Hi guys. After like 30000 miles my 04 TL needs brakes. Got a quote of 330.00 from the honda dealer which is decent (they will be using brembo pads)--problem is when they went to resurface the rotor the guy said he could not get one of the large-ish bolts that holds in the caliper. He said if he tries to turn it anymore it may break the caliper which would cost over 400.00 to replace --any suggestions I could give him ? (for any of you who have done their own brakes)
I would think there is some type of liquid wrench or something that would enable him to get it off but i would have to believe they would have thought of that. My car has over 75k miles...
Is there a TSB on this or something ? We left it where they are just not going to resurface the rotor...which isnt an issue at this point because it was not pulsing or anythng pre-pad replacement.

 

Make sure they are trying to remove the 2 outer BOLTS
not the 2 `allen head` bolts more towards the middle of the caliper (those hold the caliper halves together)

An old trick is to try and slightly tighten a stuck bolt - then loosen it
That breaks the corrossion bond for you

Or try some computer cleaner/compressed air spray- turn the can upside down and it shoots out super cold- thats another old trick- the cold shrink of metals

A good tech will know these things- a stuck bolt should not cause the job to come to a halt

 

01tl4tl - Wouldn't he break the bolt and not the caliper?

 

yea the bolt would break before the caliper does....lol

 

Which just means more time for the dealer to get the busted bolt out, but not a new caliper.

Never heard of the compressed air trick, I'm trying that next time I have problems getting a bolt out.

 

that would make sense to me too...breaking the bolt not the caliper. perhaps he meant he would break the housing that surrounds the caliper. I dont work on brakes...never have but those are great tips in general to get a loose blot free from anything. The guys working on my car seemed like nice guys but on the very young side...I would guess early 20's so perhaps the experience isnt there. Just guessing...

 

how about you try a different dealer to do it for you?

 

negative. The bolt is steal and it wil eat right through the aluminum on the caliper:

https://acurazine.com/forums/3g-tl-problems-fixes-114/brembo-stripped-caliper-thread-724300/


The bolt has been overtorqued or has rusted in. You can try soaking it in pb blaster but you are about to get screwed. Fear not though. If the bolt strips out the caliper, have a mechanic install these:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFSyfY1VLtU

It's siimple and it works. I believe you need a 14mm with a thread pitch of 1.5. I just did this!

 

FYI, this is a common problem on overtorqued brembo calipers.

Here's another video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rUA4...eature=related

 

being the first brake job they should only be factory tight at 80 foot pounds- so its a rust issue in the threads
The bolt may stretch, but its the threads that are cut or pinned into the caliper that get ripped out, I have seen this on a gen2-after dealer serviced brake job- threads came out ON the bolt!!

as said- some PB blaster-seafoam-wd a few times-
the senior tech should have no problem--and all the right tools, a long breaker bar,,

this should not be an `off the books` job by your buddy,,,
if the honda dealer hasnt done brembo before-dont let them do it
look in the phone book ads for a shop that says acura-honda in its cars they work on every day
If you think this is bad:
Wait till you have to get the rear rotors off,,, and they are stuck on the center hub to rotor area--then you will know pain

 

everyone should flush their brake fluid- push new fluid thru until thats what comes out the bleeders
Acura says start at year 3 then every year
If the brake bolts are stuck- imagine whats happening in the very hygroscopic fluid!!
If you have an 07- start now
if you have an 04 with low miles- doesnt matter--time=moisture absorbed = bad news
start now and every year forever- no kidding- its an easy diy and cheap insurance on good braking force

 

Yeah absolutely made me raving mad when I had to change my rotors out. I thought I was going to snap the head off of the bolts using the breaker bar as long as I did. I found three of the bolts cross threaded holding the calipers on. Absolute B***** getting them off. I mean it was ridiculous. I cursed out everyone who builds Acuras. I had to spend $70 on HeliCoils and new bolts. It looks like they just drove the bolts in at the factory and didn't even start the thread correctly. I am getting p***** just thinking about it

 

+1

 

Doing brakes early and using ANTI-SEIZE does wonders for the next time they need to come off.

 

+1 This is pretty easy to do, and I can tell you the fluid that came out when I did it was nasty looking....

 

Yep, but none of that will help with that bold being frozen

 

*bolt

 

iirc when I did a brembo 05 TL rotora install- we used a 3-4 foot long bar over the breaker bar- thats some serious leverage
Use that after PB on the thread part of the bolt- not the head,
and give the tighten loosen method a try before getting brutal

The bolt better not break! its a grade 8 aircraft spec strength bolt!!
normal bolts are grade 5, important ones -8

 

i just have a nice gun to hit it with and the bolts come right off.