Aluminum will always fail along a weld, that is what heating aluminum does to it. This is why Audi and Alcoa researched so long the design of a car body from aluminum, you will find that the welds in the Audi bodies are not near any high-stress areas.

If the subframe is stressed at a weld, it is a bad design IMO. As an Automotive Engineer, I would never have signed off on such a design.

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Gone to the dark side

- Jeff