What's the purpose of the support plate that bolts between the chassis and strut nuts?

 

so it doesn't warp the sheet metal

that would be my wild guess

 

But if you look underneath it, it's actually a tripod, so the forces are still concentrated at 3 points on the chassis. If you turn it upside down then it would spread out the load better. But even so, other cars don't have this, not sure why it's needed. But since it's there, there must be a reason for it.

 

The plate gives the bolts more contact area. If for some strange reason the strut moves beyond it's normal decompressed state the weight of the suspension and wheel would probably pull the bolts straight through the mounting holes. The plate acts like a washer to give you more secure and durable mounting of the strut.


Thats my theory anyway.