garbage911

Hi there,

I just wanted to see if other forum members have better ideas...

I have a 2001 MB c240 base and went to remove the wheel liner for the back 2 wheels so I could rustproof with POR15 paint.

As you know, our W203 cars have a seam in the rear wheel well / arch that tends to accumulate mud and water so it rusts out there.

Anyways, as I was removing the liner; the studs for the clips broke. At first, I wasn't too worried as clips are cheap... then I realized that MB had welded the bolt onto the frame.

Since I have no experience with a welder, I tried to JB weld it but even with the kwik weld; the new bolts i tried to use fell off.

In the end, I took a dremel/drill... poked a couple of new holes in the liner and then used plastic zip ties to secure it to the shock absorber.

What a PITA.

Has anyone else encountered this problem and do you have any suggestions/ideas on a better fix.

Thanks

samaritrey

I had one brake off but I was lucky and it never has been an issue I will say that mine broke because I was an idiot but it was rusted a little. I would say you could try to drill it out and get to the other side of the panel with a new screw and attach it in place somehow depending on where it is.

garbage911

Yea, I ended up just zip tieing it.




My fear was that I would hit something critical on the other side of the sheet metal and/or compromise the sheet metal for rust to form.


not that it really matters on a 13 year old car as it's lifespan is limited.
having said that; only 115,000 km on the car.

samaritrey

Oh your from Toronto I am sure you have enough rust to deal with already lol
Zip tie will probably outlast the car anyway so good move!!
I am going to take a road trip to Toronto next month!!

Stuka Bomber

Just throwing ideas out there.

How about a plastic anchor for drywall. Could you sink that into the hole and use it as a nutsert?