AckCasual

While replacing the front suspension on my 03, I noticed that one shock tower seems to be damaged. The mounting area that bolts to the top of the strut seems to be cracked, from what i'm presuming is pressure. Has anyone else heard or seen of this?

How critical do you guys think this is? It must be double layer sheet metal because I cannot see any damage from the underside of this crack. Do you guys think this is something I should defiantly get welded back, or just leave it? Maybe getting a strut tower bar would be a easy cover up fix?

Any opinions or suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Orjinal

that looks like a cracked seam sealer

AckCasual

This could be the case, but it seems like the whole area is bent and seated down a little. I can say that looking more inside the crack, there is no sign of rust which could be a good indicator to it being seam sealer.

Orjinal

have you tried testing it to see if it flexes?

AckCasual

I don't know how I can put tons of pressure on that one area. Every way i've tried I can't seem to flex it at all. I do now think that it's the metal because after feeling around on the underside of the tower its not perfectly flat.

noodels

Could put a long nut and bolt in one hole and some grips on and give it some preasure

AckCasual

So if it has any give to it I should definitely get it welded up?

noodels

That may indicate the spot welds are not fused correctly,
so yes

windhund116

Did the car have a severe encounter with a curb, at one time? How's the front-end alignment?

Thanks!

darcyw

you could hammer it from underneath with a dead blow and a flat 2x4, until it lays flat on the upper side on the shock tower. strip the paint off, clean, then weld the top side. The AP1's had an issue with the upper A arm mount pulling away from the chassis and the fix was this- I did it prophylactically on my AP1 years ago

darcy