Hey all,
So I have had a pretty dramatic week with my FiST. On Sunday I had the terrifying incident of my front passenger-side brake caliper falling off on the highway due to the bolts backing out. Allow me to detail all of the events just in case there is anything relevant. (Also it just makes for a good story for everyone to laugh at my stupidity, to be quite frank.)
So thankfully I managed to get off the highway and come to a controlled stop without injury to myself or major damage to my car. There did not appear to be any significant damage when I pulled off the highway. (Although boy did my stomach drop when I got out of my car and just saw the caliper hanging by the brake line. I kept it cool until that point.) The brake caliper was a little scratched from rubbing the wheel, and it took out a couple balancing weights that were mounted on the inside of the wheel. Brake line didn't appear torn, I hadn't lost any brake fluid, there didn't appear to be any leaking, I thought I had miraculously gotten off scot-free. I called a family member, we went to a local auto parts store which thankfully had the correct bolts in stock. Grabbed them, a caliper spreader, and some threadlocker. Get back to the car, toss the caliper on and take it the remaining 20 miles home, not exceeding 50mph just in case. I notice that the brake feels a little spongy, but still effective. When I get home, I see now that there are droplets of brake fluid sprayed all over the inside of my wheel. So I order a brake line, wait a day or two, and install it. While doing so I notice that the whole wheel well is DIRTY with a thick grease-like substance. I just figured it was brake fluid that had been thrown about and mixed with road dirt. I cleaned everything up as best I could. After installing and bleeding the brakes, I take the car on a test drive to my local auto parts store (<2 miles away on residential streets only) to grab a couple things. Brake still feels spongy. When I get to the store, I see more droplets of brake fluid on the wheel. Great, it's gotta be a leaky caliper too. Go home. Order a replacement caliper. Wait for that to come in. I JUST installed the new caliper, and while inspecting everything just to be extra thorough, I noticed the cutest little nick in the CV boot. That gunk I cleaned out of my wheel well was not, in fact, brake fluid mixed with road dirt, but most likely CV grease. And now we come to the reason I posting this in Transmission & Drivetrain: I want to source a new CV boot, I can't find any that appear to be specific to the 2019 FiST, but I can find some that seem to claim to be "universal." Will these work? If not, where can I source a CV boot that will? Additionally, how can I be absolutely sure that I haven't done any damage to the CV joint? A new half-shaft isn't prohibitively expensive ($150 for a Motocraft one on RockAuto), but the replacement looks annoying and I'm starting to feel a bit in over my head.
I doubt any of this would be covered under warranty as I'm the one who did the brakes last, so the responsibility of the bolts backing out would fall squarely on me, but any advice anyone has would be greatly appreciated. At this point I'm just thankful that myself and my car are in (relatively) one piece.
So I have had a pretty dramatic week with my FiST. On Sunday I had the terrifying incident of my front passenger-side brake caliper falling off on the highway due to the bolts backing out. Allow me to detail all of the events just in case there is anything relevant. (Also it just makes for a good story for everyone to laugh at my stupidity, to be quite frank.)
So thankfully I managed to get off the highway and come to a controlled stop without injury to myself or major damage to my car. There did not appear to be any significant damage when I pulled off the highway. (Although boy did my stomach drop when I got out of my car and just saw the caliper hanging by the brake line. I kept it cool until that point.) The brake caliper was a little scratched from rubbing the wheel, and it took out a couple balancing weights that were mounted on the inside of the wheel. Brake line didn't appear torn, I hadn't lost any brake fluid, there didn't appear to be any leaking, I thought I had miraculously gotten off scot-free. I called a family member, we went to a local auto parts store which thankfully had the correct bolts in stock. Grabbed them, a caliper spreader, and some threadlocker. Get back to the car, toss the caliper on and take it the remaining 20 miles home, not exceeding 50mph just in case. I notice that the brake feels a little spongy, but still effective. When I get home, I see now that there are droplets of brake fluid sprayed all over the inside of my wheel. So I order a brake line, wait a day or two, and install it. While doing so I notice that the whole wheel well is DIRTY with a thick grease-like substance. I just figured it was brake fluid that had been thrown about and mixed with road dirt. I cleaned everything up as best I could. After installing and bleeding the brakes, I take the car on a test drive to my local auto parts store (<2 miles away on residential streets only) to grab a couple things. Brake still feels spongy. When I get to the store, I see more droplets of brake fluid on the wheel. Great, it's gotta be a leaky caliper too. Go home. Order a replacement caliper. Wait for that to come in. I JUST installed the new caliper, and while inspecting everything just to be extra thorough, I noticed the cutest little nick in the CV boot. That gunk I cleaned out of my wheel well was not, in fact, brake fluid mixed with road dirt, but most likely CV grease. And now we come to the reason I posting this in Transmission & Drivetrain: I want to source a new CV boot, I can't find any that appear to be specific to the 2019 FiST, but I can find some that seem to claim to be "universal." Will these work? If not, where can I source a CV boot that will? Additionally, how can I be absolutely sure that I haven't done any damage to the CV joint? A new half-shaft isn't prohibitively expensive ($150 for a Motocraft one on RockAuto), but the replacement looks annoying and I'm starting to feel a bit in over my head.
I doubt any of this would be covered under warranty as I'm the one who did the brakes last, so the responsibility of the bolts backing out would fall squarely on me, but any advice anyone has would be greatly appreciated. At this point I'm just thankful that myself and my car are in (relatively) one piece.
