Strut tower

[pontiacguy20025]

Has anyone ever had trouble with there strut towers when you lowered your car?? I got 1 of them replaced from the front passanger side in the summer. Im not sure why but when i either wash my car or we it rain the strut tower sounds like its grinding. The noise comes from the passanger dash. The roads i have driven through are good. So bad roads are out of the question. Will i continue to have problems like this?? Is it normal??

[Brandon]

mine being lowered hasnt caused me any problems.

[rys99grandam]

Are u refering to Strut Mounts? Or Strut Tower Bar OR hwat.

Strut Mounts have a tendnency to go out after you lower, the extra stress + being wore = bad and causes the bearing plate to crap out.

[pontiacguy20025]

Im talking about the strut mount. I had it replaced when i go the lowering springs installed. The one that was replaced was already worn out (passanger side). The driver side is still good. Should have the one replaced gone out so quickly? I replaced it in July. And its already broken.

[pontiacguy20025]

I forgot to add could water enter the strut mount? This morning the grinding noise went away. Its until i drove to school (rainy day again) the noise came back after the 40 min drive.

[coupe]

This is your problem:
http://www.gaownersclub.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=68619&highlight=monroe

The problem is when you/or the shop installed the spring they ligned up the bottom of the spring to the bottom spring stop. What they should have done is ligned up the top of the spring with the top spring stop.

[pontiacguy20025]

yup you got that right. so what should i do now? Its been 6 months since i had it fixed should i go back and tell them to redo it?

[coupe]

If its been 6 months i doubt they will redo it for free.

[pontiacguy20025]

Did you repair the strut tower yourself? Or someone did it for you? If you repaired it on your own how did you remove the spring since i hear they can pop out when you loosen the bolts.

[Pte Socks]

yea, id say replace it. I had mine looked at after a few months and you could see deep wear marks. replace it and get the install done properly.. Im in the same boat as you, I have to replace at least 2 on my car, if not all 4 from my lowering springs. Thankgoodness I can do it easily myself, just need a spring compressor.

[rys99grandam]

Originally posted by coupe
This is your problem:
http://www.gaownersclub.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=68619&highlight=monroe

The problem is when you/or the shop installed the spring they ligned up the bottom of the spring to the bottom spring stop. What they should have done is ligned up the top of the spring with the top spring stop.

I did not know this what that specific. Only one way made sense to me.... hmms.

[pontiacguy20025]

I got great news everyone. NOT!!! well i went back to the shop where i got the original strut mount replaced. Only this time they want to charge me triple the amount. An amazing $200+ dollars just to change the strut mount. They started to add more things. Like labor 75 dollars an hr, the strut mount part around 60 dollars, plus alignment, thats not including the people at the shop breaking my struts. Because i know the first time i got my lowering springs struts were fine and the worker comes up to me saying that all of my struts are broken. Im not that stupid and i know they broke them. Is 200+ dollars to much?? I think its a ripp off.

[coupe]

Originally posted by pontiacguy20025
I got great news everyone. NOT!!! well i went back to the shop where i got the original strut mount replaced. Only this time they want to charge me triple the amount. An amazing $200+ dollars just to change the strut mount. They started to add more things. Like labor 75 dollars an hr, the strut mount part around 60 dollars, plus alignment, thats not including the people at the shop breaking my struts. Because i know the first time i got my lowering springs struts were fine and the worker comes up to me saying that all of my struts are broken. Im not that stupid and i know they broke them. Is 200+ dollars to much?? I think its a ripp off.


Im confused, how are your struts broken? Broken how?
Those prices sound right to me.

[pontiacguy20025]

Its grinding like the first time i had got it replaced. Lots of noise. Do you mean they are not broken?? but put on backwards?

[coupe]

Whats broken exactly? The strut mounts? The struts?

If you read the thread i posted it pretty much explains it. There is a link in that link to gagt.com that explains it a little better.

[pontiacguy20025]

Passagner Strut mount is broken. And i have already read the thread. Thanks!!

[coupe]

Broken how?
If you look at my pics my strut mounts jumped off each other and made their own *tracks*. It was like that for YEARS and they never broke so im curious by what you mean by *broke*. Regardless though they will have to be replaced.
You know you can remove them yourself with hand tools and take the entire assembly to a small shop and have them swap out the mounts for you. The small shop that did mine charged me $10.

[pontiacguy20025]

Which strut mounts you recommend i get?? Well maybe the strut mount isnt broken. Its just out of place. Do you think it still be good since i last replaced it (6 months ago)??

[coupe]

Originally posted by pontiacguy20025
Which strut mounts you recommend i get?? Well maybe the strut mount isnt broken. Its just out of place. Do you think it still be good since i last replaced it (6 months ago)??


The thread i posted has alot of options.
I bought monroes from pepboys for $70 apiece.
No, you will have to replace them or just deal with the noise.

[pontiacguy20025]

How long have you had these on? And will they last?

[coupe]

Couple months, but i havent driven the car yet.
Monroes will last as long as any other brand strut mount.
Alot of people seem to favor one brand over the other. Ive seen, touched, inspected just about every strut mount brand there is for these cars and i notice they all *seem* to be of the exact same quality.

If your springs get installed correctly this time the mounts could easily last 100K miles.

[pontiacguy20025]

There, i got it fixed. Bought the monroe strut mount. The one that was replaced was all messed up. I got it done for 30 dollars. The part was more expensive than the labor.