Front caliper springs - what are they for?

[Valpo A7]

Those damned springs on the front calipers. What are they for and how important are they?

I ask because I effed up and snapped the bolt heads off. So now my A7 sits on jack stands for the night. I have started the process of drilling them out to extract them. I tried an extractor on them and they won’t budge. I sprayed them down with PB Blaster to soak overnight and I will try again in the morning along with some heat to see if I can expand the hole a bit.

Also, any idea on the bolt size?

[SpectreGadget]

It holds on the plate as well. I think you need to have it. I replaced mine due to clearance with the wheels.

This shows the original with a 19mm version of the bolt. I ended up using a 12mm bolt. At Ace Hardware, the part numbers were 44489-B and 44488-A those. M8 I think.

144161

[Valpo A7]

Thanks, I hope I can finish getting them drilled out.

[Valpo A7]

The original bolts were indeed M8-1.0. Mine are not that anymore though. I was not able to extract the bolt with an easy out. After cussing my car out to the point of making a sailor blush I remembered that I had an M8-1.25 helicoil kit. Progressively drilled the bolts out and tapped it for the helicoil and now it’s alll back together and it’s time to go bed in the brakes.