Who has successfully replaced the rust below the engine support beam, the radiator, and front bumper, right at that three way joint???? 2000 max is rusting out about a 1/4" hole and looks like it will only get real worse

looks like it requires a nice weld job

 

Several have had to do this, I will be having this done next month as well. Just word of advice, get an OEM lower radiator support so you will only have to go through this process once. And yes there 50+ spot welds is what holds the lower support in place, along with 6 bolts.

Search youtube for it, a guy in the 4th gen section with an I30 replaced his himself and posted videos on youtube.

 

OEM core support or bust! If you dont believe me just click the support link in my sig and look at the carnage from ebay and parts store supports

 

There are few well written threads with pics, just do some searching...

 

Do not replace it with an aftermarket unit. OEM only.

 

I had a body shop do mine and they used an OEM unit.

 

thanks guys, Jsutter post is exactly what I was looking for thanks for posting the link.

glad my g35 has a composite radiator support and aluminum bumper after seeing my parent's max and other pictures on here

 

I just did this on my 01 GLE, complete replacement of the lower rad support using an OEM part. I read the write up here on ORG before I registered and it was a huge help.

I took my time over a weekend and had a total of about 8 hours in the job. Worst part was drilling out the 25 spot welds per side and trying to keep the shape of the upper rad support sheet metal so I could weld it back together. Drill bit work ok for drilling spot welds but if I was to do it again I would buy a quality spot weld cutter kit, I bought a cheapo set of two to get me by and I abandoned them after half of the first side. The cheapos dulled down or broke very quickly.

Spend a bit of money take your time and it will go fine. Difficulty of about 7 out of 10 on the scale but doable in the driveway.

 

I just did the entire radiator support. It's 100 times easier with an air chisel. Drill out the spot welds using a smaller bit so it's easier and then just stick the air chisel in there and it tears the old one off no problem.

 

ChrisMan287 Is Absolutely Correct, Do Not Replace With Aftermarket...Not Only Is It Sh*t Grade Metel, It Does Not Line Up As Well.The Job Will Be Much More Difficult....IMO

 

Such A Shame That Such An Amazing Car Has This Issue (ALL THE 4th Gens.95-99 HAVE THIS ISSUE) My 98 Maxima Se Only Has 51,200 Miles And I Will Be Replacing My Support In The Near Future...

 

Since I didnt have a spot welder and low on cash. I went to the local welder, he did tons of these supports around town. So, he made a makeshift "thing" basically it went over the rust spots, very stong steel. He then welded it to each end of the cross member (which has no rust). Works out very well so far. Charged me $300 but I think it is worth it.

 

I'd love to see pics of that. There's a few issues with doing it that way but perhaps he did it properly. You just need to think about where the weight of the crossmember is going to be held from. For example if you bolted a weight onto a steel plate, then hung the steel plate from a string, the strength of the steel doesn't matter because all the weight is being supported by the string. So, in other words you could use the strongest steel known to mankind but if its welded to the old support then it's only as strong as the old support is. It may work fine for awhile but when you quickly accelerate and decelerate your engine will jerk and some of that force will be transferred through the crossmember to the radiator support.