Brake Caliper Question

[Brian]

I installed new calipers, rotors, and pads on the front end of my brother’s 2006 Honda Civic in May of 2013. Well yesterday (1 year later) he tells me that his caliper fell off. It didn’t actually fall of though, but one of the caliper bolts was gone and the caliper was scraping against the wheel. I’ve done quite a few brake jobs and have never had anything like this happen. I guess the reason I’m posting is, if I did something wrong, I’d like to know so I don’t do it again and accept responsibility for my error.

I’ve done many brake jobs over the course of 20 years and am very meticulous, though I confess I did not use a torque wrench on the caliper bolts. I used Permatex Ceramic Extreme brake lube on the pins (not the threads). They were snug and by no means loose, nor over-tightened.

The car was looked at by someone else. Apparently the caliper bolt was gone, the threads had to be re-tapped (I’m assuming on the caliper bracket).

2 errors that I see are possible,
1) I didn’t torque down the caliper bolts, which would lead the bolts slowly backing itself out, but not a full year later. And if the caliper bolts slowly backed themselves out, why would the threads be stripped?
2) I cross-threaded the caliper bolt. I would’ve known I was doing this (I hand-started the bolts)and again, I don’t think a year later this would’ve caused the caliper bolt to come out.

In both scenarios, any error I made would’ve surfaced within the first 2 weeks or month after I did the install. The questions I see when googling this issue; no I did not use threadlock on the caliper bolts and never have in my history of doing brake jobs. I see this is something that is required by older Chevy’s and GM’s, but have never seen this in a service manual for a Honda/Acura. In any case, to strip the threads on the caliper bracket would require some bit of “force”. I asked my brother if he hit anything, and he said he was unsure because there was a lot of construction where he was driving.

Any comments would be helpful, but please no flaming.

Topic

[dan]

we don’t flame here, i have never seen calipers just fall off… if a caliper just fell off i am sure you would know about it pretty quick, was it not fastened correctly? that would probably be a better term too use.

its possible that you may have needed too add thread lock, also correct torque specs are important too make sure they are on nice and tight… may also be possible you forgot too tighten them.

[Brian]

The caliper didn’t actually fall off, but one of the caliper bolts is gone and caused the caliper to grind against the wheel. If I didn’t properly torque the caliper, I’m just curious, do you think it would’ve been much sooner than 1 year? Typically I’ve read people making mistakes and finding out about them weeks later. Let’s say hypothetically I didn’t tighten them enough, why would the threads be stripped? What I mean is, wouldn’t the bolt just slowly back it self out without stripping the thread? I’m not challenging you, just trying to wrap my mind around this entire situation.

[dan]

its hard too say, we all have accidents, we all make mistakes, and it all depends on all sorts of factors, just remember too double check your work next time bud, and if it makes you feel safer use some blue lock tight on them threads 🙂

[Stephen Bowen]

I wouldn’t fret over it to much. It’s hard to know exactly what happened. I know on the VW we just did the rear brakes on (again, cheap rotors) VW recommends new bolts that come with thread lock already on. I’m kinda on the fence about that, because after doing brakes on this thing? The bolts–when torqued down to specs? Can be a total PITA to break free.

The stripped part is the interesting one. I’ve had that happen more then a few times. Usually it’s aluminum with a metal/steel bolt.

Just do it by the book and call it good. Not everything will ever go 100%. “Murphy” makes sure of that.

S-

[EricTheCarGuy]

We all make mistakes, it’s part of the job. Just be thankful no one was hurt. I suspect you left it loose and it worked it’s way out. If it broke, you’d still see a piece down in there. For future reference I do NOT recommend the use of locktite or other products to prevent this in the future. Just double check the bolts and you should be fine.

[Author]

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