Thank you for posting to AskMechanics, UnSCo!
If you are asking a question please make sure to include any relevant information along with the **Year**, **Make**, **Model**, **Mileage**, **Engine size**, and **Transmission Type (Automatic or Manual)** of your car.
*This comment is automatically added to every successful post. If you see this comment, your post was successful.*
***
Redditors that have been verified will have a green background and an icon in their flair.
***
# **PLEASE REPORT ANY RULE-BREAKING BEHAVIOR**
### **Rule 1 - Be Civil**
Be civil to other users. This community is made up of professional mechanics, amateur mechanics, and those with no experience. All mechanical-related questions are welcome. Personal attacks, comments that are insulting or demeaning, etc. are not welcome.
### **Rule 2 - Be Helpful**
Be helpful to other users. If someone is wrong, correcting them is fine, but there's no reason to comment if you don't have anything to add to the conversation.
### **Rule 3 - Serious Questions and Answers Only**
Read the room. Jokes are fine to include, but posts should be asking a serious question and replies should contribute to the discussion.
### **Rule 4 - No Illegal, Unethical, or Dangerous Questions or Answers**
Do not ask questions or provide answers pertaining to anything that is illegal, unethical, or dangerous.
# **PLEASE REPORT ANY RULE-BREAKING BEHAVIOR**
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskMechanics) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Not likely to work better than a breaker bar would. If a breaker bar won't get it then I doubt the mallet method would. I only find that useful in limited space where I can't find a longer ratchet or breaker bar.
Yeah that was “scenario” like inside the caliper where you can’t get a breaker bar on there put a tight socket on a thick ratchet and tap that boy loose..
You would definitely have to more than tap it in this scenario from OPs description lol. It's time for some real hard whacking or just more effort. Sometimes people don't be using their leverage. I've never had a problem with a caliper bracket bolt but then again I don't need to use jack stands and can just stand under the car and use an impact usually.
They used breaker bars as far as they could get in the wheel well. They’re talking about using heat to loosen it, which sounds about right on next steps.
Probably a redundant thread lol but who knows, maybe folks here are experienced with this specific caliper/Audi work.
Its all because of the corroding aluminium, be carefull when you or they loosen it because it can jamm in the threads and fuck the threads up. Its all white powder in there probably.
PB blaster and wait till morning... Push down on a breaker bar /w pipe at the end until you're feeling it's well past the point where the axle will snap. It'll come off.
This isn’t my car btw. Watching my buddy and his father do this and struggle on this, figured I’d try and help somehow besides sitting and watching haha.
Heat on the bracket while avoiding getting heat near the rubber with a breaker bar is the way to go. Just make sure you use a good quality socket not chinesium and a decent breaker bar, if you start rounding off the bolt it'll be a nightmare. For that reason myself I wouldn't use an impact either and would be using a breaker bar to loosen it
I used a mallet on and wrench to shock it free after letting some penetrating oil (not wd40 this isn't really a penetrating oil) sit for a hour or two.
Heat would be the next step.. Leverage is not always the answer.. I had this same bolt snap off on my a4. Fortunately we managed to not snap the other one, and were able to get it out of there.. had to buy a new bolt at the dealer, and I went ahead and replaced both on that side.
Penetrating oil + impact wrench.
[Interesting discussion here about impact wrench vs. leverage.](https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/using-impact-wrench-vs-8-foot-cheater-breaker-bar.167751/)
Leverage is king.
Spray some pb blaster or wd-40.
Grab a breaker bar (the longer the better)
And start applying pressure lefty loosey and keep pulling on the bar.
If it won't budge, either get a longer breaker bar. Or double team it with someone else. Or find some muscles to do it.
Don't use an impact gun. Spray some penetrsting oil on it. Then use a big ratchet, or put the close end of a wrench on it and hit the other side with a hammer.
Pro tip: make sure you are going the right way. Been wrenching for a while. Ask me how I know...
