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Old 11-13-2020, 12:47 PM
oldskewel oldskewel is offline
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This reminded me of some weird stuff regarding the Torx on that job when I did it on my 2001 3.0i ...

The OE ball joints used Torx E12 (External) screws.

I replaced them with Lemfoerder ball joints, which came with Torx T45 screws. Switching from external to internal just seemed a little weird to me, so I remembered it and made notes.

So anyway, your photo shows an internal Torx. Torx come in weird sizes. For example, they jump from T30 to T40, skipping over T35. And then they also have a few weird ones thrown in there, like T27 and T47.

So if the one you have there is a T45 like my Lemfoerder, then a T47 might be a ready made candidate to jam in there for some extra tightness.

To get even tighter, you might take the T47 and grind the tip off a little. The Torx are tapered slightly, so if you grind off the tip, it can go in a little deeper, which will make it tighter. Being sharpened by the grinding will probably help too. Of course clear out anything inside the screw, but the photo looks pretty clean. I definitely agree on the hammering it in there to get it fully seated before trying to crack it free.

The other thing is that not all bits are equal, of course. If you are struggling with a medium quality bit, a high quality bit may be just a little harder and more precisely made, getting the job solved.
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2001 X5 3.0i, 203k miles, AT, owned since 2014
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