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Hot take: My old way of getting a seized caliper bolt out was a joke
Had a 2012 Civic in the bay last week with a rear caliper bolt that would not budge. My first move was to just crank on it with a breaker bar and a six-point socket for like ten minutes, which got me nowhere and almost rounded the head. Then I grabbed my little propane torch, heated the bracket around the bolt for maybe two minutes, and it came out with barely any effort on the same bar. The heat made all the difference, broke the rust bond right up. Anyone have a better trick for these, or is heat always the answer?
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carter.gavin7mo ago
Heat is the answer like 90% of the time in my experience. A little trickle of penetrating oil into the threads after you heat it can help too, just let it cool a bit first so it doesn't flash off.
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the_eric7mo ago
Honestly that "flash off" part got me. I tried heating a bolt on my old truck's exhaust once and sprayed some PB Blaster right after. It basically turned into a tiny flamethrower for a second, scared the crap out of me. Melted the plastic straw on the can and everything. Now I always wait until the metal stops glowing, like you said. Took me forever to clean the soot off the frame after that.
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