More brake woes....

[ArmedAviator]

I have changed brake pads and rotors on 3 cars in my life. Two of them had no issues with 30-40k+ miles on them. The M37x, so far had two serious problems. Granted, they may be user error, I highly doubt it.

The first issue was a slide pin that got seriously stuck upon reassembly and locked the caliper in a forced-braking condition. The cause was the ripping of the rubber grommet at the end which was inspected and lubricated upon reassembly. The whole caliper, bracket, pads, and rotor were replaced and has been problem free since.

Today's adventure...
My roommates and I were just heading out to go grab some lunch. The passenger in the back right seat had her window open and I heard something rubbing. I stopped a block from our house and saw nothing. Thought maybe I was hearing things. Half a mile later, it got worse. I stopped on the side of a back road, locked at the wheel and saw a scratched line running on the inside diameter. This was caused by the brake caliper bracket becoming dislodged from the axle and rubbing against the wheel. The cause was the top mounting bolt missing. Every time I pressed the brake, it was forcing the caliper/bracket into the wheel. Quite unpleasant. I drove it home using minimal braking and down shifting to slow down.

I could not find the missing bolt anywhere. I inspected for any more damage, but the caliper, bracket, and threads were all fine. The bolt just worked its way loose and came out. I know I torqued down every bolt to spec on my brake job in the spring. I inspected every other brake-related bolt for tightness and every other one was fine.

In all, I'm happy there's no damage besides cosmetic - which isn't noticeable unless you take the wheel off or look very closely - and also that noone got hurt.

But here's the crappy part -
Nobody has the damn bolt size or hardness in stock. I even tried 3 Nissan/Infiniti dealerships. None of them have it. One has been ordered to arrive about Tuesday and I'll pick that up then after work. But now I need to find a car to get down to Kentucky for work on Monday and come back Tuesday while this one sits in the garage

[AZhitman]

Ouch. That actually could have been catastrophic.

I suspect, not that it matters now, you didn't get factory torque on the bolt. No matter. Have you checked the local wrecking yards? I bet it's the same size bolt as damn near any 2012 Infiniti model.

[Ilya]

Ouch. That actually could have been catastrophic.

I suspect, not that it matters now, you didn't get factory torque on the bolt. No matter. Have you checked the local wrecking yards? I bet it's the same size bolt as damn near any 2012 Infiniti model.

What AZ said.

[ArmedAviator]

It definitely could have been worse. I drove some 250 miles the night before....which means it probably popped out within the last half mile of home that night since it started making a tiny bit of a weird noise as I backed out of the garage yesterday morning - thinking it was just the surface rust on the rotors after getting wet. If it happened on the highway, there'd have been some catastrophic issues, especially if any panic braking occurred.

I still can't fathom how that single bolt came all the way out - it takes alot of turns and while I can use just my hand to thread it all the way, it is tough. I am sure of the proper torque applied per the FSM. The only thing I can imagine is just merely forgetting to torque that one bolt somehow but I am usually very anal about checking and re-checking my work, especially after the first snafu with this brake job.

[ArmedAviator]

I picked up two new bolts from the Infiniti dealership on the way home from work yesterday that they had to order for me. I had to go to Ace Hardware to pick up a hardened M12 washer as I forgot to mention to order those as well. I used both new bolts, and one of the new washers and one original washer. Reinstalled and once again torqued everything to spec. I also had a spare set of brake pads around which I put in there. The brakes have only about 3,500 miles on them.