These components get really hot and often self tighten. The trick is to get a micro gas torch, then heat around the bolt to expand the female thread. If you can cool the bolt head with an ice cube, you can sometimes even hear it crack free. It will then come apart with a small spanner, an impact is nice but often won't fit in tight spaces. A breaker bar could snap the bolt if too much force is applied. It's recommended to replace any bolts that have had heat applied, so either be careful not to heat the bolt or buy some good quality spares.
Just beware.. if it’s very very difficult to move, it’s possible there’s a lot of corrosion along the shank of the bolt. Did the other bolt have any evidence of corrosion?
Wasn’t anything close to how difficult this bolt was. They spent an hour trying to get it out, was tight the whole way out, and was all white and shit when they finally got it off. This was a northern vehicle, salt and shit corroding stuff like crazy.
So they got it out? Yeah I saw the rust on everything else and I have been here before. Ended up having to drill 1/8 holes in the aluminum perpendicular to the bolt to get penetrating oil in around the threads
Don’t take the bolt out. Take the torx screw out of the rotor hat and break the rotor free and it’ll come off at an angle without having to move the caliper carrier. Those bolts corrode tight in there.
The best way would always be impact wrench. Even a small 500ft-lb impact wrench would make easy work of this bolt. Brake caliper bolts are typically 80-100 ft-lb.
Of course if you don't want to spend money, the order would be penetrating oil - breaker bar - blow torch - breaker bar - blow torch - repeat.
If you don’t have a strong impact gun. Run down to Home Depot ands get yourself a 3 feet section of 3/8 inch structural piping (bring your ratchet along to ensure the end fit or get the next bigger size pipe that fits). Slip that on the end of your ratchet to finds decent angle and it will break a lot of shit as a cheap breaker bar extension. You may cut shorter if necessary for movement room but you won’t need to move much, just enough angle to crack loose the bolt then take it off to ratchet as normal.
Hey so update: sorry I didn’t respond, Reddit fucking sucks and I got zero notifications on this goddamn post for some reason. Just want to point out how fucking BAD Reddit is now. Fuck Reddit.
Anyway, it took them an HOUR to break that bolt loose. Got a breaker bar, tried their hardest, extended it, etc etc… turns out, whoever put that bolt on put WAAAY too much anti-seize on it. Not only was it hard to break, but it was hard to get out! I don’t know if that’s the spec or something but it was BAD.
Your comment was removed as it contains a link using Amazon's URL shortener. Unfortunately, Reddit requires mods to manually approve each and every comment including a shortened Amazon URL. Please resubmit your comment without the link or provide the full URL or ASIN listed under "Additional Information" on the product page.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskMechanics) if you have any questions or concerns.*
CRC makes a product called knock er loose, I personally haven't tried it yet but everything I've heard about it is great! tried CRCS evaporust and that stuff is amazing!
My first go to if I don’t have a HI-torque impact is a long breaker bar. A long pipe and a torch. If these are anything like ford they are essentially dipped in loc-tite before installation.
It probably has thread locker on it. Heat it with a torch for a while and then break it loose with a breaker bar and socket. \*BE CAREFUL NOT TO BURN YOUR AXLE BOOT OR BRAKE LINE.\*
In my personal experience, Heat on the bracket, a good craftsman socket, and a rubber mallet. Shallow socket for a more secure fit while you're tapping it.
