ThumpAZ

I cannot believe this!!!
Wife was driving the Z down the road today and "heard a noise." She then went to come to a stop in traffic and HAD NO BRAKES!!!
Turns out that the passenger side front caliper had worked loose somehow and was dragging on the ground below the car.
Luckily she didn't hit anything or anyone and was able to pull into a parking lot safely.
Needless to say, I am travelling on business and was unable to go home or help in any way except to listen to her panicked screams when she called.
Now the car is sitting at the dealer and we'll find out tomorrow if they're going to cover it under warranty... as I put the Stoptech rotors, SS brakelines and Hawk pads on the car nearly 8 months ago. And, yes, I properly torqued the bolts and used high-temp threadlocker on them.
BTW... we lost both of those pads on that side, and will probably have to have the caliper replaced... either warranty or out of pocket.

This just sucks!!
pic:
http://www.uselessfurball.com/images/caliper.jpg

2003z

iTrader: (7)

ouch! sorry man! looks like the main mounting bolts didn't come undone, but the bolts that hold the 2 halves together. Did you even undo both of those bolts when you changed stuff out?

GTNPU Z

iTrader: (17)

Sorry to hear that man. At least nobody got hurt.

ZU L8R

iTrader: (84)

Holy crap! Glad to hear she didn't anything and is alright.

NismoGCoupe

If the rotors were installed by the dealer I can see them fixing under warranty but you installed them yourself so I doubt there going to cover under warranty, you would be very lucky if they do

zand02max

iTrader: (22)

Not covered under warranty, unless installed by the dealer. looks like your SOL.

ThumpAZ

The dealer told us today that if he has to replace the caliper, then he's gonna cover it under warranty. If it is only the mounting bolts, then we are on the hook for the repairs.

Incidentally... your caliper CAN come out of the wheel (should the bolts fail) with 19" wheels.

King Tut

iTrader: (1)

I guess its a good thing we have 4 calipers. As a precaution to avoid this happening to anyone else, I would recommend doing as you should with wheels and re-torquing the caliper bolts after a good 50 to 100 miles of driving. I am assuming the bolts came loose and did not snap. I think I will retorque my Stoptech caliper bolts this weekend as well.

westpak

iTrader: (19)

I agree it is not the big mounting bolts but the two little ones that connect the two halves of the caliper, you usually undo one to swing the upper portion out of the way to replace pads, not both though, but who knows how it was done, I will be surprised if they cover it and will probably put it on installer error if not done by them.

ThumpAZ

Well, they were not aware of the aftermarket parts on there, so we are on the hook for roughly $550 for the new caliper and mount and labor...
one bolt backed out apparently (even with factory-style lock tight compund made specially for high temps (including brake temps), and the othe snapped after bending the mount.

Both pads were still there, and the rotor is fine, as are the pads. The pads stayed in the mount when the caliper went flying... that is the only good thing out of all this. The caliper got a good bit of road rash, and was bent on the outboard side.

This really sucks, but, as said above, could've probably been avoided with a little preventative maintenance after the bed in. Hindsight, perfect vision... yadda yadda yadda.
I am emailing StopTech to tell them what happened, mabe they'll put in a tech note to check the torque after a period of time, just like you do with the wheels after removal/replacement.

___DJK___

iTrader: (2)

Holy crap, that makes me want to think twice about messing with my car (not that I think it was your fault)

ThumpAZ

I still cannot understand how exactly it could have happened. But... my wife seet-talked the dealer a bit and he discounted the labor and got rid of the overnight shipping (10% of parts cost). Saving us nearly $100! The car will be home tomorrow.

I am so thankful for two things...
The Z seemingly will NOT break loose from the road under 80mph in a 90degree turn and my wife is not a total ditz and didn't write off a loss of brakes as "most likely only intermittent."
She handled it very well, avoiding the stopped traffic in front of her and whipping into a store's parking lot without damage to others or the car. It was only when she called me that she went berzerk LOL.
Good job, honey (LadyLea on the board)