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Thread: Strut Tower Damage

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Posts: 1-8 of 8
2011-10-26 21:51:43
#1
Strut Tower Damage
Hey guys. Just discovered something on my new NX. The drivers side front strut tower has bulged up. This car was setup with some coilover sleeves on top of stock struts. From what I have been able to see no bump stop was being used .

Just a word of warning. Don't let your cars bottom out with a heavy strike.

I can't be sure if the rigged up coilovers caused this damage or maybe the car hit some kind of deep pot hole in the past. Unfortunately its just one more thing I have to fix on top of the dead motor . I'll have to get it to a body shop for a quote. I found a thread on a BMW forum describing how a guy fixed his mushroomed strut tower with a clamp device. I'll have to look into that DIY repair if the body shop quote is crazy high.

The cusco strut brace was useful in seeing that something wasn't right. I seperated the bar into two pieces. I then went ahead and tried to place a brace on the drivers side tower. Sure enough the mounting point did not make good contact with the top of the tower. I tested the bar on another b13 that I have and the bar was able to make the correct contact with the strut tower.

As a side note the cusco bar is also useful in seeing if your car has tower misalignment. I bolted the two halves onto my white NX which has had previous crash damage. What I discovered did not make me smile. The two sides of the strut brace were badly misaligned. There was really no way the two sides of the bar would ever come together without bending the strut bar. The passenger side of the strut bar sat way too low. The strut tower on my white NX will need to be fixed. I understand now why my passenger side has more camber than my drivers side. To confirm how the bars should sit I used my damage free b13.
2011-10-27 10:24:20
#2
More than likely it took a hard hit if no bumpstops were being used. If its just bulged up slightly it should be an easy fix to either pull back down or bolt a plate to and hammer back down. I wouldnt be too worried about it unless its really really bad. But with the strut attached it could have only bent soo bad before it would have damaged the strut tophat itself.
2011-10-27 13:59:21
#3
Do you have pictures? I would like to see what you are referring to exactly.
2012-02-04 05:02:59
#4
Pictures of the mushroomed tower or of the misaligned tower in my track nx?
2012-02-04 05:09:26
#5
Originally Posted by TrackJunky82
The drivers side front strut tower has bulged up. This car was setup with some coilover sleeves on top of stock struts. From what I have been able to see no bump stop was being used .

Just a word of warning. Don't let your cars bottom out with a heavy strike.

Brilliant, not buying proper bump stops. Could have at least used stale marshmallows.

I'm sure the same guy did not over-lower the car on those lovely coilovers, so at least he wasn't bottoming out all the damn time on those heavy duty...er....stock struts.

Suspension failure.
2012-02-04 05:13:40
#6
This is a misaligned strut tower on my track NX. This car was hit in the past before I ever got my hands on it. The Cusco bar was useful in showing me how bad the misalignment was. The tower has been fixed and I was finally able to connect the two sides of my cusco bar.
Last edited by TrackJunky82 on 2012-02-04 at 16-29-41.
2012-02-04 05:15:00
#7
I'll work on getting images of the mushroomed tower on my other NX.
2012-02-04 15:34:40
#8
Wow this is the first I have heard of this happenning.
I wonder if there was a FSTB on it ...or if that would have helped.
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