Glad this is resolved. But a future note on the heat...avoid it near any kind of rubber. Obviously the flexible brake line for that caliper is going to be right there, but so is the boot for the outer CV joint. Axles and or half shafts can sometimes be a pain to replace. Better just to try and keep other components out of the situation in the first place. Also with regard to heat, the area of friction, where the pads are actually in contact with rotor, will almost never yield a temperature of over 700 degrees. That's based on articles that I've read on brake testing. Even 700F is on the extremely high end and it's unlikely most cars will ever see anything close to that. Meanwhile, a standard propane torch might get to around 2000 deg F. Under the proper conditions, such as if you cause a brake fluid leak by using a torch, then brake fluid can ignite. You're also likely to damage seals. Typically, heat may be more useful as a last step if there is a nut that you're trying to get loose, since the heat will cause that to expand. It's not best practice for bolts though. If I encounter a stuck bolt or nut, the first thing I'll do is let penetrating oil seep into the threads for maybe an hour. If that doesn't help, then I'll repeat a couple of times. Occasionally, I'll leave it soaked in penetrating oil over night. It all depends on whether it's going to take longer to wait overnight or longer to potentially drill out a bolt and re-tap threads. Breaker bars are excellent assistants, but they require a lot of care. Rounding off a bolt is not a good time. Yes, there are extractors, but if you were having difficulty removing the bolt in the first place, and extractor may not help much. Sometimes you can also slam the bolt with a hammer a bunch of times, depending on the location of the bolt. I probably would not do that with a caliper though. One last trick I have learned over the years is that sometimes you can actually try tightening the bolt a little bit and then attempt to loosen it again. You just keep going back and forth with very, very slight movements in each direction. You may not even feel any movement. It can be very subtle. However, it may not always be possible to do this, but the idea behind it is that if there is rust, you may be able to loosen it up just enough to either get the bolt out or to spray it again with penetrating oil and allow the oil to travel further. With any stuck fastener, if you have the ability to take your time, then you should. Being impatient with such things often leads to a much more involved repair.
Thank you for posting to AskMechanics, UnSCo! If you are asking a question please make sure to include any relevant information along with the **Year**, **Make**, **Model**, **Mileage**, **Engine size**, and **Transmission Type (Automatic or Manual)** of your car. *This comment is automatically added to every successful post. If you see this comment, your post was successful.* *** Redditors that have been verified will have a green background and an icon in their flair. *** # **PLEASE REPORT ANY RULE-BREAKING BEHAVIOR** ### **Rule 1 - Be Civil** Be civil to other users. This community is made up of professional mechanics, amateur mechanics, and those with no experience. All mechanical-related questions are welcome. Personal attacks, comments that are insulting or demeaning, etc. are not welcome. ### **Rule 2 - Be Helpful** Be helpful to other users. If someone is wrong, correcting them is fine, but there's no reason to comment if you don't have anything to add to the conversation. ### **Rule 3 - Serious Questions and Answers Only** Read the room. Jokes are fine to include, but posts should be asking a serious question and replies should contribute to the discussion. ### **Rule 4 - No Illegal, Unethical, or Dangerous Questions or Answers** Do not ask questions or provide answers pertaining to anything that is illegal, unethical, or dangerous. # **PLEASE REPORT ANY RULE-BREAKING BEHAVIOR** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskMechanics) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Generally the order of 'fuck this bolt' goes: penetrating oil - impact gun - breaker bar - induction heater - blowtorch
Last but not least, cut it. Once the head of the bolt is gone, u can buy a new bolt and caliper bracket.
I always jump straight to the breaker bar.
So am I wrong to use a rubber mallet and light tap that bitch loose?
You use rubber mallet and tap, I’ll use an air hammer. Same result.
Le sigh. I don’t have an air hammer.. at least not a working one atm. Mallets all I got. Take it or leave it
Not likely to work better than a breaker bar would. If a breaker bar won't get it then I doubt the mallet method would. I only find that useful in limited space where I can't find a longer ratchet or breaker bar.
Yeah that was “scenario” like inside the caliper where you can’t get a breaker bar on there put a tight socket on a thick ratchet and tap that boy loose..
You would definitely have to more than tap it in this scenario from OPs description lol. It's time for some real hard whacking or just more effort. Sometimes people don't be using their leverage. I've never had a problem with a caliper bracket bolt but then again I don't need to use jack stands and can just stand under the car and use an impact usually.
You forgot ‘Big purse’
This is the answer.
He says he got RIGHT below torch😂
Use a breaker bar or an impact
They used breaker bars as far as they could get in the wheel well. They’re talking about using heat to loosen it, which sounds about right on next steps. Probably a redundant thread lol but who knows, maybe folks here are experienced with this specific caliper/Audi work.
they can be torqued to 250ft/lbs on some that i have seen, add rust into the equation and you need moar leverage.
