Presale Bad Luck: Repairing/replacing strut bearing studs? (earlyA1)

[area53 at validpath.com (Jeff Toomasson)]

Happy Monday, folks!

I have a set of early A1 strut bearings installed on my cabby and I had to
remove the upper strut stress bar to access something in the engine bay
yesterday. But noticed that the threads on the front stud on the passenger
side were stripped!!

Well, the bottom line is that I don't have the time to figure out how it
happened, just how to fix it... Should I take a die to the threads? Can the
stud be swapped out by itself? Should I switch out the entire perch (I have
an extra set that were destined for my mk1)? Can the reapir be performed
with the strut assembly still in the car?

many thanks in advance!  Jeff