Front strut tower cracked?

[DanVN]

Hey Guys,

Just pulled a long haul from melb to the gold coast.. 17hrs driving sucks btw.

Popped the hood today and was just generally checking over the car when i found the top of the strut tower where it joins the body, the glue (or whatever holds it there) has all cracked and there is about a 2mm gap between the strut tower and the body it joins to.

it is fine along the sides it seems to be just at the top.

How bad is this?

[Ozzie]

Are you talking about this seam?

[DanVN]

Yep Found its a common problem, ill get it welded up and stick a Strut brace on there

[greenfoam]

:S gees what happended to all the outback testing and doing jumps over cattle grids. You would have thought they could have banged a prototype up enough to get that to show up pre production

[camstatic]

Pretty common in the much lower ones from what I've seen, especially if you manage to bottom the struts out.

[DanVN]

Pretty common in the much lower ones from what I've seen, especially if you manage to bottom the struts out.

Do it almost Daily, whoever lowered my car was an idiot -_-

[camstatic]

Might want to look into that!

[fitz_vt]

if its that low you bottom out then you probably want to make it a little taller as its probably illegal Can you drive over a full coke can without knocking it over?

[DanVN]

Nope but a full coke can isnt legal height either its approx 31% too tall :P its 11cm all the way under so legal,.

[ScoHar]

11mm? god damn thats low.

[DanVN]

Not as bad as it sounds, the back can be jacked up with the statesmans auto level to stock height when i need to

EDIT: im an idiot 11cm :P

[fitz_vt]

well the police officer that tested my car for height told me to roll over the a full coke can. lol. he must of been wrong.
but it could be jacked up with the statesman Auto level to stock height when you need it too lol.

[Burkey86]

I bought a VT back in Jan drove it for 3 weeks and found massive cracks in both struts.
It is a common problem in the VT and VX's it was corrected after that. It went back to the car yard and they repaired it after alot of arguing....its just under 6 grand to fix cracked strut towers cause they have to level the car again and then bog it with whatever they use...EXPENSIVE DAMAGE HUH!
Its not structual its a cosmetic fault in the car. They are not welded as apparently it stops the airbags from going of. You can't claim it on insurance either as it classed as "wear and tear". Basically in a lowered vt a pot hole can do it..and if its a v8 the power can do it as well!
So if you repair (6 GRAND!) deffinately a strut brace to minimise the chance of doing it again but it can still happen....in other words they are a problem car!