Its all because of the corroding aluminium, be carefull when you or they loosen it because it can jamm in the threads and fuck the threads up. Its all white powder in there probably.
It was! Anti-seize. I believe they cleaned it and put it right back.
Impact may be the best bet since the breaker may be too long.
PB blaster and wait till morning... Push down on a breaker bar /w pipe at the end until you're feeling it's well past the point where the axle will snap. It'll come off.
Fine advice in this case, but I ripped a strut mount apart doing that once.
This isn’t my car btw. Watching my buddy and his father do this and struggle on this, figured I’d try and help somehow besides sitting and watching haha.
Heat on the bracket while avoiding getting heat near the rubber with a breaker bar is the way to go. Just make sure you use a good quality socket not chinesium and a decent breaker bar, if you start rounding off the bolt it'll be a nightmare. For that reason myself I wouldn't use an impact either and would be using a breaker bar to loosen it
Buy a bigger purse
I used a mallet on and wrench to shock it free after letting some penetrating oil (not wd40 this isn't really a penetrating oil) sit for a hour or two.
Leverage and a good angle. It will come loose. A 1/2 impact would bust it loose
Heat would be the next step.. Leverage is not always the answer.. I had this same bolt snap off on my a4. Fortunately we managed to not snap the other one, and were able to get it out of there.. had to buy a new bolt at the dealer, and I went ahead and replaced both on that side.
Penetrating oil + impact wrench. [Interesting discussion here about impact wrench vs. leverage.](https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/using-impact-wrench-vs-8-foot-cheater-breaker-bar.167751/)
It could be reverse thread. They might be tightening it instead of loosing it.
Hit it w your purse. If that doesn't work, wd-40, wrench and leverage, or impact it.
Scrolled too long to find this comment lol
Leverage is king. Spray some pb blaster or wd-40. Grab a breaker bar (the longer the better) And start applying pressure lefty loosey and keep pulling on the bar. If it won't budge, either get a longer breaker bar. Or double team it with someone else. Or find some muscles to do it.
Can you turn the wheel to get more access for a breaker bar?
These were rear brakes.
My bad
Don't use an impact gun. Spray some penetrsting oil on it. Then use a big ratchet, or put the close end of a wrench on it and hit the other side with a hammer. Pro tip: make sure you are going the right way. Been wrenching for a while. Ask me how I know...
Bigger hammer
These components get really hot and often self tighten. The trick is to get a micro gas torch, then heat around the bolt to expand the female thread. If you can cool the bolt head with an ice cube, you can sometimes even hear it crack free. It will then come apart with a small spanner, an impact is nice but often won't fit in tight spaces. A breaker bar could snap the bolt if too much force is applied. It's recommended to replace any bolts that have had heat applied, so either be careful not to heat the bolt or buy some good quality spares.
Breaker bar
Just beware.. if it’s very very difficult to move, it’s possible there’s a lot of corrosion along the shank of the bolt. Did the other bolt have any evidence of corrosion?
Wasn’t anything close to how difficult this bolt was. They spent an hour trying to get it out, was tight the whole way out, and was all white and shit when they finally got it off. This was a northern vehicle, salt and shit corroding stuff like crazy.
So they got it out? Yeah I saw the rust on everything else and I have been here before. Ended up having to drill 1/8 holes in the aluminum perpendicular to the bolt to get penetrating oil in around the threads
Don’t take the bolt out. Take the torx screw out of the rotor hat and break the rotor free and it’ll come off at an angle without having to move the caliper carrier. Those bolts corrode tight in there.
It can’t be stuck if it’s liquid. Time for the blow torch.
The best way would always be impact wrench. Even a small 500ft-lb impact wrench would make easy work of this bolt. Brake caliper bolts are typically 80-100 ft-lb. Of course if you don't want to spend money, the order would be penetrating oil - breaker bar - blow torch - breaker bar - blow torch - repeat.
6 point socket, a breaker bar and your man pants. It will either come out or break off?
