Riv nuts or M10 bolts?

No the lower brace requires the riv nuts - the holes are in the subframe but you have to put the riv nuts in to provide the mountings - its 2 for this.

Not sure re the upper, I suppose you could use them, I used M8 bolts and nyloc nuts.....

Cant help with the lower brace as its standard on LCR but i wouldnt use rivnuts on the upper one
Do you have the tool to compress rivnuts?
Used to have lots of problems at work with these failing whilst bolt is being torqued up into it
This ends up in rivnut spinning and difficulty getting bolt out of it and then drilling rivnut out but without damaging anything, then start all over again
Bolts anyday for me

Bolts would be better for upper - but the issue there lies with getting the bolt/nut on and doing them up.

I used riv-nuts for my upper front strut brace on my LC a few years back - never once had a problem. That's not to say you won't though.

And yes - Riv-nuts are for the lower brace.

I used M8 riv-nuts for my upper strut-brace and I've had no issues whatsoever.

I took mine to a VAG tuner who drilled the turrets cleaned up the brace to clear the water lines and bonnet lifter and fitted using high tensile steel bolts nuts and washers. Try looking for VAG tuners in your area (maybe take a look for CC or Revo garages nearby).

Wurth are a good company for this kind of thing.

I got mine on Ebay and used 35mm length, you'll struggle to get the nuts on 25mm....

You will not need high tensile bolts for this as when torqued correctly normal bolts should be fine
Largest force acting on the bolts will be shear
I would recommend M10 and probably 30mm long, also nyloc nuts and appropriate flat washers( i used cap head bolts too)
Engineering bolts are best for this application with a suitable coating like zinc (BZP) and probably the most available

FRESHMODE said:

I dont even know how riv nuts work, surely they need something to screw onto?

would you mind explaining a bit about the process(s) you used please

cheers

Click to expand...

Have a look at this; http://www.aimfasteners.com/about_rivnut.html
It's also worth noting that I did'nt need to use a specific setting tool, for an M8 riv-nut I drilled an 11mm hole which creates a very slight interference fit. A very slight tap and the riv-nut was securely in the hole and did not spin. Then I put the strut brace in position, fitted stainless plain washers and stainless spring washers and tightened the M8 stainless set screw to the required torque. Dont forget, of course that the collar on the riv-nut must be bigger than the hole in the strut brace and I found M8 to be perfect for this application. The nuts are now in a 'captive' state in my suspention turrets as if they were welded from the other side and the strut brace can be removed and re-fitted in minutes if need be. These can withstand any shear forces that may be exerted on them in this application and there is also no lateral movement in the nuts, (let's not forget that a strut brace is there to prevent lateral movement in the first place). I have been in engineering for 19 years as a Mechanical Maintenance Fitter and have always found riv-nuts to be perfectly ok if used in the right kind of job and fitted correctly.

Have a look at mine, I fitted it back in February and it's been great.

No probs.