Cracked strut tower, tig weld?

[digger]

Drill the end of cracks with small hole so they don’t propagate during welding . No need to vee prep on thin sheet

[George Hill]

IMO this is an issue with using stiff springs and strut mounts with a smaller than stock surface contact area. I personally don't use the reinforcement plates with stock strut mounts or the TMS camber plates, but everything else gets them. I install them with rivets just like BMW did on the rough road package cars, haven't seen any issues with this.

Here is a car I fixed a few years back. Stop drilled the end of the cracks and just took a slight bit of pressure to grind out the cracks to ensure full penetration but also to ensure I was at the end of the crack for the drill. Mig welded, sanded in the contact areas top and bottom and hit it with some paint, then sandwiched the reinforcement plates between the camber plate and tower.


This is a video of the deflection... which is how I noticed it. When the car was on the lift and the suspension hanging it was closed up, but when lowered and the weight on it everything opened up. This is just me taking weight on and off the corner.
https://flic.kr/p/2nuh2vo

[bigjae46]

I bonded my carbon plates in. I occasionally change out the front springs and the reinforcement plate makes the job an exercise in fumbling around.

[prostcfc]

Cubieman what front camber plate / strut were you running up front? I've got Ohlins R&T and an older GC street camber plate the PPO put on, no reinforcement plates. A little worried when I take them off soon to put on my MCS 1WNR (bought the reinforcement plates)!

[Cubieman]

Cubieman what front camber plate / strut were you running up front? I've got Ohlins R&T and an older GC street camber plate the PPO put on, no reinforcement plates. A little worried when I take them off soon to put on my MCS 1WNR (bought the reinforcement plates)!

It was BC'S/BC plates/reinforcement plates. No idea how long they were installed as it was one of the 3 previous owners. Definitely closely check, I had to remove paint to really even see some of them.

[Cubieman]

I bonded my carbon plates in. I occasionally change out the front springs and the reinforcement plate makes the job an exercise in fumbling around.

I think I'll be using some 3M to this weekend and sticking these plates to the car. On a side note, it appears you have TCK'S/Vorshlags like I do.

I didnt exactly know what the red anodized concave shaped "top" pieces were for that came in the box, does that ring a bell and if so what do they do?

[bigjae46]

I think I'll be using some 3M to this weekend and sticking these plates to the car. On a side note, it appears you have TCK'S/Vorshlags like I do.

I didnt exactly know what the red anodized concave shaped "top" pieces were for that came in the box, does that ring a bell and if so what do they do?

My TCKs are like 13 years old so I don't recall that.

I don't see why panel bond wouldn't work well in this application.

[samthejam]

My damage was similar. Here is my journey so far with my towers. I don't see why panel bond wouldn't hold with the right prep. I like the rivets idea George said, didn't know the factory cars were assembled like that.



Mine cracked further with the stock reinforcements and being poorly tig'd. Here is the first repair and damage spotting.

Untitled by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
Untitled by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Also had to get the brace welded. The towers were moving so much I cracked two strut brace ends. This welded one is still holding.

Untitled by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

At some point after this I installed reinforcement plates as well. The reinforcements were just sitting on top of the camber plate.

I checked on it it later and those welds didn't penetrate well when I installed another set of coilovers. It was still fatiguing and spidering with the factory reinforcements. However it was no longer breaking the strut brace ends.

So this is my current attempt at repairs. I drilled all the cracks and grinded down all the welds. So now it has factory reinforcements and these plates welded on top of it all. These are the weld in plates I used.

https://drifthq.com/products/rise-fab-shop-e46-weld-in-front-strut-tower-reinforcement

Untitled by Sam DaJam, on Flickr
Untitled by Sam DaJam, on Flickr
Untitled by Sam DaJam, on Flickr
Untitled by Sam DaJam, on Flickr

I live in an area with very bad roads, and I am on 616lb springs with MCS dampers in the front so they take a fucking beating. Almost all of my wheels are bent from my commute, I just follow the speed of traffic and see if it holds.

[bigjae46]

The weld has to fully penetrate if the metal is cracked through to the backside. This means the backside of the weld will not be shielded. You may need to use flux on the backside or somehow back purge the weld. Also, probably want to grind out the crack in a V so you can get the weld bead into the crack vs sitting on top.

Same reason why you must back purge when welding exhaust pipes.

[Cubieman]

The weld has to fully penetrate if the metal is cracked through to the backside. This means the backside of the weld will not be shielded. You may need to use flux on the backside or somehow back purge the weld. Also, probably want to grind out the crack in a V so you can get the weld bead into the crack vs sitting on top.

Same reason why you must back purge when welding exhaust pipes.

So I ground down the welds flush and was planning on using epoxy to attach the reinforcement plates, but I don’t like seeing exposed cracks on the bottom.

