2 questions:

Discuss your 2000-2005 Bonneville SE, SLE, SSEi, Buick Le Sabre 00-05 and Buick Park Avenue 97-05. Please use General Chat for non-mechanical issues, and Performance and Brainstorming for improvements.
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luke_dubs
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Joined: Wed Jun 25, 2014 8:14 pm
Year and Trim: 2013 Regal GS
Location: OH

2 questions:

Post by luke_dubs »

1. Is there a way to plug the common problem hole in the bottom of the car (drivers side)? As far as I know, the hole hasn't actually gone through the floorboard yet. Can I just have a different piece of metal welded over the hole?

2. After putting on the boat roller mount, I'm feeling a lot more vibration while driving around - specifically in the 1000-1600 RPM range. I think I just tightened the lock nut down too far. Thoughts?

Thanks in advance.
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'02 Pontiac Bonneville SE 108,539 miles, N/A, SSEi exhaust system, boat roller mount. Gone, but not forgotten.
'13 Buick Regal GS 122k miles, 270 hp, 295 lb/ft, ZZP intake.
(yes, there is a story behind my avatar.)
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nos4blood70
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Joined: Mon May 10, 2010 6:11 pm
Year and Trim: 2003 SLE
Location: Chicago, IL

Re: 2 questions:

Post by nos4blood70 »

Not sure what you mean by hole... Is it a rust thing? lol

The only mount that will give you zero vibrations, sadly, is the stock style hydraulic mount. I have pursued every single method to have a long lasting mount that has a stock feel. The closest (and it's pricy at $150) is the N* performance mount for the 3800 cars. It feels pretty close to stock but still has more vibes. Been working fine for me since I put it on last October, but some days I still find myself yearning for a completely vibe free experience. Especially if I drive the S2000 which has no vibrations, back to back with the Bonneville.

I've tried boat rollers, hockey pucks, softer sway bar bushings, harder ones... Tightened the bolts to 100 ft lbs, 60, 40... They all vibrate. A lot of people don't seem to mind but it made me crazy. Makes the car feel like something is wrong.

The stock style mounts seem to last about as long as 5000 mile oil change... lol Potentially even less if you're an aggressive driver. Luckily they're pretty cheap and easy to replace.
-Car Guy Carl
"Penelope" - 2003 SLE - 250k Miles
"Sydney" - 2000 Honda S2000 - 101k miles
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luke_dubs
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Joined: Wed Jun 25, 2014 8:14 pm
Year and Trim: 2013 Regal GS
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Re: 2 questions:

Post by luke_dubs »

Thanks for the info on the mounts. I guess the vibrations will make me one with the car?? Idk. The vibration bothers me sometimes, but not as often as before.

The hole on the bottom of the car.....for some reason I thought it was a common problem on this car. Anyways, underneath the drivers side floor pan, on the bottom of the car, a hole has formed - around the size of a regulation softball (if not a little bit bigger). The metal that used to be there rusted through and fell off at some point. I was just curious if I could just have a piece of metal welded over the hole to cover it up; after cleaning things up of course.
Image
'02 Pontiac Bonneville SE 108,539 miles, N/A, SSEi exhaust system, boat roller mount. Gone, but not forgotten.
'13 Buick Regal GS 122k miles, 270 hp, 295 lb/ft, ZZP intake.
(yes, there is a story behind my avatar.)
peter
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Year and Trim: 01 SSEI (black)
00 SSEI (green)

Re: 2 questions:

Post by peter »

luke_dubs wrote:Thanks for the info on the mounts. I guess the vibrations will make me one with the car?? Idk. The vibration bothers me sometimes, but not as often as before.

The hole on the bottom of the car.....for some reason I thought it was a common problem on this car. Anyways, underneath the drivers side floor pan, on the bottom of the car, a hole has formed - around the size of a regulation softball (if not a little bit bigger). The metal that used to be there rusted through and fell off at some point. I was just curious if I could just have a piece of metal welded over the hole to cover it up; after cleaning things up of course.
You can have the floor repaired along those lines but it's not quite that simple. If you weld right to the bottom of the floor pan as-is you run a significant risk of lighting your carpet on fire and then you can kiss your car goodbye in a beautiful blaze.

You need to remove at least the drivers seat, front console and lift the carpet out of the way on that side of the vehicle. There is also a wiring harness running under the drivers side seat that you'd also need to lift out of the way with everything removed.

On top of this, you need to find the source of why it rusted thru in the first place. Has water been sitting there in the carpet?
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luke_dubs
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Year and Trim: 2013 Regal GS
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Re: 2 questions:

Post by luke_dubs »

Actually, this has nothing to do with the floorboards. I thought the rust area was under the floorboards.

This is what you see before you go under the drivers door side of the car.
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This is what I'm talking about.
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After looking at this, I now have no hope to fix it LOL. I guess this is why I've been searching for used cars recently. #-o

If anyone has any idea on if this can be fixed, let me know.
Image
'02 Pontiac Bonneville SE 108,539 miles, N/A, SSEi exhaust system, boat roller mount. Gone, but not forgotten.
'13 Buick Regal GS 122k miles, 270 hp, 295 lb/ft, ZZP intake.
(yes, there is a story behind my avatar.)
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