A previous owner had managed to strip out the torx head on a T15 screw on the headlight cover that I needed to remove in order to change a burnt out indicator bulb. Try as I might I could not get my T15 driver's bit to get a purchase, the screw head was completely rounded out (I strongly suspect the head was stripped out by the improper use of an allen wrench).

My brother suggested I try a rubber band jammed between the driver bit and the rounded out head to help the torx driver get a purchase. However, I did not have a rubber band handy. Instead I used some waterproof adhesive bandage tape. Pushing the sticky side down against the wallowed out head of the screw and the driver bit jamming the tape into the screw head, I was able to gain sufficient traction to get the driver to bite and back the screw out. The screw was in quite tight, so I was very surprised this worked.

 

 

Thanks for the tip, might come in handy since I plan on owning a C5 for a very long time.

 

If you have some available to you, valve grinding compound works great to remove stripped screws. Same ideal, just put some in the head of the screw and remove with t15. Also works on phillips.

 

Whenever I have this issue and have access, I use a pair of diagonals tool to to loosen, the key is to be able to get them biting, once a firm bite, aint nothing stopping it.

 

Thanks for the tips. Saving them for possible future use.

 

They also make stripped screw extraction pliers:

 

I tried pliers and had a pretty good purchase on the screw head, but could not get the screw to back out. The screw was in very tight- which is likely why the previous owner had no problem stripping out the head (most likely using the wrong tool). Had the screw been more accessible, the pliers might have worked.

I also considered taking my Dremel tool and cutting a slot in the head. However, the screw in question is one of a pair of screws along the back side of the headlight cover. And the body part is made of some type of plastic that I thought I could easily damage by continuing to attempt to use the pliers- which had slipped off a couple of times in my efforts to get the screw to turn. As for the Dremel approach- the heat caused by the friction would likely melt the plastic damaging the headlight cover and assembly it was screwed into-- not to mention the likelihood of the tool slipping and cutting into the surrounding area.

Had the tape and driver trick not worked- I had planned on purchasing something along the lines of the Craftsman 3 pc. Screw-Out Damaged Screw Remover Set.

I called the nearby Chevrolet Dealership yesterday to order a new screw (they are $6 per by the way...so treat them with care). As my good fortune would have it, the gentleman working the parts counter owns a C5! No need for a parts diagram, he knew exactly what I was talking about. Very nice fellow, and I look forward to meeting him when the part comes in.

 

I agree that likely an inadequate tool was used, but also in my experience I've noticed that improper torx bits themselves tend to cause a lot of issues. A prime example being if you try to use those universal bits or lower quality torx bits for automotive work. Those products tend to damage and round off the very things they're trying to remove. I didn't know how important a very good torx driver set was until I had to replace a water pump that was ALL torx bolts. Those universal bits were causing all sorts of issues, but the second I took a good torx driver set to it they came off much easier.