Alright, heres the story.

I go to install my sway bars and coilovers.. All goes smooth and well except for one problem... My friend stripped the STUD that the rear shock mounts onto in the back.. Its those two STUDS that come down from the upper rear wheel well and you slide the shock up into and tighten them down with 2 12 mm nuts.

So with one stripped stud we could only bolt one nut onto the stud leaving the whole shock/coilover held on by one nut.

This was two months ago. Since then the rear shock has been moving around clinging and clacking when i go over the slightest bump on the road.. It is very loud, annoying, and obnoxious.

For two months I have searched for hours on end looking for a replacement part. Went to 4 different dealerships and ordered several different parts but every time they came in it would be the incorrect part.

So finally I went to a nissan dealership and found that this stud is part of the whole rear quarter panel/wheel well/ rear clip. So if I wanted to replace this part and fix the problem it woud cost me upwards of $2500 for parts and labor. They do not sell just the stud itself. It does not exist.

I am not ready to shell out this much cash on such a tiny part. So I went to a local G35/350z shop that pretty much does work on our cars only. Their tech told me that if they can get to where that stud is they can knock the stud out and weld in a bolt in place and use a matching nut to screw into that new bolt. Sounds great right? WRONG. I have completely gutted my entire trunk.. Pinpointed where the spot exactly is, it is impossible to get to it from the trunk. Ok, so I completely remove the rear interior of my car.. Took out the seats, the interior trim side pieces.... Seat belts.. Then finally the rear bose lid cover thing.. Then again I found that it is impossible to get to it from there.. Only way to get to it is to cut through the metal back there.

So here I am stuck with this problem. Trying to fix something very annoying and looking for parts that do not exist on the market. I can't even do what the G35/350z shop told me they could do.

So now I am about to go there and have them weld the entire mother ****er in there together which would pretty much make the rear coilover back there a part of the car so I can never re sell my coilovers unless I leave the shock back there on the car.

Is there anything else someone suggest I do before ruining my car and my brand new nice coilovers?

I'll make complete video of my problems if I have to. The sound, clinging and clacking is very loud and unbearable.. I still haven't even test my car with these brand new sways and coils on there because i'm afraid of breaking my rear coilover shock.

Please help me.

 

if i were in your shoes, i would cut the sheetmetal to access the stud from the inside and let them weld a new stud/bolt in there. i know many guys have cut that same metal when they install their coilovers because it allows easy access to adjust the dampening

 

Cut it from inside the trunk or interior? I know exactly where it is if I go from the trunk.. Wont you risk getting nasty stuff like rain/ dust in your trunk if you cut that?

Can you provide pics of what it looks like?

 

they cut it from the inside to get to where the stud is welded in. if the shock/coilover is bolted in, nothing can get up in there. i dont have any pics b/c i have not personally done it but im sure someone who has will chime in sooner or later

 

Alright, any idea on how long it would take a shop to do this? Everything has been stripped and they will have direct access to anything in that section..

Its going to be a total bitch getting all those trunk and interior pieces back on.

 

Chop it out and get them to weld a piece of metal back in if need be.

 

PM red35, he may have had the same problem, I don't remember how he fixed it but IIRC it wasn't too bad (read: costly).

 

How badly stripped is it? If it's not too bad just get the right die and clean it up. If it is stripped bare you could go the next size down die (maybe sae) and re-thread it.

 

^+1 on rethreading

 

^+1 rethreading FTW

 

Rethreading would be the easiest.

@ welding anything new in

 

rethread the stud and use a 10mm nut instead of the 12mm nut. Easy, quick and cheap.

 

OB if you can reach the stud rethreading is the smarter way to fix this issue. Cutting up your car seems like an "Over the Top" solution....
Gary

 

i did the same thing officer, what i did was take a self tapping bolt from home depot and drilled it through the center of that stud which then held the coil over back in place. my stud sheared right in half when i was losening the bolts to take off the stock shocks. hasnt been a problem for over a year and a half, knock on wood. and i do track my car

 

wow good luck ..hope you get it figured out ..