530i Bent Strut Towers

[lucas999]

Hi everyone,

I just took my 530i to the dealer for an alignment (for stupid reasons, what a waste of money). When the alignment was finished, I was told that my strut towers are bent and that they weren't able to get the camber specs perfect. However, they still did the rest of the alignment and charged me... which I guess isn't too bad, just slightly irritating that they didn't tell me first so I could fix it and not waste my $150. So my question is this: does anybody know if there are any strut tower reinforcement plates available for the E39? Or do I have to figure out how to make my own? I've read that using a strut tower brace can help, but it doesn't seem like a long term super-secure solution.

The second part of the story is that they rolled down my driver side window, which only works intermittently, and of course wouldn't roll back up. Being in Maine and with the temperature <15°F, I wasn't going to leave and drive 1:45 back home with my window rolled all the way down on the highway. So, I ended up getting a rental car (which they generously payed for) and will be going back tomorrow after they spend a few hours diagnosing. I told them just to get the window rolled up so I could just get home and fix it myself... I don't want to pay the $300 or so it will cost for them to take the door apart to get it up, but I don't really have a choice, as the car is now stuck there. After I left, I was wondering if it would just be possible for them to remove the window switches and apply power there to roll the window up as I am almost certain the problem is in the wiring to the door as the whole door electrics goes in and out. But, it is too late to ask about that. So now, I have a slightly-bogus alignment (although they did do the other geometry- it was just camber that couldn't be corrected) and an extra $300 dollar bill just because they happened to roll my window down. Not to mention that I have to drive another 1:45 to get the car and another 1:45 home. While this is all irritating, my main concern is the strut towers. I would like to hear anything you have to say about this. It sounds like the 2X4-and-hammer trick will be the way to go, but I won't do that until I have a way to reinforce them to prevent further fatigue.

-Lucas

[777300ER]

It's not their fault that your strut towers are jacked. You need to check if you have mushroomed strut towers. If you do, they need to be bent flat. After that they need a set of reinforcement plates and then a strut tower brace.

[lucas999]

It's not their fault that your strut towers are jacked. You need to check if you have mushroomed strut towers. If you do, they need to be bent flat. After that they need a set of reinforcement plates and then a strut tower brace.

Right... of course it isn’t their fault that my strut towers are messed up and I hold no grudge about that. My only complaint is that they could have mentioned it to me before completing the alignment and charging me for it if they knew it wouldn’t be within spec. As now I will have to get another alignment done when I fix the towers. I am going to look into fabricating reinforcement plates as there don’t seem to be any preixisting options for the E39. Thanks for the quick response.

[JimLev]

You'll need to jack in the front so the wheels can hang down and maybe loosen the strut nuts to make the struts aren't putting any force on the towers, then hammer them down. Some steel rings on top of the towers should stop them from mushrooming again. The studs aren't that long so the rings can't be too thick unless the bolt hole is machined out so the nut can fit inside the ring. That's the way my Dinan strut bar ends are built.

If your window switches turn out to be bad I have a spare one, PM me if needed.

[777300ER]

I also have have a spare drivers door switch i'd be willing to give away if you have the coin.

[pshovest]

Post your alignment sheet so we can see how far out of spec the camber is.

[geargrinder]

It's not their fault that your strut towers are jacked. You need to check if you have mushroomed strut towers. If you do, they need to be bent flat. After that they need a set of reinforcement plates and then a strut tower brace.

Right... of course it isn’t their fault that my strut towers are messed up and I hold no grudge about that. My only complaint is that they could have mentioned it to me before completing the alignment and charging me for it if they knew it wouldn’t be within spec. As now I will have to get another alignment done when I fix the towers. I am going to look into fabricating reinforcement plates as there don’t seem to be any preixisting options for the E39. Thanks for the quick response.

Yeah... Jim has a point about the stud length unless you drive them out and replace with longer bolts, but I suspect a strut-brace-plate is enough to do the job as long as its nice and big...

I have the cheapo Cosmo Racing strut tower brace, which is a Dinan knock-off and easily recommend it "for the price point". It's not as sweet to fondle and ogle as the Dinan, and the hardware comes across as being a little cheaper, but it does the job perfectly. Looks a little cheaper, but you fix that by having it professionally powder coated, then it looks custom and pretty sweet.

Re: the window... good luck w/ the switch, but, ready your expectations... regulators will crap out without warning like that too. And a dead regulator motor is a huge hassle to pull out and readjust to put the window up (its not an easy 'pop this off then you can raise the window again' deal). Since you're paying for labor, if it turns out its the regulator, then you'll have to decide whether to entirely "waste" the money on dealer rate labor dicking around with putting it up temporarily, or, waste money on a dealer-price regulator (which probably run $2732 these days at the rate they're cranking used parts prices up...)

The time honored thing to do in this case of course is to stock up on some heavy grade plastic sheeting and duck tape and drive home with that wrapped up around your door.

This weather is brutal right now though, isn't it? Still 15 on my back deck right now, must have been like 10 this morning. Shutup Jim.

[JimLev]

OK GG I won't bring up the weather here again, at least not until you guys have another Nor'easter.

Lucas, you could jumper 12 volts in the connector to the window motor wires providing the window regulator mechanical parts aren't toast as GG mentioned. Should have used plastic and duct tape to get it home yesterday.

[lucas999]

Hi everyone,

I would just like to say that I've sorted out my window problem, the cause being a faulty window switch module. As for the bent strut towers, I am planning on going for the 2x4-and-mallet method and then maybe either making some plates to fit on the studs or getting a brace, depending on how motivated I am feeling.

Thanks for your help/suggestions,
Lucas