Dangerously shoddy car repairs

[CheeseWisely]

Not sure if I’m even in the right topic here, but I can’t think where else to ask. About a month ago we had all the brake pads and discs replaced on our car. Since then we’ve noticed the occasional squeak on braking when turning a corner or rounding a bend but put it down to new / tight fittings.

Today we were driving (thank god DH was with us, not just me and the baby) when there was a definite loud clunk, then an increasing juddering until the car became almost impossible to drive. Thankfully we were at a junction right outside a supermarket and managed to limp it into the car park and call recovery.

It transpires that the bolts used to secure the calipers were greased, which they should not have been, and one of them has worked free, causing the caliper to slip and drop into the wheel (described as putting a doorstop in the wheel). Thank god we weren’t going at speed.

The car is now with a garage that’ll repair it on Tuesday, the original garage who replaced the discs were closed today and reopen Tuesday. Of course I’ll be calling them and emailing and I expect at the very least the cost of repairs and the car we’ve had to hire until Wednesday back but does anyone have any advice on what I should collect as evidence / how to proceed if they deny responsibility? I have photos of the missing bolt and greased bolts that the recovery driver took, and the invoice showing the discs and pads all replaced a month ago. I’ll also ask the new garage if they’d provide written documentation of their findings when they get under the car. I am prepared to go hard after them if I need to, given the circumstances and the potential for serious injury or worse if we’d been going faster.

Trying not to think about the fact we’ve done 120km on the motorway in France with our baby DS in the car since the original work was done!

Thanks in advance

Trading Standards

If its a franchised garage the car maker may also get involved

You may also have legal cover via your home insurance or trade union

Thank you. It’s a private family owned garage unfortunately. I’ll see what the initial response to my complaint is but good to know what avenues I can look at next.

That’s a very strange thing to do, can’t understand why someone would do that. Can you post the photo of the greased bolt?

These are the pictures we have. The missing bolt is obvious. Otherwise I’m not 100% sure what I’m looking at (I wasn’t there when the car was recovered, I’d walked home with the baby).

The bolt that’s missing is what holds the caliper carrier to the hub. What colour is the grease on the bolt? Is it copper coloured? People sometimes use copper grease as an anti-seize, I’m wondering if that’s what they were doing?

I’m not sure. I’m going to ask the garage that are looking at it on Tuesday if they’ll report their observations. All the brakes were done at the same time so what was done on one will presumably be done on all. The recovery guy said he could make it drivable right away by putting a bolt back in but wouldn’t want us to risk another one going on the way home.

DH adds that the second bolt was so loose the recovery driver could turn it easily by hand.

Maybe they just didn't torque them properly, when you're reassembling you first turn the bolts hand tight, then later you finish them off with a socket and usually a torque wrench where they need to be tightened to specific settings (some critical bolts even have to be tightened by specific angles in a specific order and can't be reused)
Either way the fact that the caliper became detached after a month of the work should be enough, that literally shouldn't be happening.

Thank you @johnd2. This is what the mechanic who’s looked over it thinks. He’s made it good enough to move it with a bolt they had in spares and I am trying (and so far failing) to get hold of the original garage to a) report the issue so they can prevent it happening again b) have them take the car back in to replace with new bolts and check all their work again and c) refund me for the hire car I’ve had since Saturday!