Rusting bolt on front suspension strut - potential safety issue

[Reagle]

a few rainy weeks and there was water in it after all. Not as much, but it still does get in. Also standing water around the outside

[joeriv]

What I did was to use a small plastic container that you can get at your local supermarket's olive bar. It's flexible enough to squeeze through the opening and I held it in place with some silicone glue. It fits totally over the strut - the pic shows it in my 2017S after 15 months - the bolt is like new!! For max protection you could squeeze another through the hole and place it over the first.

https://imgur.com/a/qBCUdh3

[jdcbomb]

It seems even though almost every LEAF in a wet environment has this issue with water filling up the top strut tower area, we haven't heard of ANY vehicle having strut tower failure or rust eating through the bolt. Is it the time needed to do so (10 yrs+) or is the bolt possibly protected well enough in there? I still plan on using the diy olive bar cover though...

I've compared other strut tower designs to random cars, and the LEAF is rather peculiar with the tower hiding nearly under the corner of the windshield, while most other vehicles have the tower at least a few inches in front...and a bulge or flat surface around the bolt, rather than a deep depression in the LEAF.

[Reagle]

Finally got around to documenting everything I tried on my car for this issue. See http://kuzyatech.com/nissan-leaf-strut-towers

[Goodbar]

What I did was to use a small plastic container that you can get at your local supermarket's olive bar. It's flexible enough to squeeze through the opening and I held it in place with some silicone glue. It fits totally over the strut - the pic shows it in my 2017S after 15 months - the bolt is like new!! For max protection you could squeeze another through the hole and place it over the first.

https://imgur.com/a/qBCUdh3

Great idea — I just did this on the driver side. I'm not going into grocery stores due to Covid concerns so will wait for another container to turn up that's the right size. I didn't bother gluing it because the wire that's routed over the driver's strut tower will keep it in place.

I applaud the efforts that others have made for tightly-fitting, sealed covers, though I don't think they are necessary. By covering the entire strut mount, water won't pool in it. And because it isn't fully sealed, there isn't a risk of trapping moisture inside it.