het guys, i have a stripped center bolt on my front passenger side strut plate and was wondering what its gonna take to remove it as i'm replacing suspension soon. will anything break or get worse, i have to wait on the springs and then i need to know how much time a shop's gonna charge me to get this thing apart. no guessing please, as i'm concerned with the saftey of the car. thanks in advance...

 

That is the bolt that compresses the spring/strut combo together, you have to remove it to change the strut/spring. How did you manage to strip it? See if you can buy stripped nut removing tools and take it out. As for shop charges, why not just call and ask?

 

i meant to say that the inside of the bearing plate is stripped, not the nut itself. when you try to tighten the center bolt the inside of the plate turns with it. anything short of replacing the plates to make it safe???

 

Nothing bad will happen. Nut is still tight on the threads I assume so no worried until you need to change the strut(or strut bearing or mount).

 

so the clunking noise i assume is just the strut mount banging around. my 1 mechanic said it could shoot out the bottom of if the mount gets worse. ( pssshh he must think all non mechanics believe that garbage ) and he thinks hes doing the suspension work at 85.00 an hour ( as if ) thanks dude

 

Ha I doubt that can/would ever happen.

Since you are changing your suspension, here is what I would do.
Buy new strut mounts/bearings for both sides and for the side you stripped buy a new upper spring seat and rubber seat. That way you don't have to worry about removing that stripped bolt at all.
http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=491906

 

use those sockets meant for taking apart stripped bolts....if i was at the shop...id put the strut on the spring compressor....compress the spring and die grind the strut shaft in half if you didnt need the strut...if you need it...i would start off the same...use the stripped bolt socket thing...hammer that on...and use a nice impact gun to reverse it off.

 

yeah, i did buy the boots and mounts under the dealers recommendation. also, whats the plastic bearing that sits atop of the strut between the strut and mount plate. i got the gr2's and the maxspeed springs and wondered how long can i expect them to hold up?? i don't beat on the car, and i've had original shocks and etc. since day 1 and was told that they don't do well on a dropped suspension. allthough i talked to a few orgers who say they aint bad if you can't spend to get better.