I was wondering if any of you guys were having this same problem? I was under the car last night and noticed the Rad. support is completely rotted through in two different places. I found this because the two plastic shields that go underneath the rad support fell down and were dragging so i got under there to fix them and was shocked at what i saw. The rest of the car is fairly rust free other than some minor rust on the bottom of the doors. All 4 wheels wells are rust free as well as the body mounts. I saw Radiator support on ebay very cheap and was wondering if you guys have replaced them before and what all was involved? Are they bolt in or require welding? Is this a common issue with these cars? Is the rad support part of the unibody? thanks.

 

Lots of people have this problem - I had mine changed out for $500 with part/labor (they painted the new one to reduce the chance of it rusting again from the rain/snow/salt)

Its bolted and welded in, you can change out the whole front support or just the lower part. The aftermarket ones are thinner than OEM so its up to you

 

are there any other "lots of people have this problem" rust areas i should know about?

 

I have the same issue. I think it's fairly common since our cars are close to or already 10 years old, and Nissan decided to save some weight by making it with thin radiator supports. Mine is rusting right in the middle. I can see right through it, but one of the bolts is still holding on. I believe the ones on ebay are with the entire front frame. I've heard you can get one from Nissan, just the bottom part, and it will be a lot less work, which will save you a lot of money on labor. The support needs to be welded on.

You can either
1. Replace the support.
2. Get a cheap weld fix. (Involves welding onto the cross member)
3. Ignore it until it really rusts through and you have no choice but to replace it. (The motor mounts should hold up the engine, but you will hear it rattle.)

 

thank you for the reply

 

No other spots to worry about.

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....ighlight=pinch]

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

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=408543

 

Welcome to the club.

 

Membership fees are $75 and must be payed annually

 

Replaced mine about a month ago and it actually wouldn't have been too bad. The only bad part was that I found out my car had actually been in a car accident before and someone just decided to cover it up with a new bumper and fender.

I had to heat up and pound the frame back into proper shape, heat and pound the bumper reinforcement mounts back into shape and then mount it all back in and weld it up.

Took about a good two full days of work to finish the whole thing properly (weld, and rust protecting paint, etc).

If everything is still good though, the most you'd have to worry about are the welds. I'll tell you now..... biggest PITA. Like 20 spot welds on each side to chisel/drill.

 

whats up, i acutally noticed this 3 days ago, i have a 98 MAX so the bumper cover has the bottom valance thats more open the 95-97 or 96...anyway i noticed the paint was chipped and the support was gettign rusted right in the middle, a very even rust but still sux...not sure if i hit the curb sometimes when i nose in to a parking spot at work or if it's just a flaw....just like my muffler...same thing on the bottom of it, not sure if its my parking skills or a flaw...my mom's former '93 MAX (beautiful car, white on gray, fully loaded, i took my road test with that car for my license, and it had the stick in the back windwon 4DSC [4 door sports car] had the same prob with the muffler.....let me know ur thoughts please

 

The core support is a flaw, like your driving skills. Muffler is not, all cars rot out mufflers.

Welcome to the .org, you seem like you have a passion for maxima's and are a genuinly nice kid, but be careful around here, tread lightly and read ALOT first or others will pwn joo noob for asking questions without searching (Like this guy, lol), or not following the links I posted, or randomn comments about how the car you took your road test in was a 4DSC. But welcome.