marcusw03

Anyone had a caliper just fall off? I recently had a break job done by my mechanic, he does VWs Porsches and Acuras. It happened about a week after I had the job done. I pulled over, jacked the car up pulled the wheel off and noticed one of the bolts had fallen completely out. This allowed the caliper to rub my Fuche wheel on the inside like a lathe taking a good couple thousandths off.

Is this common? Should I even consider complaining or just buy a new bolt and put new pads etc on?

Marcus

marcusw03

oh forgot it's the drivers side rear caliper.

Potomac-Greg

Definitely note the complaint and maybe show it to him. If you end up with a problem with the wheel or caliper, you'll want that record.

FWIW, I had a front caliper bolt slowly back out on my Mercedes C32. The first symptom was a knock. It became a scraping noise. Just tightened it up and no harm done.

M758

I had one BREAK off on track. I think a one bolt may have backed out and then it just broke on the other. However it was tough to tell from all the damage. Maybe it just came off after?

PorscheDoc

He didn't tighten the caliper when he put it back together. Oops

I would bring up the situation with the shop in a nice manner, and they should offer to fix it for you free of charge. Everyone is human and makes mistakes, but it should at least be brought up so it reinforces the theory of double checking your work before sending it out the door. The problem with brakes, is that it could have caused a serious safety issue, so the shop manager needs to know about it.

FRporscheman

Damn, a lathed Fuchs wheel. That'll surely put it out of balance. Complain to the shop, have them recheck your brakes, and make them aware that your wheel may need repair or possibly replacement.

marcusw03

Initially I wanted to go with FRporschemans response, when it first happened. You think it will really mess with the balance? it's 1/2" wide and about 5-7 thousandths deep.

Luis de Prat

Yes, and those 2 bolts take a good 85 Nm torque, too.

DarylJ

Absolutely common (I did it on my own truck doing the front brakes, and lost a wheel over it...the caliper punched through the inside of the wheel when I hit the brakes backing up before I realized what was going on), and absolutely the fault of whoever did the brake job.

You should get your brakes re-done and new wheel out of this. It's totally their fault.

FRporscheman

I suppose it's possible for the wheel to still be balanced, but the only way to know is to put it on a balancer. Besides, it's not your responsibility, and you shouldn't have to retain this damage, so make a stink and get your new wheel, or some equivalent satisfaction at their expense - it's their fault.