Repaired rear strut towers, brace?

[JonJon68]

I had my two rear strut towers repaired, good clean ones welded in. My question is would a rear strut brace put too much strain on the weld joints? Or strengthen them? 1997 Pontiac Grand Prix GT. Thanks in advance.

[jj86]

Sorry to hijack...did you have the work done at a shop in Michigan? I've got strut tower problems and trying to figure out if it is worth fixing. I think I'd have it done if I could get it done for $600 or less. Don't think I want to go anymore than that... Just wondering where i could find someone to do it.

Thanks JJ

[JonJon68]

I did one at a time. My right last year and just did my left. I found two very clean towers from a junk yard, had them cut it out for $150.00 and had a local body shop weld it in for $500.00 this was each side. Since it was a year apart it didn't hurt as much money wise. My rockers are completely shot however the engine is running so great and I never had a note on this vehicle I justified getting the repair done.

[Blue Bowtie]

An industrious person can form his own replacements and weld them in place over the rotted out perches, then seal it completely with POR, undercoating, or something similar.

When the Dodge Omni/Horizon was popular it was common to cut a triangle of 12 gauge steel, form a 90° lip, pre-form an arch, weld a corner to the trunk floor, then start heating and forming with clamps and mallets, holding the shape in place along the way with tack welds until the complete spring/shock perch was covered. Compound aviation snips would cut away excess repair material until is was "sized" and it was finally welded securely. This could all be done without touching the body side stamping (the one-piece consisting of the pillars, thresholds, rockers, and quarter panel) so no exterior/appearance paint work was damaged. The old perch holed were drilled through the new metal and paint applied. I saw a few buckle at the A pillar from rust before the rear spring perches rotted through again.

[JonJon68]

When it comes to repairing strut towers, I'm not industrious. Repairing them this way was my only option. It was done right, painted and rust preventative applied, these towers will last for the rest of the life of the vehicle.

[Blue Bowtie]

I got that, and read that your housings were already repaired. I was throwing the idea out there for all the other people who read this.

As for the brace, I see no reason that a tower brace spanning the rear housings would be a problem. It shouldn't require much more than a 1" square tubing and properly welded adapter/reinforcement plates.

Lots of stock vehicles have front STBs from the factory (only appearing years after the aftermarket began to offer them). Visit your local wrecking yard and take a look at how all the OEM braces are done on many wrong-wheel-drive cars. That should provide some ideas, and may even yield a usable piece if you measure your strut distances and compare to Toyotas, Fords, other GMs, and whatever else you can find.

[JonJon68]

Good job, I didn't know about this technique. Definately another option besides having it done the way I did.