During my usual Saturday morning cleaning ritual, I noticed that a bolt (for lack of technical knowledge) was sticking out of the rear passenger side wheel (see photo). Called the Alfa dealer and they asked me to tow the car to them. They assured me it was not life threatening but didn't want to risk anything.
Hope no one else has experienced this but I wanted to share so you can be aware.
That looks like a brake pad pin. You should not drive, as the pad on that wheel will not engage properly.
The bigger question is, why did it come loose? I once picked up a car (non-Alfa) after having new front calipers installed. On the drive home, one 'lost' both pins. I heard them come out, saw them fall down in the rear view mirror. Called the shop, they of course we're mortified. Imagine the liability. What had happened was that on the new calipers, not enough force was used to seat the pins upon initial installation.
I was just glad this happened in my 'hood at 30-ish mph. Imagine front brake failure at highway speed, or at the track. Not pretty.
Thanks chaps. Sounds easy but I am mechanically challenged. So, I will send her off to Alfa and let them fix it and figure out what happened. Luckily I clean the cars weekly and always pay attention to them.
Austin-glad you were ok. I've never seen this type of issue before so I'm a bit intrigued. Cheers.
Thanks chaps. Sounds easy but I am mechanically challenged. So, I will send her off to Alfa and let them fix it and figure out what happened. Luckily I clean the cars weekly and always pay attention to them.
Austin-glad you were ok. I've never seen this type of issue before so I'm a bit intrigued. Cheers.
That doesn’t inspire confidence. There is definitely an advantage to doing your own cleaning/scrubbing. You tend to look at things more closely and are more likely to find things that you may not normally notice.
I had the brake pad split pins come loose. Was told that there was a revised design that caused the pins to come off. They told me that some dealers were installing the old ones instead of replacing them. Having said that the pins were replaced and haven't had the issue since. But once in a while I walk around and check.
One thing no one has mentioned is that this pin is in the emergency brake caliper so, from a safety point of view, it has no effect on the actual braking of the car. Not that I would drive it as is, as it can scratch (or worse) the wheel and/or destroy other things on its way out.
This is correct but it called the parking brake caliper rather than the emergency brake, only equipped on the rear wheels of a Quadrifoglio. All you would need to do is get a punch or a mallet and tap is back in slowly. My guess is at some point it was not driven all the way home into the slot.
Got the car back. Prognosis is that it is a manufacturing defect. They replaced the parking brake assembly. Essence Alfa Romeo (Dallas) was great to work with. Only issue was that Alfa Care insisted on picking up my car and delivering it but had trouble finding a delivery service. I drove to the dealership and picked up the car. I know you are thinking how terrible-right? So, good to be out of the Volvo loan car and back in the quad!
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