Why you shouldn't use an aftermarket radiator support......
 

5-speed w/'00vi, equal length e-bay headers, & deluboz 3.5l cams ripped this thing out in short order.......

Attachment 63332

Is it me, or is the thickness of that support EXTREMELY thin?

Not just you, it's cheesy & whicked thin

What's weird is that under load the cross member pushes up on the lower rad.

So, unless you went nuts in reverse, the weight of the engine/trans did that.

Yikes! I just had the lower rad support replaced on mine. Glad I got the OEM part, the prices on those aftermarket ones were definitely tempting. Thanks for the pic.

I bought one from a parts store. About 7 months after install I noticed the same thing!!!

Mine had started to droop a lil so i had my mech weld it up for me. I check on it every few days make sure its good.

@ KRRZ,

When this happened, did it harm the engine or what affects did it have on the car other than the support breaking?

I have always thought that the other mounting points were robust enough so that the nothing else would happen to the car.

Yikes. That's the first time I ever seen something liKe that. How much is it to relace it including labour???

wow where did you get the radiator support frame from?

I just picked up an aftermarket for mine 2 days ago, haven't installed it yet but I will check how thick it is before I do all the work...

wthhh man. Thats just some ridiculous **** right there !!

That is a MAJOR issue with the ****ty aftermarket core supports. Mine did the same after a couple of months of replacement. My bro had the same issue but was able to catch it before it did too much damage and had another piece of metal welded over it to strengthen it up. Have fun re-fixing that... I feel your pain.

Youtube A/m rad supports they do a stength test and its crazy.. I deal with them daily..

eBay rad supports suck. I'm getting mine done soon also but gonna get angle iron peices welded across the front. Everyone I know has done that and it works and won't go anywhere. Those eBay ones are flimsy and garbage cheap thin metal

http://www.courtesyparts.com/62530m-...-p-126547.html

Isn't that expensive.... If you're on a time crunch (or cheap like me) and you live in the south goto a local J/Y and pick one up....

my gosh that thing is thin :eek: if your OEM looked like that you could've got it welded since it's thicker...but this nahh go oem man

Isnt it the 4th gen bumper support that was re-designed into a lighter but stronger aluminum frame? You would think Nissan could upgrade the design on this as well and make it stronger yet lighter. Its funny to see what parts Nissan decides to upgrade in design and what they dont. Kind of like the rad drain plug. Its plastic lol WTF? YOu would think they could go metal with it very easily but decided not to. That sucks about the quality you got though. Could you not tell how thin it was before the install? You would think you could have just tapped on it to see how thin the damn thing was. Sorry about that. Lesson learned though

http://forums.maxima.org/4th-generat...hout-rust.html

I had the same problem, though not as bad, I had a 1/4 plate welded along the bottom of it and fixed it. Its holding up fine now

who the **** cares if the rad drain plug is metal or plastic??

Obviously you do not know the advantages of not having to worry about stripping the plastic screw when draining your rad. A metal plug can also be magnetic which has other advantages. GGenius, just watch when you navigate through the .org and let the big boys who actually know something about cars lend advice ok? Dont say you have other people who use your account and other excuses for saying dumb stuff. Its you, your a troll. Leave. Its simple

youre obviously an idiot if you strip your rad drain plug. even more simple.

and if you knew anything about cars, youd know that pretty much every car company makes their rads with plastic plugs now adays. seriously

:rotz:Its plastic and it strips when you look at it. Thats why aftermarket rads come with metal drain plugs. Simple concept. Think about it