body and interior Rear Strut Towers and Quarter Panels

[SaharaX2]

My '75 '02 was hit in the rear in 2008 causing buckling in the left and right quarter panels.

The buckling was fixed and the entire car painted so the paint would match.

The right side was damaged the worst.

The buckling returned in 2010 and was fixed again.

The buckling in both quarter panels has been gradually returning and NOW the body shop is trying to find the cause. They believe that the strut towers are weak and that the stress of the bilstein shocks is pushing the quarter panels out causing the buckling. The strut towers look like new.

The distance between my strut towers is 30.25 in with 32.25 between the tops of the shocks.

Thoughts as to causes?

[Emyers]

Did they say what they think is the cause of the "weak" strut towers?  My guess is the repair was not done correctly in the first and second place.  Did they mount the body on a frame type straightening rig.  The reason I ask is that you can hammer and dolly/ shrink the sheet metal back, but if they did not pull the supporting structure back into place it will re-manifest in time. Think of everything past the actual bending on the sheet metal as being pushed down....make sense?  If the use of Bilsteins were the culprit, not withstanding accident damage, there would be many 2002s on the side of the road due to weak strut towers.

[SaharaX2]

They are supposed to be checking for what would cause the weakness. Agree that if the shocks were the issue almost all '02's would have this problem.

Yes they did use a frame machine and pronounced the car as one of the straightest they had ever worked on.

BTW I took photos today to compare to the ones from 2008 and they match almost perfectly.

[Preyupy]

First of all they are not strut towers, they are strictly shock absorber mounting points.  There is no load at that point other than the straight load put on it by the shock. The spring load is taken up at a different point further forward in the chassis.    My guess is the original repair shop did not repair the car properly and did not address all of the damage in the unit body.  There must be a wrinkled panel that is not carrying the load that it is supposed to carry.  It is also possible that the box on the under side of the chassis is rusty (this is very common) and starting to fail.  They may have sprayed paint on it and it might look ok but is very weak. 

[SaharaX2]

The shop did a lot of the repairs while the car was fastened to the rack. I do not know if the car was re measured after it was repaired. There may be wrinkled panel somewhere. My bet would be in the casing for the bumper shocks.

Where is the box on the under side of the chassis you mentioned?

Edited May 16, 2015 by SaharaX2

[SaharaX2]

Do you mean the box where the bumper shocks fit?

left, Right & center?

Edited May 16, 2015 by SaharaX2

[TobyB]

 

if they did not pull the supporting structure back into place

The 74- 76 cars had an extra layer of metal bonded to the insides of the rear quarters.

It was a hack job at best to meet the 5mph bumper standards- and when you got hit at 7mph,

they are really hard to fix.  They de- bonded, they rusted, they sometimes got pulled out.

 

Now, there really isn't any supporting structure to the trunk of a 2002- the loads from the suspension are

mostly carried in the subframe, so there are no 'strut towers' as Byron rightly says.

The springs push up on the perches, and those loads are taken by the trunk firewall

and the arches over the wheel houses.  The rear quarters are taking all the vertical

loading (such as there is) from what's in the trunk.

 

I think without pics- and they'll be hard to get- we're just guessing in the wind. 

I'd be frustrated, too- it's a hard thing to fix  (I did an early car, and it was never exactly right)

and there aren't so many shops that can do it these days...

 

t

[SaharaX2]

Thanks.

What is needed to get to the bonded panels to see if they are stressed?

Do they have to cit out the quarter panels to gt to the area or can it be fixed from the trunk or underneath?

[TobyB]

They are simply glued to the outer quarter skins- you'll see them on the inside of the trunk, as they don't cover the entire rear quarter-

it's been a long time, so I don't remember where the line is, but you'll see the edge of the reinforcement panel when you

 really look at the inner quarter.  Tap on them- they'll sound different than a single sheet of steel does.

 

hth

 

t

Edited May 19, 2015 by TobyB

[SaharaX2]

Thanks. There is something, I think underneath the quarter panel that is shorter than the outside panel. With time or vibration the quarter panel is returning to the post accident/pre repair condition.

I am just wondering how much fo the trunk floor will need to be removed to check for straightness.

[jgerock]

Sorry to hear about your recurring car damage.  Can you post a couple pictures down the side from the (3) time periods (2008, 2010 and now)?  Does the rippling appear to be in the same areas?

[SaharaX2]

Photos attached below.

As you can see the damage is essentially the same as in 2008. 

The top left two and bottom right are from the original accident in 2008.

I do not have not photos of the repairs done in 2010.

Please forgive me as I am leaning to post photos.

 

Any ideas as to cause of recurrence?

Frank

[TobyB]

Ooo.  that's tough to diagnose over the internet, but, guessing, the inner fenders are still crumpled?

 

t

[visionaut]

FWIW, getting strapped down too much on a trailer bed, using the original rear fender well 'loops' can do that to a fender too...

[jgerry2002]

The inner structure has to be missing or completely seperated from the wheel housing. What do the insides of the wheel housings look like where it connects to the quarter panel? What about the inside of the trunk area?

 

Just looks like the repair was done without removing quarter panels and checking. They just pulled out the damage and painted it. Quarter panel looks like it has too much load on it.

 

Good luck with the repair, you'll likely have to dig in much further to get a real answer.