To ensure that your caliper units make it to HQ safely and in one piece we recommend the following procedure to drain, seal, secure, and pack your calipers for their trip.

We recommend completely draining and disposing of all brake fluid prior to shipping. Fluid-soaked cardboard is weak and quickly degrades ultimately leading to loss or damage. You want to avoid contact with your skin and eyes so wear appropriate gloves and eye protection. If the pistons are extended try to push them back into the caliper, this will help force the fluid out of the caliper body. You can set the calipers up to drain into your container for proper disposal.

Before you ship your calipers, you will need the following items to properly pack them for a safe journey.

• Plastic bags: Think heavy duty, gallon Ziplock bags work perfectly, don’t skimp, double bag them. If you are using regular plastic bags, ensure they are durable enough to handle the job, and use zip ties or tape to seal the bags.
• Plastic bag for shipping documents: Once you complete the CHQ Shipping form, put it in a baggie for safe travels. Brake fluid destroys printer ink, and your information will be lost.
• Dunnage: Calipers moving freely in the box will eventually escape. Eliminating any movement in the carton will prevent damage and loss due to box failure. We recommend newspaper, uncontaminated (dry) shop rags, cardboard, or bubble wrap. DO NOT REUSE AMAZON AIR BAGS!! These are WEAK and they ALWAYS FAIL. Calipers are too heavy, and the Amazon bags are thin, do not use them!
• Packing tape: High quality tape, don’t cheap out on this part. Tape, tape, tape, lots of tape. No blue painter’s tape, no scotch tape, these will all fail, and you will lose your calipers.
• Shipping boxes: Strength is key to the outer box! Heavy-duty, double wall corrugated is ideal for shipping calipers. If you have doubts about your box, it’s too weak. We even have customers build wooden shipping crates for super-rare calipers. Do it right and you won’t have any problems. 

Instructions:

1. After removing the calipers from your car, you want to be sure to get as much brake fluid out of the calipers as possible. Open the bleeder with the appropriate wrench. If the bleeder is stuck don’t force it and cause any unnecessary damage. Brake fluid is nasty stuff so be sure to capture it in an appropriate container for disposal. 
2. Once you have removed as much of the brake fluid as possible you want to wrap each caliper in plastic bags to make sure that nothing escapes during shipping. The Post Office will dispose of your shipment if there is leaking brake fluid, it’s a hazard and they will simply destroy your shipment and you’ll be out of luck. We recommend at least 2 layers of plastic bags just to be sure. Gallon ZipLock bags are a great choice if your caliper fits, if not you can use pretty much any heavy-duty plastic bag. Remove as much air and make sure you seal each bag with either tape or a ziptie, something to prevent the bag from opening. We recommend bagging each caliper separately, so they aren’t banging into each other during shipping.
3. Box selection is very important when shipping calipers. A brake caliper is a solid hunk of metal and can destroy a lightweight box if you’re not careful. We recommend using a heavier weight box to prevent damage during shipping. We want to make sure that your calipers arrive to us safely and undamaged. USPS Flat Rate Shipping boxes are perfect For most passenger vehicles and light truck applications you should be able to fit a set of calipers into these boxes and this is maybe the most economical way to transport your calipers to HQ for restoration. This will ship to us from anywhere in the Continental US for less than $25 and you can add insurance for added peace of mind should anything happen along the way.
4. Once you have your calipers all wrapped up and sealed in plastic go ahead and place them into the shipping box. You want to be sure and prevent any movement during shipping. 20 LBS of steel bouncing around inside will take this box apart. So, what can you use? Pretty much anything that will keep things stable. Newspaper, paper towels, clean rags, pieces of cardboard, anything that won’t get compressed and allow movement. We do not recommend using air bags or packing peanuts as these can get compressed and allow for movement and potential damage. Remember these are valuable parts and you want them back.
5. Before you seal the box, you need to fill out and put your paperwork into the box with your calipers. There are 2 pages, one that has all your contact info and the other has our shipping address on it and can be taped to the outside of your box. Fill out the CALIPER ORDER FORM, put it in a plastic bag and put it inside the box with your calipers.
6. Ok we’re almost ready to ship. Calipers are all wrapped up and safe in their bags, they are securely in place in the box and your paperwork has been placed on top. Time to seal the box up. Don’t be stingy with the tape, we want to be sure that everything arrives to us in one piece so make sure to securely close the box. Fill out and tape the shipping label to the box and you are ready to ship!

Unfortunately, we have experienced lost caliper cores due to improper packing and shipping. We do everything we can to ensure safe delivery and have retrieved priceless cores from the postal service when all hope was lost. While this is rare, we do suggest that every precaution is taken to ensure your calipers have a safe ride to us for restoration. Caliper HQ is not responsible for calipers lost due to poor shipping methods including fluid-soaked boxes, ripped or torn packaging, dropped and damaged calipers during transit.