Rear Strut Towers

[JonJon68]

I'm going to repair my rusted out strut towers in rear of my 97 Pontiac Grand Prix. I found two perfect towers at a junk yard but they are from a grand prix se, my question, are all the strut towers from 97-03 have the same rear strut tower design?

[Tech II]

Not sure what you mean by rear strut towers.....It's just the rear end body....it has three openings in the body for the center of the mount and two studs for attachment with nuts....

If that part of the rear end rusted out, hate to see what the underside of the vehicle looks like....trailing arms, brake and fuel lines, rear suspension, never mind the cradle mounts and bolts in front....

[Stealthee]

Originally Posted by Tech II

Not sure what you mean by rear strut towers.....It's just the rear end body....it has three openings in the body for the center of the mount and two studs for attachment with nuts....

If that part of the rear end rusted out, hate to see what the underside of the vehicle looks like....trailing arms, brake and fuel lines, rear suspension, never mind the cradle mounts and bolts in front....

Rear strut towers are a common rust point on W-bodies as well as the rockers as noted on other Grand Prix forums.

[JonJon68]

Rocker panels are shot. Trailing arms I replaced myself and everything else is still in decent shape with the exception of the "rear strut towers". I have the money for the replacement And not ready to sell the car. I found a local body shop that will do the work for $500.00 per side.

[Stealthee]

$500 per side for just the strut towers? I think you are getting taken for a ride there. I thought someone sold repair panels, but it looks like Dorman only offers the front panels.

What you need to do is find a friend with a welder and pay him with a case of beer to fix it over a weekend period.

[Tech II]

I would have a complete inspection of the entire underbody of that vehicle......I don't think it is worth it to invest $1000 in this....

I remember a woman coming into the shop, for a lower intake job, and complete tuneup......when the car was in the air, I noticed the underside as I was walking by......I told the SM that she should save here money, and use it towards another vehicle.......she said she couldn't afford one....I told her, it looks like her brake lines, fuel lines, were ready to go....and the underbody was rusted pretty bad......salesmen were more than happy to sell here a car, but they wouldn't give here anything for her old one, because of it's condition.....she'd rather spend $800, then have a bank payment each month......

One month later, her car was towed in....the top of her left front stut, pushed her front hood up....money wasted...

Go to Kelly Bluebook, and put in condition, options and mileage....I think you will find that the car may not even be worth $1000.....you are throwing money away.....

[JonJon68]

I already replaced my brake and fuel lines about 5 years ago. I bought this car with cash , never had a note on it. I weighed the possibility of getting rid of it but I'm in love with this 3.8 and it still drives great. I will keep it for a little while longer.