Why you guys need new lower radiator support. A L profile galvanized steel plate is all what need. It is not temporary solution. It is permanent solution. 1,5 year after plate is installed at my car everything is OK.

 

so you put a plate on top or made the whole support out of galvanized steel? It is an idea but thats expensive and impractical for most. I dont live in the rust belt so I dont have a dog in this fight against rust.

 

b/c that L profile covers only the outside... if you have ever looked inside a rusted radiator support you will know what I am talking about... plus with everything rotted inside where you gonna bolt the L plate? Better yet try to weld it! Its not that hard to replace the lower radiator support on the maxima... it cost me less that $200 for a new support, hood latch support and numerous little screws and plastic clips to repair mine...

 

^ thats what I am saying if you just put a plate on top then it will probably be worse because it will trap moisture in between and rust just the same. Now if you made a whole support out of GS then it would be a nice upgrade but that is expensive and if I am not mistaken I do not think you can weld to GS so it would be tough

 

all the responses in this thread are correct. this is only a solution if the part where the cross member bolts up is only kinda rotten.

 

I just find health part of lower radiator support and screw my L profile there. This L profile I paid 1$ (from a Infiniti at junkyard) otherwise would cost up to 20$. It can be like this for next 4-5 years and then I will just buy longer L profile to catch another no rust part of LRS.
Just to emphases it is a L profile with SS screws. It is not a [] beam.

 

You have here something. But only complete LRS from Galvanized steel would make sense because beam would rust just at weld point. And true I would buy only Galvanized steel LRS because regular one make moisture inside. My 1$ plate is superior to regular LRS because is galvanized ( true only zinc plated ) and big hole is behind for water to escape. I expect last as is for 4-5 years. I don’t think regular LRS would last so long.
It is like that already 1.5 years in Mn weather. Plus I use Cold galvanizing compound at it and everything else at my cars.

 

An L-shaped piece of steel was bolted on by another member 4 years ago

http://forums.maxima.org/4th-generat...sting-out.html

They're no longer active members so who knows if it still holds?

I threw on the OEM lower radiator support last January. It wasn't that hard just time consuming. I had more than enough guidance with the hundreds of posts and pictures already made so I never even made a post myself.

Another method to try is sandwiching 1/4" beams onto the top non-rusted section of the support. My friend couldn't afford a new OEM so I did that for him on his 2000 MAX. I mounted the cross member bar onto the top section using 1/2" bolts going thru sleeves and grommets. I used this members album for guidance

http://forums.maxima.org/album.php?albumid=223

He did that job back in 2008 on a 1995 MAX and states that it still holds today.

 

GS is the way to go in the rust belt that is for sure. Some aftermarket companies make whole frames out of GS. Props for trying a new idea. A few GS plates in the load bearing spots with plenty of rust preventer and you have yourself a nice set-up. Really glad I dont have that problem

 

If you talk about LRS from GS now you talk about real quality. For me it is superior to OEM. Would last for decades. Kind heavy discuss about rust and LRS when people recommend "throw Rustoleum primer at LRS...". I mean they are in beginner stage of rust fighting.
Just to add I asked before 2 years at Nissan service for price of LRS and they said like 350$. I asked how much is galvanized one and they said it is not problem if need but 100$ more. Basically if you want they build hot deep one for you.

 

what makes you think an OEM rad support wouldnt last more than 5 years? mine was fine until i totaled my car. and the one i replaced it with has no signs of any rust and its been on for about 2 years.

 

i live in ky where we get salt for a dusting my is about gone what i thought after i replace mine is before i bolt it all on cover the bolt hoes up and hit it with some bed liner so it dont rust out or get any salt build up on it..i painted my buddies with it after he bought one and still looks new after 3 years no sign of nothing and helps to with rocks from the road hitting it and other things cats dogs coons lol

 

I'm pro carpenter contractor and I know play with still profiles, bolts, screws and grinders. Just IMO should be given more chances to steel profiles in case of LRS. Who ask for difference between galvanized and painted Google it.

 

I don't want to jack this thread but I don't want to start a new thread on the same topic. So...

Does this look okay? I may just spray it with a rust inhibitor.

 

no. spraying anything now will just trap any moisture in and itll rust just as fast if not more.

 

no dont hit that with nothing...just go ahead get a new one..hit it with some bed liner and go on...save u money 3-4 years down the road...

 

bedliners good. but really you only need to outdoor prime it. 3 wet coats of outdoor primer would be fine. also buy cavity wax, and spray it heavily in EVERY HOLE. the cause of most of this rust is moisture and corrosives getting caught inside. cavity wax will prevent internal rusting. BOOYAKASHA

 

It's not expensive to replace if you do it yourself. I had $150 in replacing mine. Neighbor is pro welder and works for beer haha. It wasn't a hard job at all.

 

hopefully you didnt put in one of those cheap tin can rad supports.

 

I've never welded before. I don't have the experience, time or money to replace it. This is one of those points where I decide to find a cheap alternative to fixing it and start saving to replace the car.

