sonofbuster Posted January 31, 2014 Share Posted January 31, 2014 two nights ago driving home, i noticed a clunking noise coming from the front of the car. pulled over, got out and checked all the lug nuts since this car's had wheels loosen before*. sure enough, passenger-side lugs on on front were slightly loose and one popped while tightening. the other four snugged up fine (or so i thought). rear was a little loose too, but not bad. drove home the rest of the way without any more noise. fast forward to this morning, i was dropping the kid off at school and on the way noticed the clunking again so on my way back, pulled over to check the lug nuts. with wrench in hand, i went straight to the passenger-side front tire, took one look (maybe two), got back in the warmth of my vehicle and called for a tow. the wheel was hanging on with two lugs and three broken off studs. so i got it home and got the car up, wheel off (other two lug nuts came off without issue and, to the naked eye, look OK). removed the caliper no problem, but the lower bolt of the brake caliper frame snapped near the head. the top bolt came off fine so i tried to pivot it out of the way with no success. the bolt will have to be extracted since most of it is still holding the pieces together. if i wail on that frame hard enough, will it eventually swing out of the way so i can break some more parts? is my only hope to extract the bolt? * back in the spring, with my aluminum summer wheels on, every lug nut loosened and the passenger side was worse with one lug gone missing from the rear. i highly suspected vandalism or pre-theft as i had pulled a front wheel off and torqued it just before that happened so at the very least, that wheel should have been tight. anyhow, it was bad enough that there was noticeable clunking. fortunately, none of the wheels came off, unfortunately, my wife was driving the car for who knows how long before i tightened them up. i suspect that incident didn't help the wheel studs last any longer so possibly here we are today... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sonofbuster Posted January 31, 2014 Author Share Posted January 31, 2014 also, what type of extractor would hold up to that bolt size? the square type or spiral type? thanks.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted January 31, 2014 Share Posted January 31, 2014 you have a serious lug nut problem. they shouldn't be coming loose all the time like that. tighten them properly (harder?) or find out why they're coming loose. if it's one wheel in particular then replace that rotor (i've only seen/heard of that issue being on the rears though). if it's more than one wheel then it's not likely that's the issue. if the brake caliper bracket bolt broke - those things are huge and no extractor is going to work. more than likely an extractor will break off inside of the bolt and you'll have a bigger mess. i would avoid them at all cost- no matter how fancy they packaging looks or makes you think they're work. they suck for on car repairs. the good news is the bracket is *not* threaded, so if the other bolt came out i'd just knock it off, the sheared bolt is only passing through the bracket and should come right off. chisel, rotate it the bracket around to loosen it - it should come off. last resort - cut that sucker off there and weld it back on. LOL you can drill and tap the inside of the bolt and just use a smaller bolt to hold the bracket it on. it would hold with just one bolt (i've done it before) so if done properly it would work just fine. use a high grade bolt and gobs of antiseize. if you're still gang buster to get this miserable remaining bolt out, once the bracket is off you might have enough metal to work with if it's not flush with the hub and protrudes somewhat. 1. soak it a lot in high quality penetrant, Liquid Wrench or PB Blaster available at nearly any store 2. brief impacts with a hammer/punch 3. weld a nut on top of the remaining shank to pull the bolt out ideally you get that bolt out because if it's rusted so bad that a brake caliper bolt sheared off that ball joint is going to be a real debacle. maybe remove the entire control arm/hub as an assembly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sonofbuster Posted January 31, 2014 Author Share Posted January 31, 2014 thanks for the help! as for the wheels' lugnuts loosening, i suspect it has something to do with being driven around loose last year and it's manifesting itself now. i will check that rotor if i can get it off. gonna go back out and wack this thing again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sonofbuster Posted January 31, 2014 Author Share Posted January 31, 2014 whew, got everyhting apart. i hope the remainder of the broken caliper bolt comes out with some vice grips! gonna call the dealer for some bolts and studs for my wife to pickup on the way home.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted January 31, 2014 Share Posted January 31, 2014 if it's protruding enough, with a bolt that big you might even be able to get a chisel angled in a "loosening" kind of position/angle and knock it "lefty" to loosen it. but for that to work you need:1. a sharp angle so it's actually "loosening" 2. yet enough material that the chisel doens't just skip off when you hit or take a chunk/dent the metal you're striking clear as mud? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sonofbuster Posted February 3, 2014 Author Share Posted February 3, 2014 i'm throwing in the towel here. the studs are taking so much force to get back into the wheel that they are no doubt going to snap. in the process i lost my only 19mm socket in the snow. something so seemingly simple... not sure dealing with endless little issues is worth it anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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