That time my 'budget' brake job turned into a comedy of errors with a frozen caliper bolt

So I'm swapping pads and rotors on my 2002 Civic last Saturday, trying to save $200 by doing it myself in the driveway. Everything's going smooth until I go to take off the caliper bracket bolt on the passenger side and it just won't budge after 30 minutes of PB Blaster and a breaker bar. I ended up snapping the bolt head clean off, then spent another hour drilling it out and chasing the threads with a tap I borrowed from my neighbor. Has anyone else had a simple job spiral into a whole-day ordeal because of one rusted fastener?

2 comments

2 Comments

olivia_chen351d ago

That's a rough one for sure, but honestly spending the extra on a shop would've just been paying for their patience with the same rusted junk... that bolt was gonna break on them too, just with better tools.

wrenwilson1d ago

Man that is rough, really feel for you dealing with that. Nothing worse than a bolt snapping off and turning a simple job into a whole weekend project.