Rubber bump stops - boot

How on earth do you undo the screws that hold the two lower rubber bump stops for the boot? They are seized solid and the head just chews up. Is there a technique? As far as i can see, they aint coming out unless i try to drill them out.

I think they have thread lock on.

Protect the body work surrounding the rubbers with a vast amount of tape. Carefully cut the rubber off with a NEW stanley blade. Once you have cut it away it is possible to get hold of the screws with a pair of grips.

When youve rounded the heads. The only option now is the rip the rubbers away exposing the screws more and the metal bracket. Get a mini blow torch from maplins. Heat em up as they are thread locked in and mole grip em out with long nose mole grips.

Or you can drill them out and retap the hole. But they will be slightly angled. Will still fit fine.

Impact driver

Use an impact screwdriver on the screws. Only way to get them out without rounding. Needs impact force to dislodge them.

The heads are too rusty to use an impact driver. They are literally crumbling.

I think they have thread lock on.

 

Protect the body work surrounding the rubbers with a vast amount of tape. Carefully cut the rubber off with a NEW stanley blade. Once you have cut it away it is possible to get hold of the screws with a pair of grips.

Tried that but the metal bracket is shaped in a way that i cant get the grips on the heads properly.

They have blue thread lock on for added harassment. I used a dremel circular blade to cut a new slot into the screw head. Could then get a straight screwdriver on it and enough force to free it. Might not be the best way, but it is a way and it worked for me.

You need heat and cut the rubber down, hacksaw a new notch to enable an impact drive to unscrew, you need heat over a period of time to melt/loosen the loctite. And patience! New stoppers are available from Toyota.

The lower bump stops should just come straight off. Its only the side ones that are araldited in and you need to apply a heat source to those to melt the araldite; then the bolts unscrew easily. Your best bet is to cut away the old rubber then you might be able to get a set of grips onto the head remnants so you can get some purchase to be able to free them.

Well what a PIG of a job. Those screws would not shift for anything. It didnt help that they looked like they had been under the Atlantic for 200 years and the heads crumbled as soon as I touched them. Tried to drill them out but the drill only went so far then just started spinning and smoking. After a lot of swearing I managed to cut the remnants of the heads off the screws which then left the threaded bit in. Drill wouldn't drill the threaded bit out so I drilled a new hole in the centre of the rubber bump stop and in between the two original holes in the body and put a small screw head bolt through with a nut on the back. A bit unconventional but it worked a treat.

WOW, what a difference changing these has made. Before, the car felt 25 years old with knocks and rattles around the back end. Now the car feels so much newer and not a single knock or rattle even on bumpy roads, its made driving the Supra much more pleasant. Highly recommended to change these if you've not already done it, its worth all the hassle even if the screws are seized solid and the heads rotten like mine were.

One of the first things I changed when I bought mine. Well done getting the stops on, shame the old screws wouldn’t budge.