They SUCK man WTF?

I wanted to change my pads and rotors before winter hit. So sometime in November I put the car on jack-stands and had a look-see at my brakes for the first time. I ended up changing the front lines and replacing with stainless-steel ones. I attempted to change the rotors, and I got to the 2 pain in the *** bolts on the caliper bracket. They wouldn't budge. I had a breaker-bar on them but I didn't quite have the leverage (being on jack-stands) that I needed to break them loose.

So... I decided to treat myself this Christmas to some new tools. I decided to invest quite a bit of money too since I don't want anyone I don't know ever touching my Z.

my new toys...

<img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2401/2215994786_43739a1c7c.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="DSC00123" />

<img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2156/2215994872_3544c46d94.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="DSC00125" />

I also bought 100' of polyurethane air hose so I could run around the car 5 times if I needed to.


So what was the outcome...

The outcome was quite disturbing. The ratchet rated at 50 ft.-lbs wasn't strong enough (of course), and the the gun rated at 500 ft.-lbs wouldn't fit (again, of course).

I was quite pissed doing this Monday night (18 degrees) laying on my driveway. Call me crazy but I had to do it, lights in the dash were telling me to! (abs, vdc, slip, handbrake... they've gone off since then).

The one thing I'm kicking myself in the **** for not trying is that I didnt try cutting the wheel while the car was in the air to see if I could fit the gun in. Maybe it would work, maybe it won't.

Having come to a brick wall at the same exact spot twice, I need a sure bet before I put this car on stands again and have a melt-down. Any advice?

 

Did you try some PB Blaster? I got mine off with a breaker, good PB soak, and a little muscle. Soak the bolt, tap it lightly with a hammer, repeat. I didnt wait more than 10 minutes before giving it a crank. If that doesnt work, soak it some more, tap with the hammer and walk away for an hour (more beer!).

If that doesn't work, you can always steal a gorilla from the zoo for assistance...

Either way, sorry to hear your tools didn't work out!

 

PB Blaster will definitely help loosen up the stubborn bolt. When I removed my calipers, I was actually out of PB Blaster, so I used a small butane torch to heat the bolt up, and it ended up coming off fairly easy.

 

Luckly mine were only slightly more tight than the prescribed 114ft-lbs, so I only had to get a little ticked off before they came off

 

i've found that if you lie down underneath the car and push on those bolts w/ a breaker bar then it's not to bad. I'll be damn if i am going to let my 405 lb bench press go to waste

 

The calliper bolts are not fun. Since you are looking at the bolts backwards, you are turning them in the correct direction right?

 

Good suggestion. The tapping sets-up a vibration between the surfaces allowing penetrating fluid to, well, penetrate. Spray the bolts the day before and driving may also be helpful.

I installed the bolts with a dab of anti-seize compound.