Caliper Carrier Bolt

[Andrew Sma]

Hello everyone,

I recently had an event with a 2018 Atlas where the caliper carrier bolt came loose and got stuck between the caliper and rim as the car was rolling, smashing the rim to pieces.

I believe the carrier bolt was not tightened properly at the last brake service.

The dealer believes “a rock or something” hit the caliper carrier bolt and loosened it. I’m not a mechanic but I have changed my own brakes on many cars (NOT this one) and have found the carrier bolts to be very tough to remove, I think they are torqued to something like 140 lb-ft of torque.

The dealer’s explanation that the caliper bolt was loosened by a rock hitting it seems insane to me. Do I have a point or am I completely wrong. Is this something that can happen?

Topic

[Richard Kirshy]

Anything is possible but…..
Personally. I have never seen or heard of a rock or something loosening a caliper bolt in almost 50 years of working on cars.
I have heard of rocks jammed to the head of a caliper bolt but never loosening one.

I think the dealership is trying to cover their butt.

Just for giggles, do a search on google, yahoo and any other search engines and look up rock loosening caliper bolt.
Print out the results and show the person who told you that foolishness.

[Author]

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