I have a 2010 Vantage Roadster which is pristine and only has 14,000 miles. Anyway, it visited the AM dealership to have two new rear taillights installed and I forgot to tell the tech to hold onto the boot when releasing the lid. As a result, he pushed the button and the two 80,000 pound thrust struts snapped the lid open and put him in orbit. They got him back a week or so later and he finished the replacement of my leaking taillights.

In the process of this eye opening experience for him, one of the ball mounts, on the right side of the boot is now loose. I understand that there is a fix, if you have a coupe, but there does not seem to be a fix for the roadster. I am certain that I am not the Lone Ranger so has anyone else experienced this in the past? Is there a fix for this other than scrapping the whole car? I have heard, unconfirmed, that JB Weld can work but.....I am nervous about that as a repair as this is aluminum I think and it seems to be a pressure point?

Thanks....

 

why isn't the dealer fixing this? his tech he had possession of your car...

 

I am not an expert in this particular mistake, but in general, to remount such a piece to the body will require access to the back side of the hole. And, if it is aluminum, and not steel, it will be very difficult to just pop the old one back into the hole and declare success. I think MRCW is correct - this is not your problem, this is their problem and I would want the factory to weigh in with a solution. It should either include a larger stud (bore the hole out, reinstall), a bonded insert with a threaded hole that the ball screws into or some form of reinforcement behind the skin.

McMaster Carr is the usual place to source this type of stuff in the US, and if I had done this to my car, I'd be looking here:

https://www.mcmaster.com/ball-joints...gas-springs-4/

https://www.mcmaster.com/ball-studs

As always YMMV,
Larry