2G Strut tower rust [Merged]

[TRBOBLU]

Yup, looks good to me!!! hahahaha

Agreed

But joking aside. I saw a 2g NT at a junk yard when I was looking for interior pieces. Both strut towers had tape covering rust holes and then were painted over red to attempt to hide the problem. Probably the reason it was in the junk yard to begin with.

 

[DiamondStarMotors]

Is there any way to prevent it?
I know it's a newbish question, but I don't feel like spending four grand in a few years. To buy a new DSM or replace the towers.

 

[talonalex92]

They usally rot out from the bottom up, from what I've seen. Pull the inner fender lineer out/down and clean up the area with a wire brush or wheel or something of that nature, hit it with some self etching primer and follow that up with some good high quality under coating. I recommend 3M, its about 9 bucks a can but is hands down the best.

 

[DiamondStarMotors]

I will do this. Thank you

 

[SupremeDsm]

They usally rot out from the bottom up, from what I've seen. Pull the inner fender lineer out/down and clean up the area with a wire brush or wheel or something of that nature, hit it with some self etching primer and follow that up with some good high quality under coating. I recommend 3M, its about 9 bucks a can but is hands down the best.

I do not know where you get your information but 3m is not the best. A product called POR-15 is better than 3m by a long shot.

 

[Redslayer]

I do not know where you get your information but 3m is not the best. A product called POR-15 is better than 3m by a long shot.

To be fair, he didn't actually say it was the best. He just said good high quality stuff

 

[SupremeDsm]

To be fair, he didn't actually say it was the best. He just said good high quality stuff

Actually, he said it was hands down the best!!!

 

[Redslayer]

Actually, he said it was hands down the best!!!

Oh indeed. I missed that part Maybe I should be going to bed .

 

[SmoochDarling]

3M.. POR15 is unreal. Be very careful what you put it on, it will not come off.

 

[talonalex92]

I said 3m is the best undercoating. POR15 is hardly undercoating, and its a lot more expensive than im betting this guy wants to spend.

They usally rot out from the bottom up, from what I've seen. Pull the inner fender lineer out/down and clean up the area with a wire brush or wheel or something of that nature, hit it with some self etching primer and follow that up with some good high quality under coating. I recommend 3M, its about 9 bucks a can but is hands down the best.

See above.

And to be honest, I really dont like it. It works, but its hard to work with and do correctly, and looks like duke.

 

[SupremeDsm]

I said 3m is the best undercoating. POR15 is hardly undercoating, and its a lot more expensive than im betting this guy wants to spend.



See above.

And to be honest, I really dont like it. It works, but its hard to work with and do correctly, and looks like duke.

POR-15 is an undercoating. Also its not that expensive. The kit for it is around $45.00. Also, I have used the 3m undercoating and found that I like the Rustoleum Undercoating a lot better. It really should not matter what it looks like unless the car will be a show car in which case he should be painting the under body of the vehicle. POR-15 is where it is at hands down as far as protection from rust and chipping. Do not get me wrong, 3m is a nice product but there are better alternatives.

 

[talonalex92]

There are better alternatives to everything, I just think it would be hokey to only coat part of the car in por15. I dont know, jsut me.

 

[snowborder714]

Honestly, if they have started rusting from the inside out (as they normally do), any coating will only help so much.

See this post for a strut tower taken apart.
Mitsu-Media - View Single Post - Goblins AWD project

 

[SupremeDsm]

There are better alternatives to everything, I just think it would be hokey to only coat part of the car in por15. I dont know, jsut me.

Well, I coated the under body, wheel wells, and interior area with por-15 and could not have been happier. But, then again my tsi does not have any rust anywhere.

 

[talonalex92]

Nor does mine. This guy is only wanting to the strut towers based on what he first posted. Why are we even still going on about this.

 

[SupremeDsm]

Nor does mine. This guy is only wanting to the strut towers based on what he first posted. Why are we even still going on about this.

I do not know!

 

[DiamondStarMotors]

Well I guess I'm talking about any place that can gain a significant amount of problematic rust. I just wanna be able to keep the car in a nice condition for a while haha

 

[SupremeDsm]

Well I guess I'm talking about any place that can gain a significant amount of problematic rust. I just wanna be able to keep the car in a nice condition for a while haha

Take out your driver seat and pull back the carpet on the driver side. I have seen a lot of dsm's rust under the carpet in that section. Also check the rear wheel wells by the bottom quarter panel.

 

[4g63dreams]

How bad would you guys consider this? Is it safe to consider fixing? What is the best way to fix and would you be able to give a rough estimate?

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

 

[BurrowZ]

That is easily the worst I have ever seen, and the best way to fix that would be to cut the rusted part out and weld in some others from a donor car. It depends on how far the rust goes over to give an estimate, but if you don't do it yourself don't expect cheap.

 

[4g63dreams]

The green car in my avatar would be the donor car (face smashed it a few months ago) and it has little to no rust. Would you say like 1k? more or less? and how much safer is it to have it done as so as opposed to OEM?

 

[Empyre]

Well, if you already have the donor car and a way to cut it out and weld it in, then you shouldn't have to pay anything except for materials, such as for the welder and some paint if you want it to match, and look clean. If you dont plan on doing it yourself, I would contact a body shop and just ask them directly, as each shop will charge a little different for work/materials.

 

[rastmp]

This is VERY common with 2g DSM's....Take it to a body shop unless You know how to weld.

 

[99gst_racer]

That will definitely need to be replaced. But it's an easy job if you have another tower to weld in. And you can do the weld work with literally any welder you can get your hands on.

The drivers side tower on the Talon that I had last year had a rust hole about twice that size. When we picked the car up on a hoist, we could actually see the strut tower flex in and out quite a bit. So it most definitely affects handling and was a big safety risk too because it would have eventually failed and come apart.


Here's my rust hole and the section we had to remove and replace.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

 

[dsmTripp]

Hey paul if you dont mind me asking.... did you cut a piece from a donor car for that hole or did you just use sheet metal? I have the passenger side that i will most likely be cutting as much as you did but i also have a donor car sitting beside it that i can cut the whole piece out of.