Doug1414 Posted May 30, 2017 Share Posted May 30, 2017 I am finding 3 or 4 sources and 3 or 4 different brands of wheel cylinders out there. Anybody have any ideas which way to lean??? Delco is what I took off. Will another brand fit my application?? Raybestos says it will fit. Is CARID a decent company to deal with?? They are a lot cheaper than Classic Buick.com. I would rather spend the extra money for reliability BUT if the others are adequate then that would be fine too!!! Also, the springs feel really good. But they are getting old. I am not a metallurgist so am not sure which way to go. The car only has 54,000 miles so I am wondering if that plays into it at all. To be honest if you guys were not out there I would just order it all. Whatcha think??? Thanks for being there!!! Doug1414 50 Special 40D Second Owner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Stoneberg Posted May 30, 2017 Share Posted May 30, 2017 (edited) Brakes are not something you want to take a chance with or do more then 1 time. If it was me, I would replace everything including all the springs. Cheap insurance. Give the folks at Bob's Automobila a call. They can probably point you in the right direction and are good folks to deal with. Edited May 30, 2017 by Bill Stoneberg (see edit history) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug1414 Posted May 30, 2017 Author Share Posted May 30, 2017 How about the companies? Classic Buick Parts or CARID?? Doug1414 50 Special 40D Second Owner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NC-car-guy Posted May 30, 2017 Share Posted May 30, 2017 I've never used CARID. Classic buick is good. I got all 4 wheel cylinders for my 54 from rock auto. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beemon Posted May 30, 2017 Share Posted May 30, 2017 (edited) All the springs can be sourced from a NAPA catalog, you just need to look for them. Most of my stuff comes from NAPA because it's usually not made in China. RockAuto is definitely the go to place for that stuff. If you're smart about it, you can nail down all the springs and hardware relatively easy by searching between 1956 Roadmaster to 1960 Electra (I believe 1961 was first year for self adjusting). Then get yourself a flash card, go to the NAPA website and use their part interchange numbers. Write everything down on the flash card so when you walk in, you can hand them the card and they can order the parts without asking "windshield wipers? is it 2 wheel drive or 4 wheel drive?". I also got my wheel cylinders from NAPA for cheap and have had zero issues in 2 years. If you want ease of mind, and looking to spend some real money, go to the junkyard and find some original wheel cylinders and send them out to be bored and sleeved by White Post Restoration. Edited May 30, 2017 by Beemon (see edit history) 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beerczar1976 Posted May 30, 2017 Share Posted May 30, 2017 I just replaced wheel cylinders on my '50 Special over the weekend...well the rears at least. Didn't get to the fronts yet. Not a hard project per se. One thing I did learn is to check the size of the brake line fittings that lead into the cylinders first...my line fittings were 3/8, but the new cylinders were 7/16 which led to 2 hours of driving around the Tidewater, VA area looking for brake line fitting adapters. Having never adjusted "star wheels" either, I had a tough time with that. The Manual will tell you which direction to move the tool up or down to spin the wheel, but I found that the directions only apply to one side of the car; the other side being an opposite motion...ughh!! LOL. I've learned now though. My cylinders are Raybestos Pro from Rock Auto...sourced from China. My originals may be rebuildable, but looked pretty nasty internally. As others have mentioned, it seems the cost of re-sleeving is probably prohibitive. Rebuild kits however aren't that expensive with the caveat that your cylinders aren't scored or pitted heavily. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackofalltrades70 Posted May 31, 2017 Share Posted May 31, 2017 13 hours ago, Beemon said: All the springs can be sourced from a NAPA catalog, you just need to look for them. Most of my stuff comes from NAPA because it's usually not made in China. RockAuto is definitely the go to place for that stuff. If you're smart about it, you can nail down all the springs and hardware relatively easy by searching between 1956 Roadmaster to 1960 Electra (I believe 1961 was first year for self adjusting). Then get yourself a flash card, go to the NAPA website and use their part interchange numbers. Write everything down on the flash card so when you walk in, you can hand them the card and they can order the parts without asking "windshield wipers? is it 2 wheel drive or 4 wheel drive?". I also got my wheel cylinders from NAPA for cheap and have had zero issues in 2 years. If you want ease of mind, and looking to spend some real money, go to the junkyard and find some original wheel cylinders and send them out to be bored and sleeved by White Post Restoration. I also sourced my wheel cylinders from NAPA for my 47'. Perfect fit and function. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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