A friend bought a 2021 Nissan Kicks a few months ago, and brought it over this afternoon for me to do a seasonal tire changeover - off with the "all-seasons" (in reality, 3-seasons), and on with the winters.
As part of the tire swap, I did a brake inspection, and pulled the caliper pins to clean and lube them.
We were surprised to find that on the front, the lower caliper bolt on each side was missing. This is the bolt that goes into the slide pin.
Both calipers pivoted freely on the one top bolt on each side.
I don't know whether the front brakes have been done previously. Perhaps - the pads and rotors look pretty good for c. 70,000 km. If not, it's possible the bolts were missing from factory.
The missing bolts were M8 x 1.0, about 30 mm long. I had some M8 bolts in my stash, but they were all 1.25.
I modified a couple of them with an M8 x 1.0 die, and they went in OK. I did not intend for them to be used long-term, but figured they were better than nothing.
The owner went off to an appointment. He phoned later - his day had opened up a bit, and he drove over to the dealership where he'd bought the car, and talked to a service writer.
They were really good - they believed him with no stonewalling, apologized, got the car in right away, and installed two proper bolts at no cost. (I'm not sure it was their fault, but they should have caught it when they did the safety inspection before selling the car.)
Anyway, all's well that ends well.
As part of the tire swap, I did a brake inspection, and pulled the caliper pins to clean and lube them.
We were surprised to find that on the front, the lower caliper bolt on each side was missing. This is the bolt that goes into the slide pin.
Both calipers pivoted freely on the one top bolt on each side.
I don't know whether the front brakes have been done previously. Perhaps - the pads and rotors look pretty good for c. 70,000 km. If not, it's possible the bolts were missing from factory.
The missing bolts were M8 x 1.0, about 30 mm long. I had some M8 bolts in my stash, but they were all 1.25.
I modified a couple of them with an M8 x 1.0 die, and they went in OK. I did not intend for them to be used long-term, but figured they were better than nothing.
The owner went off to an appointment. He phoned later - his day had opened up a bit, and he drove over to the dealership where he'd bought the car, and talked to a service writer.
They were really good - they believed him with no stonewalling, apologized, got the car in right away, and installed two proper bolts at no cost. (I'm not sure it was their fault, but they should have caught it when they did the safety inspection before selling the car.)
Anyway, all's well that ends well.
