So... this weekend I decided I would drive down to my parent's house and pay them a visit, and fix a few things on my car while I was there. Yesterday my father and I swapped out the plugs and wires, and that (of course) went fine; I learned how to use a torque wrench while I was at it. I haven't driven the car more than a few feet since then, but Toby already seems happier.

Today I decided to tackle both my broken exhaust bracket, and replacing the chrome strip on my rear bumper. I am sad to say I spent the last six hours merely skinning my knuckles and incurring more cost. Firstly, I could not get the old chrome strip off. I simply could not get the little tabs to pop through the bumper cover. I have resigned myself to the fact that I will have to take the entire rear bumper cover off to replace the chrome. I know that isn't a big deal, but I am terrified I will end up snapping off some of the tabs that hold the black plastic trim on around the wheel wells.

What's far worse is my ordeal with the muffler bracket. I sprayed all four bolts holding on the orange rubber pieces with this nut & bolt loosening stuff my dad gave me, and was only able to get one of the four bolts off. The second would not budge at all, and the third would only unscrew a third of the way. The fourth seemed rust-free, but was also reluctant to turn. I sprayed on more of the loosener, and tried again. I got it to turn, and soon I also had it a third of the way unscrewed. I kept at it, and the next thing I know, I hear a thunk as the nut falls off and hits the top of the muffler. I inspected the nut, and more than half of the bolt was still attached to it! I twisted it clean off of the car, and the nut that it's attached to won't even budge.

In all honestly, I think I'm a bit of a weakling, and I'm shocked I was even able to do this! What's obviously worse is that now I will have to take the car in somewhere and have them not only install the bracket, but replace the bolt I broke (along with any others that are similarly doomed). Does anyone have any idea how much this could cost? It seems like something that could require the entire rear end being disassembled. Ugh.

 

can you drill it out?

 

I don't know what it looks like cause I never looked at it, but one option could be take it to a muffler shop and they could fix it cheap if the dealer is too expensive and you don't care if it's OEM..

 

Muffler shop first. Dealer last...

 

I'd agree with taking it either to an exhaust shop, or a specialized MINI/BMW third-party repair center prior to the dealer. The dealer is only going to do it one way and it will cost you. What you ran into is a side-effect of living near the north-east and having a slightly older car. I ran into a number of problems trying to install a rear-sway bar on my 2003 MCS due to rusted nuts&bolts. Replacing a few rusted bolts isn't a problem for most shops although it may take a little labor (and this is why you don't go to the dealer where they charge $120/hr)

 

M.E.,
Are you still working on the other 3 bolts?
A tip my dad gave me many years ago is to screw out then back in. Then out a little more, then back in. Keep at it until the screw comes out. This does 2 things. First it breaks up the rust little by little without totally jambing up the threads further locking the bolt. Second it creates heat in the fastener that can help the process.
For rust penetrant use PB Blaster or CRC. This stuff really helps a LOT!

 

Thanks for the replies, guys. Can I just take the car to a place like Monro or Midas, or am I better off finding an independent shop? Ideally I'd like to pay less than $100 to have the bolt replaced and the bracket installed... I don't know if this is realistic or not.

PB Blaster is what my dad gave me. I think it definitely helped, but it wasn't the magic elixir I needed I guess. I wish now that I'd sprayed it on the night before instead of minutes before. He also told me to keep screwing and unscrewing the nut. It seemed to be working on one of the nuts, but it was still very slow going, and my arm was getting tired, so I switched to the nut in question and it seemed to be turning fine. I didn't realize that after a certain point it was the bolt that was turning and not the nut.

 

I would suggest finding an independent exhaust shop. If you know of a classic car club in your area, contact them and ask for a referral. They will be more creative in their approach to your repair than would a Midas-type shop.

 

Midas gave me a quote of replacing the rear bracket (broken) with my part for $30 - $50

That includes bracket and both rubber hangers

That was Iowa City IA

 

Hey guys, I ended up taking the car to Monro to see what they thought about the situation. The tech tried to take off the remaining nuts and another one of the bolts snapped, no surprise there. He ended up installing tap screws and mounted the bracket to those. They only charged me $30, which is the best part. Now if I could only get that #*#@! chrome strip off...

 

When you finally DO decide to remove the rear cover you will likely see that the tabs each have a dab of like hot glue to keep things extra secure - the tabs can be pushed and pressed out with a screwdriver blade but it is a nuisance bit of work - cannot imagine getting the insert out with cover in place unless you are a small contirtionist.