Snapped a muffler mounting stud, what now?

[E46m3zcp]

Like the title of my post says I snapped one of the muffler studs (where the rubber mounts of the muffler are bolted to the car).

These studs rust (especially in the rust belt) and I'm sure I'm not the first one who snapped one.

What is the common approach to fix this? Has anyone had this problem and how did you solve it?

Thanks!

[Gt4]

Like the title of my post says I snapped one of the muffler studs (where the rubber mounts of the muffler are bolted to the car).

These studs rust (especially in the rust belt) and I'm sure I'm not the first one who snapped one.

What is the common approach to fix this? Has anyone had this problem and how did you solve it?

Thanks!

You can drill it and replace it with another stud/bolt from the inside of the trunk

[eacmen]

You can drill it and replace it with another stud/bolt from the inside of the trunk

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[bigjae46]

Bubble gum. Lots of it.

[Slideways]

You can drill it and replace it with another stud/bolt from the inside of the trunk

Smart! I was going to say take it to a welder and have them weld on another stud.

[heinzboehmer]

Maybe a good candidate for rivnuts?

[bigjae46]

Maybe a good candidate for rivnuts?

Generally rivnuts aren’t high strength. Not sure I’d hang the 100lbs stock muffler from them.

[bmwfnatic]

Is it on the left or the right side?

The studs itself are not welded to the car with say a stud welder, instead they are part of small brackets and poked through the boot floor (left side).

For these you can identify and drill out the spot welds, remove the bracket and weld the new one in, you could probably even get away bonding these if you can’t weld. Since gravity will hold it in.

The right side bracket with studs is welded to the car with 8 small stitch welds (by default hidden behind a thick layer of seam sealer), you can remove those with a powerfile, and weld the new bracket back on.

Source: I went a bit overboard restoring my car…

If you don’t care about it looking totally original and it is on the left side then I suppose identify the stud from above, hammer or drill it out and drop a bolt in.

PNs:
Left side front: 41112497585
Left side rear: 41122494844
Right side: 41112493931

[gheorghe]

I had this happen to my car as well on the left side of the trunk. Removed all the audio/nav stuff and had direct access to the broken stud. It is fairly easy to weld a new stud (repurposed bolt in my case with exact same length and thread) and away you go. Just make extra sure to properly coat the newly welded area to prevent rust.

[E46m3zcp]

Is it on the left or the right side?

Left side. Thanks for your input, it's good to know the PNs as well!