Bent strut mounts

[jvandyke]

Put on new front struts, used Obert's new offerings (seem perfect).
Here's a shot of the two I took off, both tweaked on the most inboard edge, one more than the other. Is this common? The rubber "looks" fine.
(BTW car is much happier with the new stuff up front, rears to follow next week).
The shiney one is a new one for comparison.

 

[lookforjoe]

Is there distortion in the strut tower?, I would expect that plate to distort if the panel itself is distorted (from excessive load due to blown struts, etc) - I've seen it on old Volvo's.

 

[Mark Plaia]

Jeff, did you buy Bigfoot Strut Tower doublers?..

This is the exact situation that they are meant to address.

When my strut towers were bulged out like that, I took a little 3 pounder to a wood block and flattened them back out.

Ciao,

 

[jvandyke]

I didn't notice anything distorted about the towers, but it was about 1:00 a.m......

 

[JimD]

Rear top mounts

Here's a shot of the two I took off, both tweaked on the most inboard edge, one more than the other. Is this common? The rubber "looks" fine.
(BTW car is much happier with the new stuff up front, rears to follow next week).
The shiney one is a new one for comparison.

I recently changed out the rear top mounts on my 86 because one side had a lot more neg camber than the other. The top mount was bent just like yours. The metal seemed very flexible too. My strut towers look fine.

I wonder if the PO swapped the front and rear top mounts on your X at some point.

 

[jvandyke]

I wonder if the PO swapped the front and rear top mounts on your X at some point.

It looks like the white paint factory check marks were intact yet. I think I'm the first to take this apart. Maybe? This same topic is going on in the suspension assessment thread. I'm going to continue it here I think,
Interesting you had similar issue. I'm interested to see what the rears look like. Next Thursday probably.

 

[roadbox]

...did you buy Bigfoot Strut Tower doublers?.. This is the exact situation that they are meant to address.

Now that I have the Bigfoots (Bigfeet???) installed, I am amazed at how much firmer (stiffer) the ride is. It translates to me as meaning that those stock strut tower tops flex A LOT!!!! ...way more than I ever imagined. Deformation ("elastic" to "plastic") is inevitable.

John O.