hhmmmmmm

Next time I wont help...fine by me

werd yo, my unedumacated self would just calls it "the lower part" that's the mad technical term they used when i bought it. tie rod support is way off, what a dolt that **** is

dolt
dolt
dolt
dolt
dolt
dolt
dolt
dolt
dolt
dolt
dolt
dolt
dolt
dolt
dolt
dolt
dolt
dolt
dolt
dolt

it's kinda tought to "read" sarcasm, so i figured i would exagerate it.

Like I said earlier, next time I wont help out

Well if I may speak in part of anyone who still needs it fixed, THANK YOU to everyone so far who has helped by adding part numbers, prices, diagrams, contacts, pictures, or any other info.
This is an issue with everybody in this forum's car who lives where weather is an issue and it is much appreciated. I, as well as many others are on here are here to give help and receive help whenever possible or needed. I always try to help when I know about a problem posted, but sometimes, like with this issue, I am clueless and need the expertise of my brothers (and sisters as well) in the .org community that have had experience with this DREADED issue.
This rust is my biggest problem with my car right now (and I KNOW others' too-Damn OCD!) so aside from the small amount of bad posts, there is now a nice little gathering of valuable and useful information which desperately needed addressed and added to our library.
Thanks again to all who contributed so far and in the future to this thread. It is very useful to all of us here, and anyone in the future.

Well, mine is really bad. What I am thinking of doing is buying this piece, http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...3841832&rd=1,1
I plan on cutting the old one off about 4 inches from the very end of the support and splicing this one in. I would like to do it myself but it looks like it really needs to be on a lift and the front mount needs to be supported while the old one is taken out. The garage plans on using a sawzall to cut it apart and clamp and weld the new one in.
My main question is should I spend more money and just get the lower support and have it replaced? I think the above method splicng it in would be less costly and work just as well.

from what i have seen aftermarkets usually come thinner and break faster. but i guess it varies with each manufacturer. had one break that wasnt even rusted out. i would get a new one from the dealer. put some POR-15 on it and never think about it again.

why would they want to wend around a 4 inch tube when they could drill out the factory spot welds and weld it into the same spot, alot less work and neater too. i would go to another shop

Because you have to take everything off the front to get to it. He thinks he can do it in less than 2 hours. BTW, you may think this is a hick butcher but he is a local guy who has had a garage for 30 years. I've seen his work and its great. It's a 96, I won't have the car for more than 5 years.

whatever floats your boat. i work on the autobody industry and i see plenty of hacks that have been doing it for 30 years. you have to take out the radiator and the condenser anyway,unless you want to cut them up, afte that what's left? the bumper and lights? that i can have off in less than an hour. an hour is worth not hacking a car up. if you said you wont have the car more than 5 months its one thing, but 5 years............. just do it right.

either way you have to take off the bumper and support behind it to do this. its not like you have to remove the headlamps and fenders.

in order to take off the bumper you have to take off the lights, the upper retainer bolt is under the headlightand corner light. you only have to take off the fenders if you're changing the whole support., like this:

Good thread, I have this same problem. Is there any way to seal out moisture at the bottom of the support after you spend money on fixing it?

Edit: nevermind, I missed page 2

I just noticed that on my Max last week.

Apparently it's not just 4th gens. I just spent $1209.07 two weeks ago to replace the lower tie bar (radiator support) and engine mount at a bodyshop for my 2000 SE. The support was so rotted out that my engine mount was disconnected, causing the engine to thump around when driving.

Thanks for all the info everyone. After considering my options of the whole support and just lower bracket I opted for the cheap steel weld solution. Didn't realize my problem til I had to replace my K40 remote radar mounted there and saw the rust on mine. Mine was about 25% rusted through with one bolt holding well and the other only a little (10yrs 127Kmi). After chipping away the loose rust and treating they welded a 1" x 2" x 1/4" steel L bracket onto the crossmember.


$9 for the steel, 1 hour labor. Subframe connector is now permanently in place so we'll have to cut it to remove the tranny or engine if ever needed. If that day comes then I have more to spend than breaking a weld.

I think that it is a really bad idea to weld the brace to the frame. Other members have had this done, and the weld broke. PLUS what a huge PITA when you change your clutch. If you have an auto tranny, than I guess that it is not so bad.

I hope it works out for you, and your tranny last a long time.

no offense, but i can see right through that caked on paint/undercoating and can see the hack job under that. at the very least you could have had someone bend you up a piece of say 1/8 inch plate to the same shape, put it where it should go, mark out the crossmember mount holes, cut them out, weld a nut on the other side of the plate, weld the plate solid on the lower support. still a visible repair, but it retains all the functionality of the oem design. it looks like they welded the L channel to the crossmember, then tacked that onto one side of the support. the welds on the support dont look like they penetrated.

I just cut/ground mine out the other day, I was planning on replacing just the lower as it was HORRIBLE, but then I got in a little accident. Figured I'd add some pics and comment on the ghettoniss of the repair above.......

damnnnnnn... did u end up putting in an ertire support urself??

i did.........

Yup, and it really wasn't that bad. I mean the welds aren't pretty by any means, but it's deffinitly not going anywhere, even if there wasn't three huge bolts on each side. I actually had to have an entire front cut out of a car just to use the upper section's, they wanted $400+ at the dealer!! I'm gonna throw some pics out up.

