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Pushed that 3mm Alan key just a wee bit too hard and rounded off the retaining bolt on my formula RO's.
I've seen the 'grabbit' tools to remove rounded screws but not sure what size to get. Can anyone help?
Hammer an oversize Torx bit into the hole.
If that doesn’t work - dremel the bolt in the gap between the calliper halves, where you slot pads in from the top.
Push stub of bolt on wheel side of calliper - it is unthreaded and will slip through. On other side of calliper, twist remaining bolt stub with needle nose pliers to undo bolt.
I've had to do this with the pad retaining bolt on my 105 discs brakes on the front and back. I ended up having to dremel them out as jamj says above and now use split pins instead. Far easier.
Cut a slot in the head of the bolt and use a screwdriver to turn it out.
+1 on cutting slot in head and using a screwdriver, not used for pad retaining bolts but have removed rounded rotor bolts this way
I cut a slot with a hacksaw and used a small screwdriver to extract the bolt. Still perfectly usable afterwards
Done this on a set of formulas, easiest way by far is an extractor. no drilling, just pop it in an turn until it bites.
3.99 from screwfix
DONT HAMMER ANYTHING INTO THE BOLT. You can break the ears/tabs off the caliper. They are really fragile.
I once did it pushing the piston back with a tyre lever.
I'd also go for the screw extractors from screwfix as above, especially on something so low torque.
Pad retaining bolts dont need to be tight at all. And always put a dab of coppaslip on the threads.
Wera hex keys with a special end that helps remove a rounded head, they work great as day to day hex keys as well.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Laser-Tools-6844-Damaged-Extractor/dp/B071LGWQ8Z
Far better than the screw extractors above IMO.
superdez75Wera hex keys with a special end that helps remove a rounded head, they work great as day to day hex keys as well.
Aren't they just ball end allen keys? They're not for removing rounded bolt heads, they just allow you to work at an angle on the bolt.
oops
No they have a special end which is not to dissimilar to the extractor set posted by idiotdogbrain, they also grip the hex a lot firmer than normal hex keys which reduce the chance of stripping in the first place. I've used them on rounded heads and they have always worked well for me.
Is this sorted now OP?