Thanks for the advice. I was actually looking for something like this. Most of my rad support looks fine except that area. Thanks again GGENIUS. I'll post pictures when I do this.

 

Absolutely not. Oem or nothing. Original price was like $170ish but I had a discount. I think I paid right around $130 from the dealership.

 

Do not spray anything on it, it'll just make it worse.

The rad support is doomed, give it a year or 2 max and it will start peeling apart like a banana.

The problem is it rusts from the inside out and is in inherent design flaw in the support. This happens to a lot of models from Nissan/Infiniti in the early/late 90s.

 

Thanks for the advice. I hope it lasts two years. That would be awesome.

 

I believe the following applies to well meaning kludged solutions like GS steel plate, people who think bolting a new support and not welding it and someone using those tempting cheap (non CAPA) non-OEM parts.

How is it going to change the crash behavior.

I would venture that an even an engineer who designed the engine would balk at straying from the original construction because even he wouldn't know for sure what the consequences are. You mess with the original design and maybe instead of the engine being forced down under the passenger compartment in a major crash, it now gets shoved into the drivers legs. You and I just don't know.

 

Nissanpartszone has the lower rad supports for about 140 plus shipping. Its OEM so it is the best option possible other than fabricating something yourself.

Currently i have it laying on my floor, trying to find someone who can get my horrifically mutilated one off my car and the new one on for an affordable price. Would do it myself but i hear getting a cutting wheel at all those spot welds os a *****, and i cant weld, and im a littlw skeptical about bolting without redoing the welds.

 

Just to report to this my old thread as is today L profile is still always strong. So keep going on 3,5 years lather. Massive respect to Nissan. My Infiniti is car with smallest amount of repairs that I had ever. Car is almost 200 000 miles and go like new. Minor rust, of course beside LRS.

 

I joined this forum because my 2000 Infiniti I30 had a rusted out lower rad support.....



After discussing this on the Org the members here were extremely helpful and convinced me to get a new OEM rad support....



I got this from InfinitiPartsUSA.com for $153. Going to have it professionally installed next month. Listen to the Org members when they tell you "OEM or bust"....I'm glad I did

 

i'm still an active member and if you read what i did it's similar to what this guys trying to do. it's got a little rust around it but still holding up nice and strong!!!

 

I'm here still always too. 5 years after and 70K miles my L profile is still strong. It work and it is not temporary solution.

 

plus, my rad support never looked near as bad as that. i have a local shop grind and repaint every year or 2 just to be sure.

 

Mine was SHOT. So much so that my flex pipe needed replacement prematurely from too much movement.

And wouldn't ya know it..... during the year before, or maybe even longer, I took it to Baron Nissan (Greenvale, NY) for oil changes, they never mentioned it until I told them they were morons for NOT alerting their customers of this potentially dangerous condition and they'd never see me again!

Get under your car and really look. Very few are still OK if you live anywhere near snow and salted roads. NEVER trust the Nissan Dealers. They don't fix these and consider it "out of their scope" of alerting it to Maxima customers.

I think Morons is as far as I can take it here! But they deserve a full cussing!

 

You're right they're not reliable. During a tranny fluid flush, my service adviser showed me my lower radiator support and said my engine was going to fall out soon (which obviously wasn't true because of the other three mounts and it wasn't rusted that bad yet). They don't do this repair in the service dept, so he sent me to the collision dept which wanted $1400 for the repair. I ended up doing it a few months later with a mechanic at an independent shop for $600.

 

Yeah, mine was done with a Nissan LRS and a body shop doing it properly (he'd done many). Total Cost was just around $500.

If anybody on Long Island needs this done, see or call Bill at:

Hicksville Auto Body
86 Urban Ave
Westbury, NY 11590

Rock on 4th Gen peeps!

 

You can weld galvanized steel. I do it all the time. I just wear the proper PPE when doing so, otherwise you can get sick the next day from it (just a little sick this past Tuesday from welding some galvanized on Monday).

 

I didn't weld. I used SS sheet metal screws, I think 6 of them to screw plate to healthy part of LRS. Of course welding would work too.

 

I just hope the sheet metal screws don't vibrate loose.

 

No they didn't do. I didn't tight them never. Two reasons. One is they made some threads in LRS and second they sort of weld over time with LRS. I know in front they will not go out. It from my construction job, I'm a carpenter contractor. All what you need is a L plate and a few SS metal screws. Then you need a strong angle drill to predrilled holes and then you need a strong impact driver.

 

Por-15

 

For me por15 didn't work. I had slightly better results whit "primer over rust" from Rustoleum. Plus LRS rust from inside out. Now silicone somehow put inside LRS would help probably. Same how they set silicone gel in Porsche.

 

You are mistaken. One of my friends is a welder and welds GS all the time for his job.

However, doing so gives off nasty, if not toxic fumes and should not be done without very good (think fan blown) ventilation and without a breather mask.