In this pic if you look closely you can see the three steps to drilling out the pinch welds, I found this to be much easier than grinding them out. step #1- Center punch. #2-pilot hole. #3-ummm, maybe 3/8 dril bit, don't remember, but big enough to cover the pinch weld and then some.



Finished, finally, after 30+ holes just to use this upper off of a junkyard entire support.



Clamping the new lower in place, before installing the 3-bolts and tow hook plate.


STEP #1 BEFORE WELDING!! I mean seriously, why would you not do this, it takes ten seconds, if it takes you longer than 20 seconds then it will take you about 8 hours just to remove the ecu and replace it with another one, I could drop a VQ quicker than I could pull an A32 ecu, seriously. Overboard, NO, it really only takes 2 seconds, DO IT, as well as disconnecting both battery terminals, just DO IT.

Obviously, I've left out a LOT of steps, this isn't really a write-up by any means, there was a lot of 'stuff' to remove obviously, plus lot's of grinding down to bare metal before welding, than cleaning up the welds and painting it all with primer than white. I'm upset right now, I lost the link to an AWESOME 101 site on mig-welding, it really was better than anywhere else, oh well, here's another one...... http://www.millerwelds.com/education...articles8.html

Got to agree on the safety of ours cars

before i move to the US i was living in Puerto Rico and was the owner of a 97 GlE one night i was running against a Mazda 6 and because of an idiot that changed lanes just in front of my i hit his car at 90 mph without even hitting the brakes
a 92 mirage his car went from left to right like 3 times i got out of the car without even looking at mine so i went to see how they where thanks God everyone was ok when i look at his car the trunk disappeared basically the car shrunk like by 45% even the back was pushed all the way touching the front seats so went i went to see my car i was so surprised that the only damage was the front bumper that had like 5-6 rips like 2"wide by 7-8 " long the grille was broken but nothing noticeable from 5 feet or so one headlight with a small crack like 2" long the paint was chipped from hood but wasn't bent and a blown headbulb

after that i took my car to see whether or no it was bended because of the impact and yet another surprise it was up to specs so basically i replaced the headlight bulb and ran the car for another year or so without ever noticing something wrong with it

been invloved in too many accidents and all of them at lower speeds with orse results

like
1980 200sx-new bumper new grill new hood new lower valance all four headlights radiator
1989 isuzu tropper-1 fender i door all the suspension brake for driver side even the dash was cracked
and the most funny of all a military hummer(i was driving) new grill guard new hood new radiator plus 1 month of pay hahaha

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=404531

Link to pt 2 of the core support thread (getting fixed)

Edit: Link fixed so now the semi-writeup of core support being fixed is accessible again. (Thanks scooby68!!)

Holy Rusted Nuts Batman!
On top of my other issues to fix water pump, KS, EGR diagnosis, I just discovered the Radiator Support going south on my 97 SE, being a skier on the east coast( New Jersey) Most of my travel is on salty winter roads. Not good! Tfvesquire does repairs for members in Chicago area. Does anyone know of someone similiar on the east coast? Thanks for you replies! Vince

DO NOT spray a rustoliem product on this, it will seal the rust inside and rust even faster underneath the paint. i have seen many orgers post about this over the last 2 years and your better off not messing with it until your ready to replace.

that looks really good...

had my lower support replaced in the fall, after running with the angle iron fix for a year... scary, it came out in 5 peices.

$250 parts and labour

That is very cheap you got the hokk up hook up. lol
My labor was around that price.
But I used an oem nissan lwr rad support though

I'm having rust issue as well and am planning to replace the entire radiator support. Is the entire support bolted and removable with metric tools or are there welds I will have to cut through?

First off, its welded in.
Secondly, do a search. You couldve easily come across Shortyblue's replacement forum, and many others whose screen name escapes me right now . . .
Getting ready to finally drill mine out tonite. wish me luck!!

the answer to your question is answered several times in this thread

Thanks, I was reading on another site and someone mentioned it was not welded if the entire support was taken off. Anyway, I know better now as I spent most of the day removing the support cuz of the welds. I could have finished this by now except I bought the aftermarket support and the fit wasn't right. It was smaller and the holes didn't align. The thin metal actually tore and rippedcas I was trying to fit it into place. I'm going to get the original from the dealer now, they want $350 for the entire frame support

Also, will an arc welder suffice when putting the support back on? I'm doing this myself but have not welded before.

Thought I had a bad axle, cause when I made a right hand turn the right front would pop an make noise. Took it in an the T between the wheels was rusted completely through where if you made a fist you could put it between all 3 supports. Had it welded an fixed up for $325 now car handles, accelerates an turns like when I bought it.

150k on the car atm, an hoping to make it to 200k at least.

Here is a photo of my rust. I did not realize how common this was. My 1995 Maxima has 160K miles and not sure if I should get rid of the car or try to fix it. I have a very short commute and don't drive more than 200 miles a month. However, I have a fear of driving down the road and hearing my engine scraping against the pavement. Being how little I drive the vehicle, does the angle-iron fix seem appropriate?

Thanks

... i love when you guys get so passionate....

Matty thnx for the contact info for the dealer and the part info i was looking for it too.

There's an auto parts store on Ebay that is selling the entire radiator support piece (new)for $52 plus $60 shipping. Looks like a lot of work to do the entire thing...