Did I overtorqued too much my caliper assembly bolts?

[messerschmitt]

I have torqued my Caliper assembly bolts (not the bolts that hold the slide pins) to 80 lb-ft torque when the range is 57.9-72.3. For some stupid reason 80 lb-ft stuck in my head after watching a youtube video to change my front pads.

Is about 8 lb-ft over the maximum too much? (80lb-ft vs the maximum 72.3)

Should I take the wheels out and un-screw the bolt then screw it back up the proper torque level? (i'd personally use 70 lb-ft).

I did use blue lock-tight for the bolts.

 

[tom in boise]

My opinion - If it didn't fail on installation, it won't fail in service. The reason is that the bolt has both axial (tension) and torsional stress when first installed, but as the bolt experiences the service loads, the torsional stress gradually relaxes. I wouldn't worry about until you service them the next time.

 

[The Critic]

A measured torque value is not a very accurate means of determining clamping force anyway. +/- 10% for a fastener of that size, especially with loctite, is not a concern.

 

[CharBaby]

I never LOCTITE the caliper bar hold down bolts. I just give them a couple of good whacks with my fist/palm on the ratchet handle and call it a day. We get too much rust here that'll hold'em on nice & toight! Never an issue!

 

[IveBeenRued]

Caliper bracket bolts are built to withstand wrench monkeys using an impact gun. A 10% over-torque should be the least of your worries.

 

[Blueshound]

No worries. The bracket bolts (not the pins) are some of the strongest bolts on the car, usually 12mm 10.9 (same as a wheel lug). Back in my wrenching days everyone just used an air gun and zapped them in because they virtually never break going back in (very rarely they would break coming back out if rusty). So from personal experience, there is a large margin of error. I am certain that they would be fine even at 100+ ft/lb.

 

[Donald]

I never LOCTITE the caliper bar hold down bolts. I just give them a couple of good whacks with my fist/palm on the ratchet handle and call it a day. We get too much rust here that'll hold'em on nice & toight! Never an issue!

I do the same. Get it tight and a whack with my fist or maybe a rubber hammer for just a little extra.

Of course I think Ford says not to reuse the bolts on many vehicles (I think that is what I remember).

 

[Chris Meutsch]

I'd be more concerned with the brake job being done correctly, vs slightly tighter bolts.

 

[SHOZ]

I always use Loctite and two uggas.

 

[CB22]

Should I take the wheels out and un-screw the bolt then screw it back up the proper torque level?

No.

 

[Dave9]

I probably always over-torque mine since I don't use a torque wrench *for that*. It takes a lot more than 80ft lbs to stress those.

 

[messerschmitt]

No worries. The bracket bolts (not the pins) are some of the strongest bolts on the car, usually 12mm 10.9 (same as a wheel lug). Back in my wrenching days everyone just used an air gun and zapped them in because they virtually never break going back in (very rarely they would break coming back out if rusty). So from personal experience, there is a large margin of error. I am certain that they would be fine even at 100+ ft/lb.

I have a Kia Forte 2015, that bolt required a 17mm socket. My wheels require 21mm socket, altough on my honda civic the wheels were only 19mm. But yes, they are quite big bolts.

My opinion - If it didn't fail on installation, it won't fail in service. The reason is that the bolt has both axial (tension) and torsional stress when first installed, but as the bolt experiences the service loads, the torsional stress gradually relaxes. I wouldn't worry about until you service them the next time.

A measured torque value is not a very accurate means of determining clamping force anyway. +/- 10% for a fastener of that size, especially with loctite, is not a concern.

My concern wasn't that it would come off, since I over-tightened it, my concern was that I could've damaged the bolt, deform it or strip it when trying to take it off next time. I do reuse the same bolt, no reason to use new bolts.

I never LOCTITE the caliper bar hold down bolts. I just give them a couple of good whacks with my fist/palm on the ratchet handle and call it a day. We get too much rust here that'll hold'em on nice & toight! Never an issue!

I only used Loctite on the caliper assembly bolt because I saw some orange (loctite?) colour so I'm thinking it's for the same reason. The sliding pin bolts didn't have any, so I didn't put any Loctite on those, even if some youtube videos did. I also only hand tighten them with the ratchet, didn't use the torque wrench.

Thank you all for your answers. I'll just leave it as is.

 

[The Critic]

My concern wasn't that it would come off, since I over-tightened it, my concern was that I could've damaged the bolt, deform it or strip it when trying to take it off next time. I do reuse the same bolt, no reason to use new bolts.

17mm head suggests it is a 12x1.25 bolt. Very common diameter and thread pitch for a caliper bracket bolt. I have seen those torqued to 100+ lbs in some applications.

 

[messerschmitt]

17mm head suggests it is a 12x1.25 bolt. Very common diameter and thread pitch for a caliper bracket bolt. I have seen those torqued to 100+ lbs in some applications.

Well, I'm glad I only torqued those to 80, and only 8 over the specs, and not 100+ lol

 

[KGMtech]

You shouldn't assume your torque wrench is 100% accurate, and you did nothing wrong. Sleep well.

 

[Hall]

Shortly after we bought our daughter her car, we replace the brakes all around on it. The front bracket bolts are typically in the 75 ft/lbs up to 90-100 on some cars (95 ft/lbs on my G35, if I'm not mistaken) while the rears are typically 2/3 that value or so. Anyway, I had to use a 30" 1/2" breaker bar to loosen the rear caliper bolts on it and it took everything I had even with that breaker bar. I'd venture to say they were more than 8 ft/lbs over spec....

If you didn't snap the fastener, it's going to be okay... It's only an issue when you want to remove them.

 

[Job]

A long time ago I torqued an intake manifold on daughters car, (rear bank valve cover gasket job) to 50 I think it was instead of the 15 spec. Didn’t sleep that night and was so mad at myself for not resetting torque wrench. Decided it runs fine , let it go. Never was an issue, maybe it was more than 50, it was way way over. Your 8 is not much, and on caliper castings? I would guess it is nothing.

 

[D60]

No worries. The bracket bolts (not the pins) are some of the strongest bolts on the car, usually 12mm 10.9 (same as a wheel lug). Back in my wrenching days everyone just used an air gun and zapped them in because they virtually never break going back in (very rarely they would break coming back out if rusty). So from personal experience, there is a large margin of error. I am certain that they would be fine even at 100+ ft/lb.

Honestly, I never torque caliper bracket or slider pin bolts, although this is primarily on 1/2 ton trucks or larger

Caliper bracket bolts I give 'em a real good snug with a 24" ratchet. Slider pin bolts, a real good snug with a 15 to 18" 3/8" drive ratchet.

I'm also in the camp of if they didn't fail upon installation they're not gonna fail in use.

If a slider pin bolt looks esp small or fragile I'll reference a torque spec, which is almost never.