Going rate for caliper refurb

Anyone got any ideas what the going rate for a caliper refurb is? I want my

16V calipers doing, which, IIRC are single pot calipers. Local factors quoted £36 with a £10 surcharge if I give them the old caliper back, which seems a bit dear.

How do you value your time in £ per hour? Do it yourself if you can do it cheaper having bought the necessary service kit.

Being a student... The thing with me is that brake failures aren't what you'd call minor. I drove the car the brakes are coming off for quite a while, and they worked fine then, so it's arguable whether a rebuild is required, but it does give peace of mind.

Well, if it sounds dear, DIY. I recently refurbished the 4 pot calipers on the SD1 - got the seal kits from my local factor. Mine has vented discs so the calipers are rare - but the pistons, which rust, are common to others. Got those off Ebay. Total cost much less than exchange items from a specialist. Unless I price my labour accordingly. ;-)

Could do. Lots of time on my hands (3 day weekend, ho yuss). What's the procedure for storing brake calipers and the like, and then filling them with fluid again? The whole brake system will be coming off the 16V, probably fitted to my 8v with a braided hose kit, and will be fettled up and kept in the shed until I can take the golf to bits for a weekend...

That price would be for exchange calipers. I don't even know of a single place (other than the suppliers) who refurb calipers. It's not cost effective for a garage to renew caliper seals on most vehicles, due to the cheapness of exchange calipers.

Erm..... where do you think the exhange units come from?

They take in your old ones in exhange for ones they've previously refurbished.

I'd wrap them in clingfilm and keep them somewhere dry. If you can't keep them indoors those plastic boxes for biscuit assortments are great - they are airtight.