guys - does everyone replace their caliper bolts every time they need to remove their calipers? I am going through them (nice Pro Bolt and Brembo ones too, not OEM stuff) like they're going out of fashion as I'm having to play around with forks and calipers at the moment and I know you're 'supposed' to change them, but I'm on my third set of bolts in under 50 miles so I'm keen to know if I'm being overly cautious.
No i wouldn't change them everytime, just torque them back up as required. Possibly change them if they have been in and out a number of times.
Ok glad to hear others re-use them! Honda say they need replacing whenever they are removed, and seeing as its the brakes I'm definitely happy to stick to their recommendations... but if folks are re-using theirs with no issues maybe I should too
I don't know of anyone that changes theirs and seriously doubt even when getting serviced that Honda would do it.
No I have never changed the caliper bolts. For Honda to suggest you need new bolts every time you remove the calipers is ridiculous.
If you are using the original Honda bolts they do indeed suggest that you replace them. I was told by the mechanic at doble that the OE stuff is a stretch bolt and over time they will distort (he had an amusing story to back this up, but I fell asleep). Having said all this he said the easy solution was to replace them with aftermarket stainless bolts or similar. This is what I was told and I replaced them on the repsol but haven't needed to yet on my red beastie. Hope this helps
Perfect so I wasn't the only one who had that information. Well I've got aftermarket ones so I'm all set
Clean the threads and a dab of threadlock ... Stretch bolts my ass ... They are only torqued to 33lbft!
Pretty much the only bolts garages change while doing work is normally head bolts due to the torques involved while bolting the head on after carrying out head work! Unless they are damaged and not advisable to be reused or they are specifically told to change by you and in both cases you cover the extra costs. Ford vehicles was the most visible I have seen where stretch bolts are in action, again mainly head bolts. But when dealing with the pretty small torque values of those found in the likes of caliber or fork pinch bolts and the likes if you keep to using torque wrench set to correct value the oem bolts will last and last but if someone tries to do a superman and racks the bolts up way beyond then of course the bolts will be showing signs of damage and should be replaced.
Mine have been off prob 50 times...I'm still alive and the bike stops just fine... Didn't even know you was meant to change them....
Aren't the callipers also fitted onto spigot rings to locate them? So basically there's no side loading due to the spigots.
