EDIT!!!
got home to dads house and after about ten times hammering on the nut remover thing (it would get on the nut but kept sliding off when i turned the wrench) it dug in and it slid off with no problem..

if only i had a camera to take a picture of the nut...its pretty bad..like id say more than 50% of the metal is gone...

thanks everyone



so it started when i bought sways for my car, they arrived and i let them sit in my closet til i got a chance to install them...i go to onemanarmy's place and he put the sway bar on, but it doesnt fit properly..its gettin late i had to leave so we just leave it thinkin that its just the stock endlinks that make it fit bad...get home and check the part number for the sways i ordered..and they were for an sti not a wrx ( !) i find a replacement wrx sway and some endlinks and go to put it on...as i get under the car the nut that holds one side of the bushing that holds the sway bar is stripped....this one


i switch out the endlinks but cant get the one nut to budge so the sti sway stays again

so ive got an sti swaybar on with perrin endlinks...
looks like this (i know its bad)



so i pulled out the vice grips, it didnt move, tryed hammering on a smaller sized socket and it didnt work get on... i bought this craftsman damaged nut/bolt remover and it managed to make a six sided nut into a circle...

its even worse than this picture i took before i tried to get it off


so i am past the point of trying to get that nut off by myself
wtf do i do now?
theres not enough room for me to get my nut splitter in there so i have a completely round nut...its late now so no place to take my car...where would i go anyways?

who has got an idea??!?!

thanks for anything
brian

 

I'm reminded of this thread for some reason https://www.i-club.com/forums/bay-area-15/screwed-up-oil-change-help-196510/

 

I actually have a set of these in different sizes for removing striped bolts.



got them at kragen I believe
http://www.amazon.com/IRWIN-394001-B...SN6N5NH1AXCJ3P

http://shop.oreillyauto.com/ProductD...egoryCode=3386


*edit
just read that you tried that in the other thread. sorry

 

yeah those managed to strip the nut even further

 

Grind it off and buy a new bolt.... did you try vise grips on the end thats stripped and use a wrench on the backside??? or vise grips and a 3/8 impact. If you dont have the right tools you shouldn't work on your car. Also if you wanted to you could tack weld the nut to the bracket and loosen it that way. Thats if you have access to a mig welder.

I am an offroad race car fabricator/mechanic so I deal with bent/broken/mangled nuts and bolts all the time.

 

Good first post. Welcome

 

cant get a wrench to the back side
and its not that i dont have the right tools, its just a stripped nut

 

just dropped you a PM.

I think it can be removed with out toooo much hassle. Can probably get a dremel in there with a cutting wheel. Put a slit down the side and knock it off. Then pop a new bolt on there.

 

dont have a dremel unfortunately...my dads got a grinding tool at home in sf so ill be heading there i think to get it off...

 

id say weld a bigger nut to the stripped one and hope it works, pretty tight space though

 

You can borrow my cordless dremel here in SF if you want...

 

haha thats exactly what happened to me.

the damaged nut remover stripped mine even further too. but what made mine work was i hammered the damaged nut remover thing onto the bolt. gave it good knocks so when it was pretty firmly on, it twisted off instead of just placing it on top. which keeps stripping it even more.

i also put a whole bunch of lubricant spray as well.

 

yeah i tried gettin it on there with a hammer but its a weird position and everytime i hit it, the dirt caked on the bottom of my car landed all over my face...kinda sucked ha

about the dremel ill post tmrw...my dads got a bunch of random things in his workshop that he said could help...

 

 

Another easy solution to this would be to buy some nice Shiny STi pink or chrome lateral arms and box style Sti rear endlinks.

But I think here is a combo that should work for you to get the nut removed: First, grinding down the bolt edges to a smaller size (like from 12mm to fit a 11mm or even 10mm long socket around the edges), and then using a hammer to firmly secure the long impact socket to the nut - just make sure its completely on there! Next, simply hit it with a impact wrench (a handheld makita or airtool would be plenty or torque) and woi'la - it would pretty much knock it out of there without destroying the threads on the sway bar mount.