argh, so last night i was diong some 'spirited' driving. and all of a sudden, when i hit my brakes i hear this hellatious noise up front left. i get out, and my wheel has been chewed up on the inside. my caliper was missing its lower bolt! i couldnt beleive it, i remember tightening them bolts as hard as i could *sorry, i didnt torque them like im supposed to*. i drive realy slow home, and i check the top one and its really loose too. was this because it got hot and cold or whatever and loosened up? or is it just my fault that i didnt tighten them enough?

 

There are some things that you can just hand tighten (meaning with a socket wrench), but the caliper assemblies really get strained so always torque them to spec. Around 60 ft/lbs I believe is the spec.

 

You could have overtightened them and stripped them. 60 ft/lbs is not a lot if that is the spec.

 

Overtightening can cause the bolt to stretch also, particularly if the component gets hot. Then the thermal expansion of the bolted part stresses the bolt to the point of stretching, and the bolt is shot. The bolt will look ok, but doesn't have much clamping tension left and works loose.

Dave

 

Wow! That's quiet the story! I had one of the bolts loosen up a little once on me, but that was because I got distracted and forgot to torque it down. I heard the noise every time I braked and it didn't come off. You're lucky that it didn't come totally free and rip the brake line off. I don't think you would have had any front brakes after that.
As for what to do, get some new bolts to start with (and don't make them home depot brand!) I think those are 10.8 bolts (high grade) and should really be replaced with the same kind. Then check to make sure nothing is stripped out.

Good luck!

 

Say it with me..........LOCKTIGHT.

 

With lugnuts?

Say it with me..........IDIOT. [/Napolean Dynamite] :P

 

I personally wouldn't use locktight on those bolts. Once they heatcycle a few times, it's already tough enough to remove them.

onelife2stories,

Either you didn't get enough torque on them or the bolts aren't the stock bolts with the correct hardening. They aren't cheap bolts. I replaced mine last year and I think they were about $8-10 a piece.

 

Reading is fundamental. Get your self a copy of Hooked on Phonics boy.

 

Either case, locktight won't work wonders, oh wonderful cutie that you are...

 

fghfjy

 

I've had that happen on an FC - it was pretty high mileage and the bolt snapped off. It's scary as HELL having the caliper hit the wheel.

Some times it's just an old bolt - too many heat cycles and removal/installation cycles.

Get new bolts from Mazda and take that load off your mind . You definitely don't want to do that again!

Dale

 

damn, that sucks, did you damage your caliper when it hit the wheel?

 

I'd say it's more likely that he probably overstressed the threads in the caliper bracket, and the thermal loads plus vibration worked the bolt loose. The bolts are usually stamped steel, while the caliper bracket is cast; the bracket threads will usually give way before the bolt threads will. Get some new bolts and try to thread them in; if there is significant resistance, you'll have to run a tap through there, and may have to end up resizing the bolt.
Regardless, both of these problems are the reason why there are "torque specs" and "torque wrenches". They didn't just come up with these out of thin air.

 

I doubt he over torqued the bolts. The torque spec is 79-98 ft/lbs. Due to the location and the amount of room, it can get difficult to that amount of torque on those bolts when you really are using a torque wrench.

 

thanks everyone! i dont think that i over torqued them. they werent stripped, i checked both the bolts and the spindle *is that correct? im still a newb*. neither one looked like it had any damage. i was wondering though, i had put antiseize on...could this be the problem? they were a bitch to get out so i thought maybe a little AS would help for the next time...
and yes, the caliper did reciece some damage...the lower rear part of it had hit the wheel, and it actaully caught a few times when i was slow. that was scary, clunk clunk clunk GAAAAARRRRRRRRRRR

 

:-( update
so i think i damaged my wheelbearing too. forgot to include that in my last post a few min ago. i got another bolt and got the caliper back on, i figured it would be a little out of balance b/c the wheel weights had been knocked off. well im driving and all of a sudden on a right turn *weight to the left* its griding really really bad. i thought the caliper came off at first, then i realized that it had to be the wheelbearing out... DEPRESSION

 

I'd say Mahjik's probably right, you didn't torque them tight enough.

As long as a bolt is properly torqued, anti-seize won't result in any bad effects.

 

sorry to hear that man..good luck with the fix..

 

haha :-P oops, i guess the second incident was the result of me being so pissed that i didnt think to tighten the lugs on the wheel. sorry. flame me.

 

Note to self : NEVER let onelife2stories work on my car

 

hahaha....guess who this n00b is?! my older bro!

 

eh go to hell man! lol, yeah thats my younger brother, he got my Turbo 2. he's a cocky bitch, but i have to admit, he is more mechanically inclined than i am. but hey, everyone forgets to do something sometimes right? dotn tell me that any of you have never made a stupid mistake!