What I do is bring the bolts and nut down all the way just before tight, then spread the strut til I feel it has made contact, then I tighten all 8, then set the strut

 

I was wondering why you kept reiterating to loosen the strut bar! I had the holes lined up at the tension that it was set at before inserting and threading the bolt. That's not the problem at all. You mentioned this above and I was like "how does this pertain...?" Each bolt was individually marked at M10x1.25. A metric size is a metric size is a metric size right???

 

..you mean spread the strut tower bar at the adjustment point correct?

 

When I say loosen the strut Spread, I mean the adjuster on the left hand side of the bar. I wasnt there when you stripped it, I just know from experience that it is best to take all tension off the bar so that when you re- insert the bolts, the holes are precisely centered with the mating holes. If they are not the bolt will strip or sieze. You DONT reinstall it without loosening the tension

 

I always loosen the tension before reinstalling. Like I said, that wasn't the problem here. If you say that the bolt is M10x1.25, and I used that size (positive) and it still broke (after I made completely certain it was threading squarely) then I don't know what to say. I admit I am at fault for tightening it when it began seizing, but the only reason I did that was because I knew that bolt was supposed to be the correct size.