# Crashed my 99 Maxima and have a question, Please help.



## nikkilayzgrl (Mar 1, 2009)

Well I have had my 99 nissan Maxima for about 2 years now and I love this car. So reliable! Well unfortunitly i was in a accident a couple weeks ago and rear ended a lifted truck so needless to say I went underneth of it. Completly ruining my hood on the passenger side, and headlight and grill. Well I bought the new headlight, grill and hood. While my boyfriend was installing the headlight and grill we noticed that the metal bar right in the front under the hood was WAY bent and pushed in very far, well with alot of hammering and pring he managed to get it pulled out enough to mount the new headlight/grill. Well today we went to replace the hodd, and its just NOT happening  My boyfriend said that, that bar is still way out of wack which has messed up the hood latch so this new hood will NOT latch :wtf: so now i just dont know what to do. He tried hammering again to get that bar (dont know what its called) to strighten out a little more. But it just is not working. He told me my car is JUNk and I should just strip it and sell it for parts! I don't want to do that. This car is my baby has 131k on it runs so good etc. I am looking to see if anyone has any advice on what I can do to fix this problem? DOes anyone here know what that long bar is called so maybe i could try and find it at a salvage yard? Is it replaceable? Easy job/ hard job? Im just at my witts end and feel like crying. Please help. Thanks


----------



## JNCoRacer (Apr 18, 2003)

Its called the radiator support. Its possible to replace it yourself if you have the tools, such as an air chisel and welder, to break loose all the spot welds and then reattach it with the welder. Big job for the shade-tree mechanic. My advice is to take it to a body shop and let them tackle the hard part.


----------

