I need to replace my front upper arms as the balljoints on both sides are worn and I can hear a knocking sound going over bumps, the car was at a specialist this week for some other work and they positively identified the balljoints as the cause of the issue. The idea of cutting the old bolts and reinstalling new ones "back to front" is appealing so the shock doesn't have to come out. Sean W directed me to this thread from another forum (thanks!), I just wanted to check before I go this route - nobody who's done it this way has observed any ill effects as a result of flipping the nuts and bolts around the opposite way, have they? I don't see how that could cause a problem really but wanted to check first.

 

I didn't have to do my fronts, as they are still in good shape, but I did do my rears, which have the same issue. I did do a complete rebuild and had the dampers out, so no cutting required, but when I reinstalled, I flipped the offending bolt. No problems so far, maybe 1500 miles.
With that being said, it wasn't very hard to remove the damper (shock). A purist may tell you that the bolt is installed in a certain direction to prevent the bolt from falling out in case you lose the nut, and there may be some merit to that.