Hi guys, I'm confused by the brake caliper bolts on my 1999 alero (front) brakes. There are two different sized bolts, the 1/2" bolts hold the entire assembly on and come off fine. But the 12mm bolts are what are confusing me, they don't actually come off and don't tighten. They seem more like pins than bolts. In fact on one side I did the entire brake job pad and rotors without even touching them. I guess my question is, does this sound normal? Should those bolts tighten and if they don't then what? They don't look like its even possible for them to be removed. On every other ccar I've worked on they did come off. Thanks.

 

I don't remember my 2001 Alero having 12mm bolts on the calipers. Can you post a pic of where they are? Could you be looking at the caliper slide pins?

 

hi Iflylow, well in some of the youtube videos i watched on gm vehicles there are 2 1/2" bolts that hold the assembly on and then there are 2 12mm bolts that holds the caliper bracket with the brake pads on. So i assumed i needed to take all these out, and i did have two "bolts" that fit a 12mm socket. however like i said they just turned and turned. So sounds like these are actually pins and not bolts. It makes sense now, but i'd never seen a setup like this before. i attached a picture this has the caliper pad bracket facing up resting on the rotor i arrowed out the location of the two mystery "bolts".

 

You are correct, those are the pins the caliper slides on.