Brake caliper bolts
 

Hey guys, I'm trying to take the front calipers off to do some suspension work, left side was easy but the right side top caliper bolt is really tough. It almost seems to tighten the further I go even after dowsing it with PB Blaster. Am I just being too impatient with the penetrating oil? It's been over an hour now.

If it is really stuck, soak it in penetrating oil and let stand overnight. I have had luck by starting the process by turning clockwise just enough to break it loose and then backing it out. Sometimes the bolt is just corrosion-welded to the wheel carrier and nothing will prevent it from stripping out. Then you will need a timesert or fresh wheel carrier.

Bryan - How many miles on the car? Does it look like the brakes have ever been serviced? Also how long a breaker bar did you use, it might just need close to 100lb to get loose. Post a picture if you can take one.

It moves a little at a time using about a 18" breaker bar. I'll try soaking it a bit more & try it in the morning.
The car has 124k on it, I'm sure the brakes have been done in that time even though there is quite a ridge on the edges of the discs, but that is gonna be another project.

hehe,

When I am pulling calipers I often add a 4' galvanized pipe as a helper to the breaker bar. Let soak long time and give her a try. Do mic your rotors and replace if beyond runout spec.

I'm gonna let it soak all night, reapplying every now & then. Brakes are my next big project too.

Sounds an awful lot like a seized/galled thread to me. Be patient and let it soak, and then work the bolt back and forth to work the penetrant into the threads. Hopefully it will come out without too much damage.

I had this with the rear caliper bolts on my 2002 Boxster S

The bolt did come out eventually (with a lot of force) but the bolt was useless afterwards - you could see what corrosion had done to the end that was exposed to the elements for 10 years. Then, winding that through the hub carrier did quite a bit of damage to the threads.

However, I managed to get new bolts back in without too much fuss (basically cutting a new thread to a certain extent) and they torqued up well.

Definitely get new bolts.

James

I had this on mine and has been stated it will be a galled thread. What you are actually doing is dragging the thread out with the bolt. Once removed I had mine retreaded with an insert - too important to leave to chance and not very expensive to do.

The problem is at the end of the bolt that sticks out at the bottom...corrosion has damaged the threads. If you have a small Dremel with a wire brush you could clean up some of those threads. Also applying heat with a hand torch that you can buy at ACE would help too. Just be carefully when using a torch. Me, I have a good compressor with an impact wrench...bang, done.

Life is good for me!! I got the old bolt out & bought 2 new ones. Chased the top mounting hole with a tap (about a 45 min deal). And both torqued up perfectly. Thanks for the help & suggestions guys.
BTW, the new bolts are now T55 Torx, so when I do the brakes later i will replace the remaining 6 with the new style.

Bryan, you're lucky. My top bolts up front reamed out the threads in the wheel carrier and I had to use timeserts. What a pain.

had a galled thread on one of mine too, ended up getting them removed by a guy who goes by the name of the thread doctor (mobile unit) and he re-did the threads (30 pounds or $50 to you) replaced all the caliper bolts with the new design torx heads.

a 3ft breaker bar is the way to go on those !

If soaking does not budge it, get some heat on it, that will do the job.