I'm changing the front strut on my 20V, but I cannot get the bottom bolt out. The nut is off but I cannot free the bolt.

After spending most of the afternoon sitting on the driveway tapping, twisting, turn and eventully whacking the thing, it still wont move. It's ended up with a rounded head and I can hear it laughing at me.

Any ideas?

Does the bolt turn inside the hub?

I would have said to put the nut back on the bolt by a few threads before giving it a good whack but it's too late for that now. You're going to have to file off the rounded area and try again.
Give it a good spray with some plus gas releasing fluid and leave it for a few hours to soak in, then use a breaker bar on the bolt end or impact wrench if you can get one, if not use the breaker bar to apply torque to the bolt and tap the other end with the hammer.

Thanks Jimbo,
No the bolt is stuck fast, wont turn.
I've left it to soak overnight and I'll have a go tomorrow.

Which bolt; the pinch bolt on the ball joint or the bottom of the two damper retaining bolts? I don't suppose it matters either way.

So you say you can turn it but not withdraw it? Soak it in wd40, plus gas or what ever your preference is. Let it soak and then take a good lump hammer and bash it out. A DIY type claw hammer won't cut it, you'll just mushroom the end of the bolt.

Be prepared to replace the nut and bolt with another identical one (if unsure by from Fiat or one of the specialists on here).

You normally have to dift the bolt out. Dirt and rust will prevent it just pulling out. Turning it excessively will just cause damage to the holes.

When changing mine one side flew out.
Other side had the same. One bolt would not come out. It was a case of just moving/wiggling/jacking things to be in the sweet spot to drift it out.
Unfortunately one final belt on the drift knocked the bolt out but leaving the drift stuck. Eventually freed that. Feel the your pain. It will come out!

That's the pressure applied from the anti roll bar that is pinning the bolt in your case. You need to jack the opposite side up a little to relieve it.

If the bolt won't turn I'd say it was a little more than the antiroll bar! Just remember to reassemble with a little copper grease on the bolt to stop it happening again.

He came, he saw, he conquered.

Done it,

All I need now is to wait till Monday to get some more bolts.

Thanks for the advice everyone.

I'm going to lie down now.

Just to add to this, I went to my local Fiat dealer today to get some replacement bolts.

Me: 4 lower front suspension strut bolts please.

Dealer: Certainly mate, that will be £12+ vat please.

Me: £12

Dealer: Yes mate

Me: Are you taking the P*&&. Their just bolts.

Dealer: Sorry mate, thats the price.

Me: OK, I'll have them. Wait a minute, should there be a nut on the end.

Dealer: You want the nuts as well mate?

Me: It would help, yes please

Dealer: The nuts are £4 each mate.

Me: What

Dealer: £4 each mate.

Me: Are they made of gold?

Dealer: No mate, steel I think

Me: Steel is the right word I do believe and your not my mate.

In conclusion, please take care when removing the bolts. Do not lose your temper with them, treat them like a woman and caox them out slowly, try not to round the edges but if all else fails,whack the hell and pay later.

Have fun

I removed all my bolts when refreshing my suspension... i decided to get nice new ones... even though i didnt really need them. Needless to say I was in shock when the bill arrived

It's a similar story for the wishbone bolts & pinch bolt & nut. Something like £30 for the lot.

This is how you treat women?!

Yes, but like I say you'll pay later - JOKE

Top strut nuts+strut to hub nuts are M12 x 1.25. Try ebay for savings the pennies compared to Fiat.

But unless you are absolutely sure what it is you require in terms of shank length and tensile strength I'd advise anyone to go and spend their money at Fiat. It's not worth the risk for 30 quid or so.

For example how many people would know the difference between a set screw and a bolt?

"nuts are M12 x 1.25" I suggested nuts.

Lol, so you did. I jumped the gun a bit and thought it was bolts also.

Sorry if I seemed to be having a dig, not my intention. Just trying to point buying aftermarket bolts can be a headache. I think nuts can be as well, they're nyloc and I can't remember if they're shouldered or not.

I'd always use the original manufactures bolts in a position as important as securing the hubs.
Take for example the multiple failures of the camber bolts when fitted to the lower bolt hole position in the hub, there is a high load on those bolts and a failed bolt can be catastrophic!

Someone put camberbolts in the lower hole..?

Yup, it shouldn't matter which hole you put them in...but in reality it most certainly does!

When I fitted mine (H&R bolts) the instructions were clear; put the bolt in the upper hole. Probably that one mostly takes the horizontal load and the lower one mostly takes the vertical load, which should be much bigger.

i just replaced mines with 4 bolts and nuts from b and q done the trick no problems at all. think they were a couple of pounds for everything. still i had a terrible time getting the bolts out plenty of mad hammering and shouting .nightmare of a job and gets caught on abs sensor.

In which case, you're an accident waiting to happen - I would strongly recommend that you don't drive the car until you've replaced them.

The strut bolts are high-tensile - B&Q bolts most definitely won't be. If they fail, it's likely to be at a moment of high load, such as hard cornering - the consequences don't bear thinking about.

In fact, I'm SO serious, give me your address - I will find some nuts bolts at Motormech and send them to you for free. I couldn't bear to think of you pranging your car for the sake of four bolts.

no bother mate they are high tempered steel. they are good.good enough for holding steel beams together with tons of pressure im sure they will be fine..

Good luck with that! I'd only use the OE bolts which were designed to take the constantly changing loads that the car suspension puts on them.

The consequences of them snapping vastly out weight the time take for fitting, especially given that you'll be getting the for free.

Like I said above have you actually got bolts? Is the the shank length correct; i.e. is there any thread inside the hole? What tensile strength have you got?

There's far more to having the right bolt than it being the right diameter.

OE bolts tend to be none standard in terms of length, shank and thread ratios.

I strongly suggest you take up Nigel's offer.

If you need some proof about incorrect bolts I suggest you search around Jimbo's comments regarding camber bolts.

You need to have a look at the bolt head and see what what is embossed into it - please post it on here

I'm serious - you're risking your neck - I'll happily send you some replacement bolts free of charge

A generous offer. I just fitted an OMP strut brace to my 20vt.
Rather than cut the washers off the bolts to fit, I replaced 2
bolts with BMW ones from my toolbox. They are the same length,
same pitch and 10.9-same as the original as far as I can see.

I'm currently trying to remove my front struts. Managed to get the bolts free but as Mick said, the bottom one fouls the ABS sensor on the way out. The sensors are totally seized in the hubs - no way to remove them without damaging them - and it looks a certainty that they'll get damaged if I try to force the bolt heads past them.
So what to do? I could cut through the shank of the bolt and insert a replacement from the other side, but that will create a problem if they ever need to be removed again - the sensor will now be in the way of a hammer blow on the nut end. What have other people done?