Loose brake caliper = chewed up rim

[Hacklemerc]

First off let me say that I cannot blame anyone else other than myself for this act of stupidity.

Now that thats out of the way. Recently I painted my brake calipers (about 2 months ago). I put the bakes back together they worked fine, looked great. YAY ME. Yesterday I was driving to work and heard a metalic clanking sound, like something small and metal was falling off my car. First thought was "weird, hmmm" I stopped and checked it out, with nothing out of the ordinary noticed. I walked back to the spot in the road where I initially heard the noise and located a bolt, about 2 inches long. Next thought was "hmm I dunno what that is but I better pick that up, it looks like a FLM product."

I pick it up and head off to work. Driving down the road shortly there afterward at approxiamately 45 mph, I apply the brakes to slow for the coming stoplight. Thats when the right front wheel completely locked up. Traffic was heavy and I had a car right on my a$$. Luckily enough there was a NAPA auto parts at the intersection I was coming up on. I limped the car in with tire screaming and smoke rolling off the right front. Probably only went 30 feet. Get into the parking lot and stop. Thats when I realize that the brake caliper was wedged in between the rim and the rotor.

After a little bit of work and help from the guys at NAPA I got it loose. I then discover that the bottom bolt on the caliper was missing, and the top bolt was loose. The NAPA guy confirmed "yeah you got a bolt missing." This is the only time that luck was with me. I remembered I had stopped and picked up that bolt. I grabbed it out of the center console and discovered that this was indeed the offending bolt. We got it all put back together and working. I then limped the car to work and was crabby all night.

The damage done was a small groove on the inside of the rim, a slight flat spot on the right front tire, and severly damaged pride. I'll post up pics of the rim to see what you guys think of the damage. Hopefully it wont have to be replaced.

In closing, I am a dumba$$. I thought I had everything tight up front but guess not. I'm gonna pull the wheels of tomorrow and make sure everything is tight and secure. Once again... dumba$$

[fastblackmerc]

Always torque to specs and use Loctite.

[Hacklemerc]

THought I did have them tourqed right, no loctite....

[fastblackmerc]

THought I did have them tourqed right, no loctite....

I believe new bolts come with thread locker already on them.

[Mr. Man]

Bummer Dude. Hope the damage is minimal and doesn't end end up costing you to much $$$$ to fix.

[CRUZTAKER]

Sounds like something I would do.

If it makes you feel better....

Last week at the Creed concert, outdoor venue nearby, someone chose to key my entire hood. I damn near drove the MM that evening, but thinking smartly, I took the Focus.

I did not see the damage until the following day walking out to the car during 9am break. Scratched to the primer those bastards!

When I got home, I used a #3 grit compound and my hi-speed.
Then a finishing compound. Then cleaner wax. Then wax.

I was soooo proud that I completely removed the 5' scratch.
I cussed out the unknown offenders and proclaimed "I WIN you BASTARDS!"

Then I saw a small 1" run that had not quite come out on the hood crease. Oh yeah...you know where this is going...I grab the hi-speed one last time and proceed to BURN the paint down to metal in a spot the size of a dime. :mad2:

No more scratch...but terribly hurt feelings and dime sized blem square on the hood near the headlight.
I lost in the end...and had no one accuse but MYSELF.

[Got_1]

Sounds like something I would do.


No more scratch...but terribly hurt feelings and dime sized blem square on the hood near the headlight.
I lost in the end...and had no one accuse but MYSELF.


no no, you still have those basterds to blame! you can't buff out a scratch thats not there right? I HATE pricks like that who F with other peoples cars. man that pisses me off!!:mad2:

[Rocknthehawk]

Sounds like something I would do.

If it makes you feel better....

Last week at the Creed concert, outdoor venue nearby, someone chose to key my entire hood. I damn near drove the MM that evening, but thinking smartly, I took the Focus.

.


I found your problem right there.

[burt ragio]

We pride our rides. We clean pollish wax the finish to a perfect mirror shine. We can't believe other people would be so thuoghtless. I have two door dings. Yes two large door dings. One appeared the 1st month. The 2nd happened just last month. Every time I approach my car I see the dings.
As for the brake caliper use caution don't over tighten. I think 11lbs is required. Check to be sure. maybe someone will chime in.

[Got_1]

32 ft/lbs for caliper bolts and 118 ft/lbs for the anchor bolts

[Brian H]

Pics,.... WHERES the PICS?

[CRUZTAKER]

I found your problem right there.

....dodging the hijack...but I must retort...

A member here had like 20 free tickets because they couldn't even sell these things lol.

I went to take in the sights of young women scantily clad and the 20oz beers. :beer:

[Hacklemerc]

Pics will be posted later this afternoon. I've been working too much...

[TCBO1]

:oWow, and here I thought I was the only one that did that dumb kinda stuff... sadly I did it on a friends truck and she had to drive that was from Va back to MD. It ended up chewing a nice groove in both the caliper and the wheel.... yay! After "fixing" my screw up it locked up again. Joy. Turns out I some how got some locktight on one of the slide bolts and that was all she wrote. Needless to say, now I change my gloves after handling lock tight before touching other bolts, and I use locktight on the caliper bolts. Carppy way to learn....

[justbob]

I've never torqued nor applied locktight untill stories like these started popping up.

[sconut1]

Ya know...everyone makes mistakes. Makes you mad when they happen, and they sure bruise one's pride.

The first August weekend, I was putting new spindle bearings in my F150. I put on the wheel, put on the bolts, but didn't tighten and then the phone rang. I yapped for about 20 minutes or so, dropped the truck of the jackstands and threw the wheel cover on. Drove most way to the store and my left front tire flew off. Thank god I was only doing about 15 mph.

What do you do? I put the tire back on, got the truck back into my garage and ordered the stuff to put it back togeather (including a new rotor).

My mechanic buddy once put a battery in a car and got the polarity wrong. That wasn't a good thing at all; nor was it cheap to repair. My friend is a very competent mechanic... but he just had a bad afternoon.

Long and short...don't feel too bad. We all screw up once in a while! You just sigh, take it, be pi$$ed off for while and then deal with it and learn from it.

[ledzilla]

I know the feeling. Just before the 4th of July this year I put new rotors and pads on the rear. I was getting excessively frustrated at trying to get the old rotors off that I was rushing things by time I got them off. In my haste I failed to notice that I twisted around the brake line to the left rear caliper. The next day I proceeded to take the highway to attend a local band concert and fireworks some 30-odd miles away from home, requiring highway access. Halfway there while on I-294 I noticed that I lost pedal pressure. When I finally had somewhere to stop (construction just sucks) I found brake fluid all over the wheel. Had to limp it home after finding a shop selling brake fluid. Took most of a week to get a replacement line because no one had lines in stock, and the local store ordered the wrong side (two days to get the wrong one, two more days to get the right one). To conclude, I also had to replace the caliper as the bleed valve was fused inside and the head snapped off. Attempts to remove it damaged the caliper. So don't worry. We're all human, and are capable of incredible stupidity. :P

[Motorhead350]

Pics????????????????