Just tackled a simple task that turned to crap... aargh changing the pads on this Metro. One side went ok the other the caliper securing nuts were tight and rounded off even with a nice snug socket on them. Suddenly I became doubtful.. I mean they are 12mm aren't they and not some weird imperial size???
Ta
how old?, i know the B reg i had years ago was 13mm.
I think it's a 91.. not my car! Has some odd name like Tahiti
It was surely a 12mm it was really snug and I flogged up the other side a treat after fitting. Could be my sockets are poor quality with unacceptable tolerances.... The tricky side was probably just seized up.. but I figured with 12 faces of contact they would give before rounding!!
Gah!! Should applied the torch and some WD40 first! Never happened before in 20 years and 10 odd makes of car.
Now what? In this position I normally clamp my junior record vice on and turn that... but not something I relish or expected..
It is easy to be wise after the event but I would always recommend using a 6 sided socket or spanner on anything that may be remotely tight. Get a 12mm single hex socket and it will probably undo ok. if not you may be able to grind or file it to 7/16 or 11mm and use a single hex on that.
mrcheerful
Angle grinder. And when you've reduced the car to a pile of scrap metal, you won't have to worry about the bolt. ;-)
I had this on my BM at Xmas last. Some previous monkey had neatly removed the bolt corners and, being 16mm, I was unable to get a 6-sided socket. Took the angle grinder to the bolt head and, with sufficient amounts of cursing due to it being hardened, removed it. A small amount of extra grinding was needed as the stem of the bolt "swelled up" where it met the head so was still holding the caliper bracket.
Oooh, clever. Have to remember that one myself.
5/8 af is a very good 16mm substitute, but 15mm is actually more common a bolt-head size.
mrcheerful
Do you really need to remove the calipers to change the pads??
Oh no just swinging it out the way for access.
The six sided did the trick nicely.. ya can always learn something. ta
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