Cconnj

Car's been in and out of my local shop. The rear shock bolts have become naturally welded into everything they are in contact with. I couldn't get the bolts out with airtools so took it to the shop where I've been getting work done on numerous projects I've done over the last couple years. Here's the deal the shocks have become one with the stock struts and the rubber bushing. It all now has to be cut out. I know he's not tellin stories either because I've been under that car for 4 days with no luck ( TRYING TO GET 2 F*#%in bolts out). So I've had it and letting him finish the project and order the parts needed from Acura.

Anyone else had this problem or did I just get to be the lucky one?

For all you who I told about parts they are waiting for the insurance company to total the car and see if they can take it over. I'll let all you guys know - No I didn't forget.

Thomasio

If you are talking about the 2 lower bolts that hold the shocks on (rear of '97 Acura CL), had the same problem. My shop was able to somehow unbolt the top only, and lower the suspension while the car was on the lift... enough to get the old springs off and put the Eibach Pro springs on.

They were ready to give up, because they couldn't get the bolts off. My car had about 45,000 miles at the time. (But I'm in Wisconsin, they love to use tons of salt on the roads every winter... wrecks anything metal.)

Do you need to replace the shocks? If not, have them do what my shop did. It was *very* close, but it worked!

T>

Cconnj

Yeah replacing the struts anyway with KYB AGX's Plus I don't like when I know somethings not right. Yeah same problem in NJ with snow lots of it. Mines a 99 3.0 but living in farm area I've got 66,000 on mine.

VXCL

yup back in jan i had my car up in the air for 3 weeks. first both rear lover bolts sheared off. then i cut the shocks in half, burned out the bushings and cleaned the holes. waited 2 weeks for new bushings. nothin came. then found out my order never went through. then a week later finally got em. so a one day project took me a month and an extra $100 in parts and tools. i ended up replacing all the bushing with new ones while i was down there.

dajuice27

Dustbuster and myself,we bought a saw from Home Depot and sawed the brackets off, then pounded the bolts out. It took about 2 hours total time including the purchase of the saw.

My car looked like shit, but now it rides pretty well.

'98 with 66K on the ODO at the time.

dustbuster4

Yeah, getting dajuice27's lower shock mounting bolts was a bitch! :angry:

Mine were the same way. One came out ok, the other busted off in the bushing. I cut the shock brackets off, then twisted the whole fucking bushing out to get the remainder of the bolt out! :angry:

swclown

yeah two years ago i went to get my prokit installed - they couldn't get the bolts out so i haven't bothered since -- my car looks like a 4X4

VXCL

if having a nice car was easy then everyone would have one.
and if they couldnt figure out to just get u some new bolts and bushings then they really shouldn't have been workin on ur car in the first place. i dont know any shop that would turn away from a small prob like that. if u still got ur springs go order some bushings and bolts from a dealer and get ur car dropped, but not at that place.

swclown

i totally agree! this place does AWESOME audio stuff but they just got into bolt-on crap a couple of years ago - i know the owner and staff so they gave me springs at their costs, and we were doing it after work and just using the lift (no labor), but my buddy Joel is no mechanic and this was a little much. we sent the springs back and i used the $$ for brakes. Anyway, it seemed like it was going to be a huge hassle and more money so i keep putting it off

ACURA-C

Here is my link of my nightmare install from a seized bolt from my ProKit install.
I feel your pain....so does niedejb, if it werent for his air compressor and tools and help,....Id prolly still be stock height!!

http://www.acura-cl.com/forums/showt...highlight=bolt

And here is a better thread of my prokit drop with my 18's. It will give you a better idea how the final product is so worth it. If it was always easy, everyone would have great looking cars.

http://www.acura-cl.com/forums/showt...hreadid=102979

nicholbr

WOW! I thought i was the only person ever to have this problem. About 6 months ago i went to install prokits on my 99 integ(28k miles on it) with my friend and got the fronts on in about a half hour. It was late but we decided that it would be just as easy or easier to get the back ones on. We worked until 1AM trying to get those damn lower bolts out. We ended up just sawing the bolt off on either side but couldn't get the damn thing out. I had to get the car towed to my local shop and they tried pounding the thing out with air tools but to no avail. So $700 dollars later i had a whole new rear suspension and prokits installed. I was amazingly pissed to say the least.

As a side note, they gave me the bolt back to have and i noticed that the part that went through the strut had these weird grooves in it which i'm sure allows for water/salt from the roads to get in there and form rust which, of course, basically welds the damn thing to the strut.

Either way the car looks good, but I sure as hell hope i dont run into the same thing with my CL.

Cconnj

Thats all I want is my ass to drop like J-lo's over the last couple years! I'm about to just get a heavy weight girl and make her sit in the back seat! I think that would make my car look fat YO!

green972.2

so let me get this straight... if you were to replace the springs and strusts at the same time... this wouldnt be a problem?

Cconnj

You must live near the nuclear power plant. J/K ...No there is one bolt 17mm that connects the strut to the lower control arm. Your spring is slipped over your strut. So no bolt out = you get nothing done! Those bolts are the keys to your back suspension. Any part of your suspension- shocks, springs, bushings, lower control arm, isn't movin. So if they are stuck your going to mostly likely need Struts, Tempered replacement bolts and definitley bushings. For all that work you might as well do the springs.

dustbuster4

How do you mean?

The springs and struts are held together as a unit. The bottom of the spring rests on the pearch of the strut. Then a "cap" (base) is bolted down on top of the spring and strut. When you replace the springs and struts, you'll use the OEM base on the new set-up.





http://www.acuraautomotiveparts.net/...prddisplay.jsp

Sacramento CL

Makes me glad I live in California. All of the bolts came out of my car with jsut a rachet wrench!!

moforose3.0

Same thing happened to me. They had to cut the rear bolts and put in new bushings (I think they were only like $25 from acura). It was a pain in the ass. Try heating the bushings with a torch and then using airtools to get it off. It may work it your condition isnt too bad, it sure as hell didnt work on mine though. Good luck.

dulux

boy you people from up north really have bad luck with that salt and water crap seizing your bolts. =( Im with sacramento I am sure I live in a place with warm climate yr round. Hardest bolt for me came out with breaker bar and wd-40.

dustbuster4

Yeah, the weather up here sucks!

To top off my spring install (beyond the busted bolt), when the dealer tried to align my rear wheels, they couldn't loosen the bolts on the trailing arms. They had to cut them out and install new ones (just to align the wheels)! :angry: