This post is for everyone who says that if you round off that nut you have to take it to a muffler shop/speed shop. I recently purchased a MAC X-Pipe. When I went to install it I found that the lower left nut on the OEM H pipe was rounded beyond belief (see picture below). I am not the orignal owner so this came to be a surprise to me. The guy I bought my 00 GT from was in his 70's and barley drove the car. Well since there was nothing to grab onto using a socket or wrench was out of the question. I decided to buy those sockets that supposedly grip rounded off nuts. Those are such a waste of money. I found that out the hard way. All those sockets did was shred what was left of a decent surface on the nut away. So I then came to the forums and looked for any advice I could find. The only advice I found was take it to a shop and have it done. Well it amazes me that for some reason it only costs many of the users here $20 to have the nut removed. I took my car to 7 different places including a family friend and nobody would attempt to remove the nut for anything under $100. Well I decided there were only three options left because I was not going to throw cash away. My options were to cut the stud off, leave everything alone and sell my x-pipe, or chisel the nut off. Well 4 hrs of hell I finally got the thing off. I found if you remove the right front wheel and inner fenderwell you can get to the top of the nut. I heated up the nut and tapped the very top of the nut with a chisel. I repeated the process for a long time without damaging the stud. After hitting it enough the nut broke free and all I had to do was twist it off. If anyone else has the same problem I did give this a try. Since putting on my xpipe I have put on 3 others for friends. Each one had similar problems and each time my method worked. If you have any questions feel free to pm me.
i was cruising through sears the other day & they have some sockets that are designed specifiacally for rounded nuts there now. it's the first time i've seen them, but they could have been out for a while i just missed them i would have given those a shot to see if they worked at least
The lower nut on the passenger side manifold is way to tight to get vice grips in there. I did try the sockets for rounded bolts/nuts. Those sockets are a waste of money they don't work. Stay away from them.
The lower nut on the passenger side manifold is way to tight to get vice grips in there. I did try the sockets for rounded bolts/nuts. Those sockets are a waste of money they don't work. Stay away from them.
Maybe you werent using them properly? I use the craftsman ones I have all the time at work, just use them with a good impact gun ( i use an IR) set on the 4the click and it has never let me down yet.. if you try and spin them off slow or by hand they might screw up the nut if there isnt enough force to "bite" into the metal..
i sometimes find that you can either flatten 2 edges of the rounded bolt with a dremel and get a regular spanner on it or if its really trashed I just weld an old socket to whats left of the nut... that seems to work as it heats it up too..
If you round it off, or round any nut off for that matter, all you do is get one size smaller sae or metric (2 sizes if necessary,) hammer on the extension to hammer the socket on, and it'll pop right off. I've done hundreds of stuck nuts/bolts both at work and at home this way.