My daily driver is a Volvo estate (sorry). Not your typical one, its a 250bhp, 4WD top of the range one, albeit approaching 20 years old. Its a V70R AWD for those into Volvos. Anyway, one of my brake calipers decided to seize last week - the piston seal had perished, moisture had got inside it and the piston had rusted and eventually seized when I hit the brakes. No real drama, just that the brake dragged badly after that but I was able to drive the remaining couple of miles home. Thats the background.
My previous daily driver was a similar Volvo estate, just not 4WD. I'd bought a set of calipers and pads for that car but never got around to fitting them, and so they've been sat on a shelf in the garage for a few years. Fast forward to today, and a quick check confirmed the calipers were identical
As I set about removing them I came to the conclusion that the brake flexi hose was rusted in tight. The nut was getting badly rounded and if I did manage to release it I doubt I'd be able to torque it back up after refitting... Which got me thinking again. I had seen a box of Goodridge brake hoses in the garage when I dug out the calipers... would they fit? They were marked up as FWD 16in wheels only - not 4WD 17in wheels, so I wasn't hopeful. But when I took the hoses out they were identical to the ones on the car! Result! So I've been able to replace the calipers, pads and hoses without buying anything new
So now whenever wifey starts complaining about the amount of spares that I have accumulated, I'll be able to relate today's good fortune and hopefully she'll agree that its a good idea NOT to throw out all these old parts which we seemingly have no further need for!
Mind you, I'm not sure I'll ever have a Citroen ZX ever again... Radio console for a ZX anyone?
they will do for another day 
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