyway.

Most of the stuff gets made in Chinese sweat shops. If you are going to turn the ethical lens to this level of detail you really should think about your buying decisions more broadly. The whole thing goes down the rabbit hole pretty quickly and you end up wishing you took the blue pill imo. So I shrug and turn in my ad18s

hmmm, only place I can find locally that has the calipers w/torque members is advanced auto.

$80 x 2 = $160 before core charge.

Kinda a steep price, but that's the only place that has them and I have checked everywhere. There's a place online(auto warehouse) that has them, but they said w/their core returns they actually send them back to the re-man for checking before you get your core back so that's not going to work out lol. Hopefully Advanced Auto hasn't changed their policy or I'm screwed.

Anyone had luck sending AD18 core back to rockauto.com(a forum sponser on sr20forum.com hehe)?

EDIT: Actually, looks like rockauto has the raybestos calipers for $140 AFTER core charge. So this is probably a better deal. If I go this route, I will report back if I get my core back

EDIT#2: Order placed. Let's see what happens. Worse that happens is I send my AD18 calipers back, pay for shipping, and they reject them I'm out only another $10 and I pay about as much as I would have at Advanced Auto. Best scenario is that they accept them and I get calipers for about $80.

-G

Just make sure the calipers come with the brackets/torque member, or you will be searching the junk yard for a set.