Loose Calipers?

[dmonv4]

Hello,

This may be a dumb question, but, on my 2006 w/ABS both of the front brake calipers are loose where they attach to the forks. The bolts cannot be tightened anymore so I was wondering if this is normal. The brakes work fine but the calipers can be wiggled by hand and the left one is looser then the right! I never noticed this on any bike I had before, but I never owned a Honda.

Thanks!

[Dutchy]

Welcome to VFD from acroos the pond!

Calipers MUST be able to slide a bit left too right at a 90 degree angle to the disc.

bolts must be torqued to a specific specifications, so please donot over over over tighten them

[Cogswell]

On your 6th gen, if you wrap your hand around the caliper and try to move it back and forth in the same plane as the centerline of the axle, you will feel a few thousandths of movement, but it shouldn't be overly noticeable. If it's more than that or a lot more than that, it should be looked at. If you decide to remove the bolts for any reason, you'll need to get the old loctite off them for re-installation - you can't just put them back in and get an accurate torque reading. I use a tap and die to chase the threads prior to re-assembly. You'll want to use some new loctite on the bolts. As Dutchy points out, they need to be torqued properly - they take just 23 foot-pounds, so be sure to use a torque wrench or have a shop do it.

edit

The more I thought about this it occurred to me that if the calipers indeed are loose, the bolts may have been backed out and just put back in at some point with the old loctite still on them, and even though the bolts feel "tight", the old loctite may be keeping them from seating properly. That would be a simple fix, but you would either need to clean them or (as Honda suggests but few ever do) buy new bolts.

[Mohawk]

4 pot calipers don't move & are bolted ridgedly to the fork lowers. The various VFR's have sliding calipers, these only have pistons on one side, so are mounted on a sliding carriage to allow the pads to centre on the disk as%2

[MBrane]

The left side is also mounted to a bracket that pivots, and works the secondary MC for the LBS. If the bushings are worn it can wiggle a bit.

[dmonv4]

Thanks for all your replies! The bike has 4k miles on it and when I bought it last year it had only 1k on it. I noticed the calipers were loose from a couple weeks after I bought the bike so, I don't think anything should be worn. I will check the torque on the bolts.

[JZH]

The more I thought about this it occurred to me that if the calipers indeed are loose, the bolts may have been backed out and just put back in at some point with the old loctite still on them, and even though the bolts feel "tight", the old loctite may be keeping them from seating properly. That would be a simple fix, but you would either need to clean them or (as Honda suggests but few ever do) buy new bolts.

The OEM threadlock is unlikely to be preventing the bolts from seating properly. If you had enough old threadlock on a bolt it could throw off the torque reading, I suppose.

As was pointed out above, there is a lot on the front end that is supposed to move, so there is no reason to suspect loose bolts until the OP has considered and checked the normal movement of the braking system components.

Ciao,

[spud786]

The actual mounting point at the fork, thats hard bolted there is no play, the calipers them themsleves sit on pins. I have 06 calipers which are differnt from previous years. But I grab and try to twist my calipers and there's maybe .0010 thousdth of an inch play or virtually nothing.. Nothing I would consider movement. my chevy colorado calipers have alot of play.