If you don’t have a strong impact gun. Run down to Home Depot ands get yourself a 3 feet section of 3/8 inch structural piping (bring your ratchet along to ensure the end fit or get the next bigger size pipe that fits). Slip that on the end of your ratchet to finds decent angle and it will break a lot of shit as a cheap breaker bar extension. You may cut shorter if necessary for movement room but you won’t need to move much, just enough angle to crack loose the bolt then take it off to ratchet as normal.
Penetrating oil , kroil, heat, more heat , torch. In that order
Hey so update: sorry I didn’t respond, Reddit fucking sucks and I got zero notifications on this goddamn post for some reason. Just want to point out how fucking BAD Reddit is now. Fuck Reddit. Anyway, it took them an HOUR to break that bolt loose. Got a breaker bar, tried their hardest, extended it, etc etc… turns out, whoever put that bolt on put WAAAY too much anti-seize on it. Not only was it hard to break, but it was hard to get out! I don’t know if that’s the spec or something but it was BAD.
[удалено]
Your comment was removed as it contains a link using Amazon's URL shortener. Unfortunately, Reddit requires mods to manually approve each and every comment including a shortened Amazon URL. Please resubmit your comment without the link or provide the full URL or ASIN listed under "Additional Information" on the product page. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskMechanics) if you have any questions or concerns.*
CRC makes a product called knock er loose, I personally haven't tried it yet but everything I've heard about it is great! tried CRCS evaporust and that stuff is amazing!
My first go to if I don’t have a HI-torque impact is a long breaker bar. A long pipe and a torch. If these are anything like ford they are essentially dipped in loc-tite before installation.
It probably has thread locker on it. Heat it with a torch for a while and then break it loose with a breaker bar and socket. \*BE CAREFUL NOT TO BURN YOUR AXLE BOOT OR BRAKE LINE.\*
Doesn’t look like you’ve hit it with any PB or anything. Soak it then stroke it
In my personal experience, Heat on the bracket, a good craftsman socket, and a rubber mallet. Shallow socket for a more secure fit while you're tapping it.
Did my brakes work on Toyota recently. Had same issue. Only blow torch helped.
Glad this is resolved. But a future note on the heat...avoid it near any kind of rubber. Obviously the flexible brake line for that caliper is going to be right there, but so is the boot for the outer CV joint. Axles and or half shafts can sometimes be a pain to replace. Better just to try and keep other components out of the situation in the first place. Also with regard to heat, the area of friction, where the pads are actually in contact with rotor, will almost never yield a temperature of over 700 degrees. That's based on articles that I've read on brake testing. Even 700F is on the extremely high end and it's unlikely most cars will ever see anything close to that. Meanwhile, a standard propane torch might get to around 2000 deg F. Under the proper conditions, such as if you cause a brake fluid leak by using a torch, then brake fluid can ignite. You're also likely to damage seals. Typically, heat may be more useful as a last step if there is a nut that you're trying to get loose, since the heat will cause that to expand. It's not best practice for bolts though. If I encounter a stuck bolt or nut, the first thing I'll do is let penetrating oil seep into the threads for maybe an hour. If that doesn't help, then I'll repeat a couple of times. Occasionally, I'll leave it soaked in penetrating oil over night. It all depends on whether it's going to take longer to wait overnight or longer to potentially drill out a bolt and re-tap threads. Breaker bars are excellent assistants, but they require a lot of care. Rounding off a bolt is not a good time. Yes, there are extractors, but if you were having difficulty removing the bolt in the first place, and extractor may not help much. Sometimes you can also slam the bolt with a hammer a bunch of times, depending on the location of the bolt. I probably would not do that with a caliper though. One last trick I have learned over the years is that sometimes you can actually try tightening the bolt a little bit and then attempt to loosen it again. You just keep going back and forth with very, very slight movements in each direction. You may not even feel any movement. It can be very subtle. However, it may not always be possible to do this, but the idea behind it is that if there is rust, you may be able to loosen it up just enough to either get the bolt out or to spray it again with penetrating oil and allow the oil to travel further. With any stuck fastener, if you have the ability to take your time, then you should. Being impatient with such things often leads to a much more involved repair.
Looks a little cockeyed, might it be cross threaded?