A desperate scream for help thread...

I managed to stuff up my strut tower brace installation while hammering out the mushrooming of my strut plates...

Thought I had all the bolts aligned when I was lowering back down but was doing it on my own and obviously the driver side was out of alignment while I lowered the car on the pass side.

The below pic shows my problem. The strut tower is "stuck" up and to the right. In the pic the car is still jacked up with no weight on the wheel.

When I lowered the car it was still on a jack stand on the drivers side and so had minimal weight on the wheel - however, the wheel was on the floor.

The strut tower does move if I push on it - but not enough to get back into normal position with the bolts aligned...

Sooo... Please help! what's gone on and can I fix it??

 

Just to elaborate, it almost seems as though I need to compress the spring to move the tower...

If I push down on the wheel I get about an extra 1/2in clearance - enough to maneuver the bolts in position - however, the strut wants to push towards the outside of the car (towards the drivers side) and I can't get it pushed into position.

When I did the pass side wheel, the stut moved pretty freely and was easy to maneuver.

 

OK - hugely embarrassing but who knew the front wheels were connected together via an axle? When I took the weight of the pass side the driver side responded

First time I had put a car on jackstand and I can say I learnt something today

At least y'all can see from the timestamps that it didn't take me too long to figure my mistake!

 

Sometimes you spin the strut mount top when dropping the suspension , then the studs don't line up to the hole. Which you have to jiggle the strut around to free it up from touching the under body of the strut mounting plate.

Glad you were able get it back in place. Having the suspension off ground on both sides makes its easier.