Broken strut bar mount

[jasonojordan]

Old thread here but I have noticed this same issue with my car. Anyone else had this issue?

[norcalpb]

Originally Posted by jasonojordan

Old thread here but I have noticed this same issue with my car. Anyone else had this issue?

Yup, mine are started to dislodge themselves after 100k miles.

[jasonojordan]

Originally Posted by norcalpb

Yup, mine are started to dislodge themselves after 100k miles.

At that kinda miles I guess I would not be to upset depending on how you drive your car..but mine has never seen a track and has less then 50k on it.

[Trueweltall]

Just checked mine, same bar but no issues with the spot welds. 22k miles.

[DarkSideFRS]

so, avoid strut bars on our cars..?

[jasonojordan]

Grimmspeed so far has claimed it has nothing to do with their bar that it happens on cars without them as well.

I could see it happening on a car that was tracked alot or autox. But mine has never been to a track and I have never autox the car. Not to mention under 50k miles and to have a complete break on one tower and a 75% break on the other seems like the brace has deff contributed to something going on there.

What I would recommend is look for a bar that mounts to the strut studs. It may be what I end up doing in the future here as well as welding the cracks.

Car still handles fine and everything no adverse effects of the cracks that I can tell just was alarming to see is all.

[norcalpb]

Originally Posted by jasonojordan

Grimmspeed so far has claimed it has nothing to do with their bar that it happens on cars without them as well.

I could see it happening on a car that was tracked alot or autox. But mine has never been to a track and I have never autox the car. Not to mention under 50k miles and to have a complete break on one tower and a 75% break on the other seems like the brace has deff contributed to something going on there.

What I would recommend is look for a bar that mounts to the strut studs. It may be what I end up doing in the future here as well as welding the cracks.

Car still handles fine and everything no adverse effects of the cracks that I can tell just was alarming to see is all.

The grimmspeed bar might actually help with this problem as it’ll transfer vertical loads to other other side when hitting a bump.

I noticed mine broke after having a super intense strut bar on for years and then finally taking it off for STi flexible V bars.

[jasonojordan]

Subaru dealer I assume have blown me off at this point as they never did return my call. I will likely come spring end up just taking it over to a friends and tig welding it back together.

[PMok]

Hi guys, bumping this old thread up because I have encountered the same problem on my car now. After an autocross event, I noticed a creaking or squeaking noise coming from the front end of the car, and discovered that it had developed cracks or fractures on these strut bar mounts where they connected to the tower. I had also been running a Grimmspeed solid strut bar. The cracks were worse on the passenger side mount, but the driver side was also starting to crack as well. My car, although it has less than 36K miles on the odometer, was well past the warranty period since it is a 2016. So I didn't even bother trying to make a warranty claim with Subaru.

The good news is, it's not that hard to fix if you catch it before something breaks completely. If you see fractures, or the car starts to make creaking or clunking noises, or you see the part coming loose from the welds, any decent welder can repair and reinforce that part for you, and any body shop can sand and repaint the repaired area for minimal cost. I got my car fixed and the area repainted for about $100 at a local body shop; another local owner I know who had the same problem, found a local muffler shop who welded it for $15.

So my BRZ has now been repaired and everything is back to normal! They did a great job with welding the cracks to repair them and then repainting over it to keep it nice and clean. I highly recommend doing it the right way and painting over the welds afterwards. The other owner's unpainted welds have corroded and gotten rusty, probably because he parks it outside.


Details about the car and my usage:
I have a 2016 BRZ Premium, with just under 36K miles.

It is not a daily driven car, more of a weekend car. I track the car pretty often, in addition to regular canyon runs and occasional autocross.
As noted, I was running a GrimmSpeed front strut tower bar, I put it on almost immediately after buying the car so it has been in place for about 6 years now. I was advised by the body shop to not use such a stiff strut bar on the car or it might crack again despite the repairs.

Suspension mods: since it is a track car, for most of its life the car has been on Tein SRC coilovers which are very stiff (track oriented suspension). During the pandemic when I wasn't doing track days at all, I switched back to the stock struts and Eibach Sportline lowering springs.

Comparing notes with the other local owner who had this issue, and with various shops, I've got some theories about what causes this failure. These are some of the factors that probably make it more likely to happen: 1) Regular or frequent track use; 2) rigid strut tower bar like the Grimmspeed STB; 3) stiffer suspension like coilovers or lowering springs. For me, I've got all 3 of those factors with my car. If any of these apply to you, I’d check the strut bar mounting points every so often for fractures or separation. I noticed that mine started making loud creaking noises from the front end of the car after an all-day autocross event. FYI, the car drove perfectly fine with this issue, I don't think it was ever a critical safety issue, just a big annoyance with how much creaking was coming from the front end when it was cracked. But, obviously if you neglect it, more bad things could happen eventually...

Good luck, and keep on driving...