[Shop-talk] Replacing a sheared-off bolt on a brake assembly...

[Jimmie Mayfield]

In the process of trying to remove the front brake rotors from my 
girlfriend's 95 Taurus, one of the 15mm mounting bolts for the driver side 
caliper bracket sheared off.  After a lot of heating with a torch, I did 
manage to extract the sheared-off piece from the bracket without damaging
the threads.  But I've been unable to find a parts store with Saturday 
business hours that actually sells these guys.  In fact, Autozone was the only
store that even has an SKU # for this bolt and they'd have to special-order it.
So I'll have to wait until Monday when the local Ford parts dept opens...

But I'm wondering...Are these bolts manufactured to special tolerances 
such that replacing one with a hardened bolt from, say, ACE hardware, would be
unacceptable from a functional or safety point of view?

JM