Anyone know a trick to get a dropped nut out of the trunk lid?

[SEAICE]

Arrgh! Dropped a stainless nut in the trunk lid while installing my rear spoiler. Now it rattles every time I open and close the lid. Being stainless, it’s almost non-magnetic. I know I’m not the only one that’s done this… Has anyone figured out a way to get these nuts out of the trunk lid without taking the lid off and shaking it until it falls out? (and if you’ve done this, did the lid go back on and align well without problem? Thanks!

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[ORRadtech]

Borescope and a flexible grasper is what I used.
Opening and closing the lid while listening closely will give you the area to look.
Takes quite a bit of patience but worked for me.

 

[disaacks]

I took the trunk off and shook it like a mofo until it dropped onto a large padded moving blanket I had spread out.

 

[Jstang23]

Arrgh! Dropped a stainless nut in the trunk lid while installing my rear spoiler. Now it rattles every time I open and close the lid. Being stainless, it’s almost non-magnetic. I know I’m not the only one that’s done this… Has anyone figured out a way to get these nuts out of the trunk lid without taking the lid off and shaking it until it falls out? (and if you’ve done this, did the lid go back on and align well without problem? Thanks!

I got a magnet and slowly pulled it up from the outside of the trunk. The magnet will be strong enough to reach through the trunk! I did the same thing lol!

 

[Roger Blose]

Make a reverse duct tape ball and attach it to a flexible shaft or coat hanger. This may work out with some effort.

 

[Mcgyver]

Try the boroscope - if all Else fails and you need to remove the trunk lid you can drill small holes through the hinges with a small drill bit and use that as an alignment tool when you refit the lid.

 

[kz]

Removing the trunk and shaking it out is the easiest by far - it takes literally two minutes (+ unplugging camera / latch cable) - there is plenty of space for the nut to come out. No drilling required.

 

[Mcgyver]

His concern was aligning the trunk lid after removing it.

 

[kz]

His concern was aligning the trunk lid after removing it.

It'll be fine, it sits on four studs, it's not a rocket science to align it and there isn't a whole lot of room for alignment anyway.

 

[boB]

Vacuum with a long piece of vinyl tubing? The sound of the vacuum should change when you have caught something.

 

[Traffic22]

Vacuum with a long piece of vinyl tubing? The sound of the vacuum should change when you have caught something.

This is my go to for non-magnetic items.

 

[bfeng12]

Literally had this happen to me last week while installing my spoiler. I parked on an incline and kept lifting the trunk lid up and down. I had a metal wire and bent it into a hook to help me dig it out.

I lifted it up and down until I got it near the large hole, then I used the hook and put it through the top hole and dug it out so it fell through the large bottom hole.

If you already installed your spoiler might be hard to do it this way. Took me like an hour of struggling to get that f**king thing out .

 

[OLD8BA]

i used a few strips of masking tape right up to edges of a hood when i took it off then just bolted it on aligned to masking tape used that method lots of times

 

[SEAICE]

Vacuum with a long piece of vinyl tubing? The sound of the vacuum should change when you have caught something.

Removing the trunk and shaking it out is the easiest by far - it takes literally two minutes (+ unplugging camera / latch cable) - there is plenty of space for the nut to come out. No drilling required.

 

[SEAICE]

Thsnks everyone. I've tried the magnet, but the nut is stainless and essentially non-magnetic. Tape ball didn't work either. Looking for some tubing I know I have from a portable a/s somewhere in the garage... Hate to pull the trunk, but I think i'm going to end up there... Or just give up as it only makes noise when I open and close (thankfully)...

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