I am going to be replacing rotors and pads, the dealer says I "need" to replace the caliper bolts as they are only "one use". Is this true? I searched the forum and am aware I need to use loctite, and that the new ones come with loctite on them, just wondering if the actually need to be replaced?

Thanks!
Jason

I changed my breaks and never bought new bolts. I looked at their condition and they were fine. I reused loctite and torqued them down. I believe they are wanting some more $$$

You don't have to, but it's highly recommended.

Consider that once a bolt has been properly "torqued" then removed it can never retain it's original full strength because the bolt has stretched a bit.

It's only a few bucks for the bolts and I'd say it's cheap insurance to replace them.

Just my 2cents.

Do whatever you feel comfortable with.

As for me, I'm fine putting my own coat of loctite on the bolts and re-using them.

I'm not a cheap person, but these bolts new, are not just a "few bucks".

If there were data to back up the metallurgy differences between a used and new one, I might change my mind. I would be very interested to see what each would shear off at, in a test.

Thank-you for your replies. I agree with the loctite. I think if you keep an eye on them or there is reason/suspicion to be replaced, dont think twice and just do it. I think I will stick with what I have got.

I am debating doing my rotors at the same time as my pads. There is no vibration or pulsating and I dont think they are warped, but part of me wants to do it all at once for peace of mind.

Here's a small section on bolt failure and cyclic stress and fatigue.

http://books.google.com/books?id=A81HmmRCN7YC&pg=PA83&lpg=PA83&dq=bolt+stress+cycles&source=bl&ots=ZvqKCCCGRr&sig=DbzUUaWnrn_VtWrmeP75THFaYMQ&hl=en&ei=78O_TJrXJ5K6sQOE_IyQDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBIQ6AEwADgK#v=onepage&q=bolt%20stress%20cycles&f=false

I just took my mada to a local shop to change pads for the second time and rotor for the first time. I got a call yesterday, one of the caliper broke. They had to send the part out to drill out the broken part. They have ordered a new bolt but dealer is out of stock. I was told by the shop that all added labor n parts are my responsibility. Theyre putting a temporary bolt until one from dealer arrive. Not sure if this is some dirty tricks, but Im so pissed. If these bolts have issues, dealer should cover them under warranty.

I have removed and reused my caliper bolts 4 times in 30,000 miles and have not had a problem. The theory is that the loctite coating is why the shop manual claims they need to be replaced (as they don't have it in the dealer or don't trust a mechanic to do it).

I would imagine there is some truth to a 'weakening' of the bolt but I don't think it would be an issue with these as they are very thick.

I just used a dremmel with a wire brush to get all the old loctite off and reapplied fresh red thread locker.

More important is to torque them down to spec and put new loctite.