[smc]

Quite true. It would be better to get a good set of tophats that are designed for our strut towers. I thought about going that route, however that would limit what I could order for our car, as not all struts are set up the same with shaft diameter and mounting.
Though, I have found that STI struts are not a different length than our SVX struts simply due to added suspension travel. The fact is that our strut towers are quite abit taller than an impreza. We can actually run Rear gravel rally coilovers for an STi in our front with out any issues. That and technically, our front suspension has more travel built into its geometry than an impreza. However, the control arm geometry of an impreza is designed to offset the toe and camber fluctuations of suspension travel that is inherent with a macpherson strut design. Our svx's, well, not so much. But its by no means a bad suspension.... Wait. I think im getting off topic here.

The strut towers wont crack between the bolt holes. The tophat plate ensures that by putting even distribution of the forces over the entire top of the tower, not just the bolts themselves. Our towers are Remarkably rigid chassis components. If your are getting cracks in them, then you have other problems. Besides, if you are racing your SVX in gravel rally, then you Should have welded in tower reinforcements. Right?