Uh Oh.. Upper Control Arm Mount Play, Sadly... Lots of Play Under The Hood

[Soular]

Hi All,


I guess I have been riding on raggedy coilovers for too long... went to check for bad bushings and bearings while the car was up in the air and had massive play in the wheel.. my friend noticed the play was manifesting itself at the upper control arm mounts... one of the nuts under the hood is moving... not rusted out or anything.. just moving freely.

I did a search and read thru some similar topics from way back, but no one said how it was fixed as I don;t know how to weld... so if welding is the fix.. what needs to be welded are their diagrams of the mounts?

Is the car toast? I know people have strut tower rot and people have to total their cars or weld in new towers which seem super dangerous for a dynamics standpoint. but can this broken or wobbly mount be fixed if so what needs to be done to fix it ? Please have a look. We scrapped away the sealant to see what the heck was going on down there...

If you know the best path to fixing this, if it can be fixed, please let me know your thoughts. Many thanks.

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[2gmitsueclipse]

This fix will require welding if the area is salvageable. The repair is usually done from the bottom by reinforcing the mounting area for the control arm. If a plate is added, don't forget to have the other mount for the control arm shimmed with a spacer/washer. A fabrication shop should be able to handle this.

 

[Soular]

Thanks so much for the rely. When you say salvageable... does that mean like if its not rust related?
Again thanks so much for the help.

I found this thread based on what you posted to me.. Is this the fix?
http://www.dsmtuners.com/threads/front-upper-control-arm-failure-fix.464531/

This fix will require welding if the area is salvageable. The repair is usually done from the bottom by reinforcing the mounting area for the control arm. If a plate is added, don't forget to have the other mount for the control arm shimmed with a spacer/washer. A fabrication shop should be able to handle this.

 

[PlanZero]

Maybe it's too early for me but I don't know what I'm looking at. That part of the tower is a hollow pocket with a sleeve for the upper arm studs to pass through. There's normally a small gap around it. Tighten up that rusty nut.

Edit: OK I read the link, if your sleeve really did pop loose and you don't have any skills or money, my quick TEMPORARY fix would be to drill a hole next to the pocket and fill the whole pocket with jb weld or jb steel stick and put a large washer on each side of the pocket. This is of course assuming that area will be cut and welded at some point.

 

[Black95TSIawd]

I'm dreading this happening to my autocross car. With big sticky tires and slicks on the horizon, its not if, but rather a matter of when.

 

[wishihadatalon]

You do not want to weld in the area you have pictured. You need to look on the underside of the sleeve for cracks around it. The sleeve is mig welded in three places to a formed piece of sheet metal that is spot welded to the upper tower.

 

[2gmitsueclipse]

OP, I ran into the same problem. As wishihadatalon said, the fix is not only the top portion you can see. During my repair, I did weld the top after repairing and reinforcing the sleeve from the bottom. See the post in my build thread here:

http://www.dsmtuners.com/threads/because-there-is-no-rallyx-option.480847/page-2#post-153540283