Metric Ignorance?

Just changed the brake fluid in several cars, including my PT Cruiser and 04
Chrysler mini-van. Every vehicle required a metric wrench to loosen the
caliper bleed screw until I got to the mini-van. Yep, good old SAE English
wrench called for (even though the caliper bolts are metric).

My first small gripe with this vehicle was Chrysler's choice of odd metric
bolt sizes that most wrench sets don't include; now this. Wonder if they
send these parts over to Europe to drive those customers and service guys
nuts as well?

Richard.

 

Same thing was happening back in the '80s, as well. Everything on my
318 is SAE, EXCEPT: Two bolts fastening the compressor to the front
mount, AND the AIS pump mount bolts! So, a complete SAE wrench set
does the engine, except you need a 10mm and a 15mm to do
those...weird. Further weirdness is that the compressor hose fittings
are held by metrics, while the rest of the system is SAE. It seems
insane, but GM was far, far worse. Ford, to their credit, metricized
fairly completely in the '80s.