I own a 1998 Buick Regal with 213,000 miles on it. Recently I’ve noticed the rear strut plates in the inner wheel wells are very rusted and each has a crack along the wheel well. I’ve taken the vehicle to three auto body shops and none of them have been willing to provide a written estimate for repair. One told me the ‘right’ repair would probably cost around $2000 which may be more than the car’s worth. Another said the best he could do is offer a time and material estimate of maybe $1000. The third shop recommended I try to find a moon-lighter who’d do the work in his garage. Is this a problem that isn’t worth the trouble to fix? I still value the car and the 3.8 v6 still runs great … but maybe it’s time to retire it. Thanks for any feedback.
If that area’s rusted, other may be too. I’d retire it.
Yes its time to say farewell. I would not trust a fix in this area.
We deal with this all the time in our climate, you need a welding shop experienced in rebuilding strut towers. Shouldn’t cost much more than $200 a side.
Unless the car is in a Rust Belt state and has been eaten alive with rust it seems to me that it should not be that big a deal to find someone to dink around with this.
Instead of an automotive garage why not a welding shop, established or a backyard operation, and have someone run a bead along the cracks?
I’ve seen a number of cracked frame, cracked subframes, and so on repaired in this manner.