Noise and movement of strut towers

[90_Black_GTZ]

This is my 90 GTZ.  I started to hear a "grinding" type noise in the front end, the right side to be more exact.  I can hear the noise if I sit in the driveway and move my steering wheel past center.  Anyhow, I decided to take it to my repair shop.  They couldn't see anything right off, but he did show me something alarming.  I popped the hood while he sat in the car and turned the wheel.  Both strut towers MOVE!  They shift left and right as you steer the car.  Is that normal?  I haven't done anything to alter the original suspension, but this car was totaled about 3 years ago.  There was some problems under the car that needed to be fixed at that time.  I am going to pick up an upper strut brace, but I thought maybe I should see if there is a problem in there first before I start adding things on.  Any ideas?

[Guest]

I'm by far no suspension expert, but I'd say that the strut towers moving is bad...

[90_Black_GTZ]

That's why I am a bit concerned.  I want to add the upper and lower braces, but I don't want to mask a more major structural problem.  

Maybe someone out there will go test the car as I did and see if they see much movement on the strut towers.  A non-braced car of course.

[Guest]

Yikes!!  If the car was totaled 3 years ago, why are you even driving it? Not tring to be rude but that sounds like an accident or major repair waiting to happen.  Adam

[rweatherford]

I would look for cracks along the firewall and the sturt towers.

An upper brace would really help, but I don't think they should be moving around.  Chances are something in the wreck damaged the front end and made it weak.

[90_Black_GTZ]

Totaled doesn't mean it can't be repaired!  You know how insurance companies work.  They set a value.  If the repair is over the value, it's totaled.  Well, the difference between repair and totaled in this case was less than $500.00.  I had just put a new motor in the car less than six months previous!  They didn't care about that, they had set a price.  So what would you do?  It was worth it to pay the extra $500 out of my pocket to get it fixed. ÂÂÂ
The accident was a t-bone into my driver's door.  The car was shoved across two lanes, over a curb, and into a bush in front of a Taco Bell.  There was some suspension damage on the right side from being shoved over the curb sideways, but most of the damage was on the left hand side. ÂÂÂ

That's why I'm driving it.  OK ?? ??

[Guest]

ok is it the big bolt in the middle of the three small bolts that moves around when you turn the wheel, or the whole round metal painted part of the body of the car?

If it is the first one it is as simple as the upper strut mounts being bad. Mine did that until I replaced them.

You might also want to look at new struts and springs(if you want stiffer/better handling) at the same time because you have to take them off and uncompress them and all that to replace the strut mounts, and then get an alignment... So you don't want to later decide you want new struts after you just replaced the strut mounts as you gotta pay for all that labor/alignment again...

I hope it's not your car's body that is damaged.. but if it is good luck on getting it fixed!

[90_Black_GTZ]

It's the second one.  The whole painted body part that is moving.  Both sides are doing it, which is what is curious, since there has never been any major suspension work done on the left hand side of the car.

[Guest]

Taco Bell you say? I like Tacos.   Adam

[BerettaGTU88]

dont know if this helps any... but the strut towers arent actually part of the frame.there is a weld... and the top portion can be removed. look down the side of the tower and like probably 6-8 inches down theres a weld that goes all the way around. this weld can break under force. ive been seeing it a lot more lately. my friends z24 hydroplained into a curb sideways... we thought the frame had twisted making the hood be off badly... nope it was the tower busting the weld and moving upward. you might want to check on that. cause you never know

[Guest]

I am gonna go with the "faulty weld" ... why i say this is.. My 93 base I had was totaled also when I bought it.. and I seen the wiggling towers of what the heck too..    But being my drivers side was smashed so hard it wrinkled the dash I knew I was gonna be replacing that part of the body anyways.. but on the passnenger side It was workable.. meaning I could hook on with a tug and pull the frame straight.. but ofcourse when You have any twisting of the body during a collision.. the initial force pushes things beyond what they can handle.. and after I got to lookin at it.. I seen there were some welds popped loose.. so I just welded everthing back up again.. and no more wiggle towers.. one more thing.. does the body fit good? meaning do the fenders and hood have a nice neat straight fit on both sides?? if not then the front of your car maybe still swayed.. meaning the entire front could be pushed over a inch or two..  and.. did you fix this car? or did you have a body shop do the work? and if you did.. does this body shop have a frame rack.. or a way of pulling frames straight again?

[90_Black_GTZ]

It was done by a fairly reputable body shop.  It took them 2 months all together to fix the car.  Part of that was ordering wrong parts and so forth, but overall the body looks very straight.  No gaps, misalignments, or anything.

The weld could very well be it.  I'll check it this weekend.  By the time I get out of work it's dark, so I'll have a look tomorrow.

I'm actually hoping this is the case, since they do have a lifetime warranty on the repair work.  Probably contingent on if they did the welds though.  We shall see.

I guess I'll keep it under 100 until I get this repaired.

[Guest]

Good luck. Hope they catch it and fix it for you!

Yes do not go fast!! Don't even drive it much!! you don't want the strut towers to come all the way off and you loose control!!