Strut Tower rip

[C1J1Miller at aol.com]

Peter writes:
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The cracks on the passenger side tower tie in to the firewall in both my 
avants have also moved beyond the hole that the factory saw fit to install 
as a stress relief - they evidently expected a failure there but didnt see 
fit to re enforce it.

Of course this is more pronounce on the Grey car, which has Eibach springs 
and Bilstein sport struts.
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Peter:  the hole is there for the jump start post on some variants (such as the later S cars), not for stress relief.  The hole is only on the passenger's side.  If you are worried, it should be easy to reinforce/weld up the hole and tear.

Not all cars tear this web; my sedan went over 188k miles, many of them hard miles with a lowered suspension and konis, 255/40r17 tires, track events, New England roads, and there was no evidence of damage.  Haven't rechecked it since the front end accident that totalled it.

I'd assume the tear has to be related to shock tower spreading apart from each other.  The V8 has a lot more reinforcing welds in this area, including braces of the strut towers to the firewall.

Chris