Strut Tower Rust

[Mr_SARS]

I was just wondering if rust along the strut towers could be removed without compromising the structure of any car. The rust that I have to deal with is along where the front strut towers meets the fenders.

I'm 99.99% that NO ONE, including myself, is willing to even try to repair the rust in such an area due to safety concerns. I always thought that rust on the strut tower bars is too dangerous to repair and if it even was repaired, the structure of the car is not as good as new. I'm just looking for some other people's opinions.

[john]

your talking about where the struts bolt to the body and it's the flaky rust then yes she's a goner. I've seen whole front and rear clips welded on and just sections. You really have to whatch out for that when buying a used car. the car will never steer right.

[Oldblueaccord]

I was just wondering if rust along the strut towers could be removed without compromising the structure of any car. The rust that I have to deal with is along where the front strut towers meets the fenders.

I'm 99.99% that NO ONE, including myself, is willing to even try to repair the rust in such an area due to safety concerns. I always thought that rust on the strut tower bars is too dangerous to repair and if it even was repaired, the structure of the car is not as good as new. I'm just looking for some other people's opinions.

Depends

In my younger days wed weld in all kindas of metal to reinforce those areas on Macperson stut cars. There's more stress there. Angle iron up and down and I used to weld a bar going accross. Just like those "strut bars" they make nowadays. We were into rally racing on old dirt roads and shit. The stuts pop right thru the tops and the rod would bend up the hood it was pretty funny.
The rear struts go right thru the floor on big jumps. I wont even tell you the story about my friends Chevvete and the dude in the backseat. He kept saying "something's poking me in the ass back here"


wp

[carotman]

He kept saying "something's poking me in the ass back here"

Hahahah

Mr_SARS, you can repair the rust without problem. It just depends HOW you repair it. Just take away the rust with a sandblaster (to leave as much metal as possible. Then, you gota replace the parts that have rusted out with new sheetmetal. Just get a strut tower from the junkyard and reweld it in place.

If you don't have access to a sandblaster, just grind it off with an angle grinder, then, get the new sheetmetal welded in there. It might even turn out to be more solid than it was from the factory.

[Ichiban]

if you are any good at bending metal you can hammer out that flange on a dolly or a vise and weld it right in. that flange was put together with a coupla spot welds from the factory so a structurally sound repair is easy. just make sure the area is clean and check often for fire. that seam seal likes to go up. on my 2 gen i have rebuilt the front drivers shock tower, rear passenger shock tower (easy cause the metal was flat) rear drivers frame rail and inner fender, and have replaced the drivers rocker and quarter panel,
as well as numerous floor patches. the best part is that the car has to be safety inspected before it goes back on the road

anything is possible

[Mr_SARS]

:P This actually isn't a question for my accord, but a question for my 180sx. I went through all the trouble to have people import it to Canada for me just to find out that they had lied to me about rust on the strut tower.

The rust isnt necessarily on the mounting points of the tower, but on the lining and along the shaft of the tower.

Here's a couple pics of it:

http://members.shaw.ca/mr_sars/IMG_0456.JPG
http://members.shaw.ca/mr_sars/IMG_0457.JPG

Now I'm wondering if it would just be better for me to get another shell of a car since the rust is so extensive. I was considering stripping the car down to bare metal and cutting out all the rust, but it just worries me that cutting along the strut tower may compromise the frame. Not only is the rust on the lining, but it is also along the shaft like I had mentioned.

What I'm also wondering is if the rust would return, because the body isn't too bad and something must've caused the rust to form there in the first place. What would stop it from starting again? :S

[thegreatdane]

The rust shown in the pictures can be fixed no problem. The question is, what is the condition of the rest of the car. If it's rusted bad in a lot of places I wouldnt bother fixing it, unless you can do it yourself and you've got lots of time.

[keruhas184]

Hahaha, that's nothing compared to rust on my car. I'll take a pic to show you guys what real NE rust looks like

[Ichiban]

sorry for the long ass wait...if you're still around, now that i've seen pic's of the rust, i'll tell you that it's repairable (and still probably legal from a DOT standpoint) but it'll take time and a lot of dicking around. However, like others have said, if that strut tower is that bad, what do your floor pans, rear subframe, rocker panels etc....look like? Anyways, if i were fixing that, I'd jack up the car, remove the fender, front suspension and strut, tarp off the engine bay and sandblast the entire area, and only then would i know what i'm working with. I would then cut out the metal that's been damaged by corrosion, Maybe make a template out of paper or cardboard and bend/hammer out a patch panel. after that, weld, grind, finish (lead if needed) and paint. a proper repair should never be seen.

edit- wow i didn't realise it's been like 6 months....oops