Was doing some looking around today under the car, bought some Nevr Dull to see if I can polish my exhaust tips. When I took a look at the whole muffler area, good lord almighty the bolts that attach pipe to muffler are so rusty, I touched one and it started crumbling. Then I saw the bolts for the exhaust tips, I took a turn at those and of course, same result.


Now what I want to do is, take all those bolts out, and replace them with new ones...because screw having rusty bolts. How can I get these out without breaking anything and having to buy a 1000x more expensive exhaust?

At my disposal I have plenty of Liquid Wrench which has proven to be an amazing product, and a torch. Also some sockets specific to grabbing onto bolts with worn heads, but I'm too afraid to use them because again, I don't want to break any bolts...to avoid drilling them out and what not.


I was thinking of soaking them in Liquid Wrench, blasting them with the torch for a while, applying cold water, and immediately attempting to unscrew?

 

I'm inclined to suggest that if it ain't broke, don't fix it. You may opening a can of worms for no reason by trying to replaced the rusty fasteners unless they no longer hold the tips on securely.

 

Nah they hold, I just can't get a good grip on the tips to clean them, I have to do it while they're attached. I just went and picked at the bolt where it meets the tip to remove rust and soaked the hell out of it with liquid wrench. I'm gonna do this over a couple of days. If they're still too stubborn then screw it, I'll have dirty tips.

Not particularly happy with how rusty everything under the back of the car is. Even that bar behind the bumper is building up rust quite nicely. Beginning to get suspicious of the previous owner/the clean CarFax. Sway bars are rusty...Can you tell I hate rust hahah.

 

I'm sure that is discouraging. I'm a little surprised at how much rust you've found. My 05 was amazingly rust free underneath considering the mileage and the number of Northeast winters it cruised through; plenty of salt and sand here.

 

That's okay, admittedly, I'll be passing it on to my mother because I plan on buying something else .

Just trying to enjoy the car while I save up, and have it be nice and clean when the time comes to pass it on.