The welder didn't want to me V cut the cracks for some reason, I definitely offered. This is a friend of a friend situation here and I get the impression he wanted to get in and out fast.


In any event it sounds like I should have the bottom side welded before permanently attaching the plates to car or I'll just have the same issue but with epoxy underneath to contaminated any potential future welds.

Hopefully now that topside is welded flux and/or shielding gas won't be required as my options for mobile welders doing it 100% correctly are limited.

[Cubieman]

My damage was similar. Here is my journey so far with my towers. I don't see why panel bond wouldn't hold with the right prep. I like the rivets idea George said, didn't know the factory cars were assembled like that.



Mine cracked further with the stock reinforcements and being poorly tig'd. Here is the first repair and damage spotting.

Untitled by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr
Untitled by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

Also had to get the brace welded. The towers were moving so much I cracked two strut brace ends. This welded one is still holding.

Untitled by Kurvenkamph Motorsport, on Flickr

At some point after this I installed reinforcement plates as well. The reinforcements were just sitting on top of the camber plate.

I checked on it it later and those welds didn't penetrate well when I installed another set of coilovers. It was still fatiguing and spidering with the factory reinforcements. However it was no longer breaking the strut brace ends.

So this is my current attempt at repairs. I drilled all the cracks and grinded down all the welds. So now it has factory reinforcements and these plates welded on top of it all. These are the weld in plates I used.

https://drifthq.com/products/rise-fab-shop-e46-weld-in-front-strut-tower-reinforcement

Untitled by Sam DaJam, on Flickr
Untitled by Sam DaJam, on Flickr
Untitled by Sam DaJam, on Flickr
Untitled by Sam DaJam, on Flickr

I live in an area with very bad roads, and I am on 616lb springs with MCS dampers in the front so they take a fucking beating. Almost all of my wheels are bent from my commute, I just follow the speed of traffic and see if it holds.

Wow, very similar damge, you can see why the inner most hole cracks. Not a lot metal between the locating hole for the OEM top hats and the slot for the stud.

I saw those plates online for the topside, I really like the idea but I am thinking maybe an RE strut bar or triangulation kit down the line might be a direction I go.

[bigjae46]

So I ground down the welds flush and was planning on using epoxy to attach the reinforcement plates, but I don’t like seeing exposed cracks on the bottom.

The welder didn't want to me V cut the cracks for some reason, I definitely offered. This is a friend of a friend situation here and I get the impression he wanted to get in and out fast.


In any event it sounds like I should have the bottom side welded before permanently attaching the plates to car or I'll just have the same issue but with epoxy underneath to contaminated any potential future welds.

Hopefully now that topside is welded flux and/or shielding gas won't be required as my options for mobile welders doing it 100% correctly are limited.

Flux is a paste that protects the area from O2 contamination.

Yes, you will want to weld the crack. If the first welder didn't fully penetrate...lol... then it should make welding the bottom easier. It just would have been a lot easier to do it right the first time.

You can get a 120v mig welder. Just practice on some scrap steel first. MIG welding is pretty easy if you want to give it a try.

Or maybe find a Maker's space or a tech school with a welding program. There might be a person there.

If I still lived in Wichita...I'd drive up and do it for ya!

[Cubieman]

...It just would have been a lot easier to do it right the first time...

My thoughts exactly, Im pretty sure this weld up top is just laying on the hairline cracks as well, on the bottom I will V cut them a bit, unfortunately I need to work with what I have access to in regards to people that can come and weld in my garge.

I thought about buying a 120V welder, maybe someday, that would be nice to be able to tackle this shit on my own to my satisfaction.

[bigjae46]

My thoughts exactly, Im pretty sure this weld up top is just laying on the hairline cracks as well, on the bottom I will V cut them a bit, unfortunately I need to work with what I have access to in regards to people that can come and weld in my garge.

I thought about buying a 120V welder, maybe someday, that would be nice to be able to tackle this shit on my own to my satisfaction.

I like welding. Wish I had more time and space to do it. If for no other reason, learn to weld because it's fun. Shit...I welded my roll cage. I'm not saying it's super awesome but its is still all together.

This is a list of stuff you need that I can think of...

Welder
Mig Wire
Gloves
Helmet
Gas bottle
Pressure regulator (usually comes with the welder)
MIG Gas (Air gas or Norther Tools will fill and rent bottles)
Grinder with a flap disc
Welding blankets

[Cubieman]

Weld it baby

If had a welder I'd be all over that shit, but I don't want to buy just yet. Dude will be back sometime next week to finish the job.

This car has been on the lift at least 2 months at this point just for fucking coilovers, front suspension components/different rack, ridiculous. However I do work ~60hrs/week and am smoked when I get off so not much gets done at a time.

Might as well get my RB's done at this point as I wanted to do that this winter.