Brembo bolt sheared off
 

One of the bolts on the back of my front Brembos has completely sheared off, leaving the threaded portion still stuck in the bracket and caliper, would anybody know if its still possible to remove the caliper so I can send it away to get helicoiled?

Or is it possible to drill the threaded portion out?

Thanks

This happened to me... Had to end up welding a nut to the sheared off part of the bolt and turn it out.
Threads were ruined so had it hellicoiled. I've seen them drilled out too if its sheared off in the caliper body.

If you want a more permanent fix there's repair company's that can put a threaded insert in.

Oh no, my car doesnt even have an MOT at the moment due it being sorned since the start of the year, would you know if its possible to just remove the caliper from the hub, even if the bracket is still attached I could atleast get it helicoiled?

Thanks

Not uncommon, I'm afraid.
I managed to drill out the remains from the caliper and got away without too much damage to the thread. I ran a tap through to clean up the thread and used a new bolt. I used a turn or two of PTFE tape on the new bolt and all's been fine for a few years!

JohnD

Many thanks John, can you recall which kind of drill bit you used please?

find the tapping size drill for the thread size, slowly increase drill size until tapping size then remove whats left of bolt, done properly you wont damage the thread leaving only a thin skim of bolt to remove which will collapse in on its self :thumb:

Thankyou for that bit of advice, just had a quick look on Wikipedia, seems to state a drill bit 90% of the size of the bolt is ideal, is that the case?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o..._and_tap_sizes

yep it just leaves a thin sleeve of bolt left in the hole which if careful will come out with a scriber or a left handed drillbit

Take the thread pitch away from the bolt diameter and that's what size drill bit you need so on the front Brembo's they have an M12 x 1.5mm pitch so you need a 10.5mm drill bit , the rears are M10 x 1.5mm so you would need an 8.5mm drill bit.
We are set up to machine these , we charge £30 to fix a thread, if more are needed we could do a better deal fixing them , don't use an easy out at this stage as these snap while trying to get the old bolt out it makes it a lot harder

If you have the know how, Helicoil Thread Repair Kit £15-£20 and you will have spares left should it happen again. I did mine a year ago as 3 of them snapped.

Or, any decent garage near you will be able to do this, if not, send them off, I couldn't really wait and leave my car without brakes, which is why I did them my self.

I have been using HSS drill bits for the past few days, and have only managed to drill about 2mm into the nut, Ive had to split the caliper in half, would a carbide burr make faster progress.

Also I only have a hammer drill, should I use something else?

Thanks guys

Oh god, some people should not be letloosewith tools....

A hammer drillnd a HSS drill bit is why you haven't finished it yetthose bits will be mullered! You need a professional!

Glad I gave you the oppurtunity to post idiotic remarks, doubt a professional would come round and do it on the drive, this is why I'm having to do it myself.

Why bother to reply with a condescending attitude?

Maybe you shouldnt be let loose with a keyboard, it is a forum where people ask questions to gain knowledge after all. :brickwall

Oh and by the way, the hammer drill has two settings, one for hammer one for normal:thumb:

I asked about the hammer in case there was a better drill fo the job.

But if you're all knowing why dont you reply with something helpful instead of acting like a brat?

Get some big brand cobalt tipped drill bits and some cutting fluid, use a low speed drill if possible. The cobalt drill bits usually just eat through bolts.

If you only have a high speed drill then use it in bursts, try not to let the bit and bolt get too hot, stop drilling and use the cutting oil to cool it down if it starts smoking. Try to make sure the drill is lined up straight with the bolt, if it's not then there is more chance of damaging the thread. Take your time with it and good luck.

sound advice, try to ensure you are central when drilling. Depending on in you have any thread exposed, you could try cut a slit in it and use a screw driver to turn it out. It depends how corroded it is though. The key is patience with this. Good luck!

happened to me to mate, helicoil was the solution.

can you not take it to an engineer / blacksmith place and get them to drill out the bolt, they will do it with ease, save a lot of hassle.

Thankyou so much for the advice, hopefully once its out I'll send both front calipers to Godspeed for paint and helicoils :)

Hi the car is currently sorned, hopefully for not much longer though:)

For what godspeed charge anylocal engineering place will do for half the price.

Or you could even buy your own helicoil set for 30quid....!

Does anybody know what legnth helicoil I need please?

Thanks

I would post it off to Ian at godspeed brakes, he will repair and get it back to you quickly and saves you the hastle of trying to fix it or make it worse.

I wouldn't, mine came back cross threaded! You don't need Helicoil, they are an most expensive kits. Now that you've done the difficult bit, drilling it, drilling it just a bit bigger and fitting a thread repair from a kit should be fine.

A cross threaded helicoil, thats a new one too me lol also over drilling his bolt hole and tapping a thread repair is a helicoil

No it didn't , as above you cannot cross thread a helicoil lol

If we machine them to fit a helicoil it will come back to you perfect and ready to fit , it would certainly not come back with the threads still damaged .

The process you're trying to explain , is fitting a helicoil , you drill it out larger , tap a new thread into the new hole , insert a thread insert which takes it back down to the original thread size.

If you know what you're doing , and we do , its pretty impossible to get it wrong

Cheers Ian

I used Godspeed brakes to refurb my old Brembo Calipers, they had 2x stripped threads and chipped paint work, came back looking brand new with no hassle. I would just go back to them if it ever happened again.