My Crossmember front bolts/holes are stripped and getting worse all the time!
Has anyone had any luck with tapping out the holes and using larger size bolts?
If so, what size did you go with for size & type of tap & size and specs of bolts did you go with?
And, can it be done ON the car, without tearing the front of the car apart?

If I were you, I'd drill them out and heli-coil them. That's your safest and most assured bet of a bolt not stripping. Also make sure you're using the right bolts.

You can tap them. But your going to need some fairly heavy duty bolts for that. What I mean by that is not the grade they sell at the local auto parts stores.

Even though this is probably obvious to most of us more experienced fellas, aways go up a grade instead of dropping a grade on your bolts. I wouldn't want any newbs reading this and thinking they can just put in whatever bolt fits.

Ok, all good info, but no one has ever done it I take it?
Also, Merc, Is a Heli-coil strong enough? Alot of force on that there point....
Wouldn't a retap be better?

Try tapping out the threads on the bolts and the bolt holes. If both are stripped, maybe they were cross threaded?

Last year when I did the clutch job, both bolts were destroyed.
I ran a Tap through them and it destroyed the tap. Then I got 2 new bolts from Mitsubishi and ran them in there.
Now this year, on one hole the bolt is still good, on the other hole, the bolt is destroyed.
Here are some pictures below.

GOOD ONE:



BAD ONE:



SAME BAD ONE (closer view on the destroyed threads):



If I go with a bigger size bolt (ie: 13mm or 14mm) the new bigger bolts will not fit thru the metal sleeve/tube & rubber bushings/bumpers.

Then there is Recoiling: Problem is trying to find a Recoil Kit for the stock bolt's size, which is: 12mm x 1.25

This stuff always happens to me...

Originally Posted by MercenaryX2

If I were you, I'd drill them out and heli-coil them. That's your safest and most assured bet of a bolt not stripping. Also make sure you're using the right bolts.

this and get new bolts for the car again.

Looks like it could of gotten cross threaded in there. The reason the tap broke is probably because the only taps worth having are very expensive and made by companies like Snap-On, and even those break. Good thing about those is that its like craftsmen, where if it breaks you just get another one for free.

I probably don't need to tell you but just in case be sure you use tapping oil . I have used WD40 in place of it but you HAVE to use oil to help reduce the friction . I also when doing hand tapping will back my tap out several times to help keep the threads of my tap clean this way . You are alot less likely to break a tap .