Is my suspension strut damaged? (Pictures)

leachyd

Hi all,

Just wondering if any motoring experts could help me. I picked my car up from the garage last night after having a faulty caliper replaced along with discs and pads for good measure. Brakes are fine, but on country roads today i noticed a pretty loud knocking from the front wheels (this wasnt present before i took it to the garage)

I took a look with the wheels on lock, and the only obvious questions that were raised was the state of the strut (both look like that in the image)...Apart from the damaged cover, it just looks wrong.

http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=mvj7uu&s=5#.Ukcn7n_rwSY

Does anyone know if this is right, or is it worn? Its actually only 4 month old as it is, and it didnt take a bad knock today. Also, if it doesnt look right, is it possible that the work decribed above could have caused this in any way?

Thanks for your time

D

mattyprice4004

Fixed the picture for you:


Looks like the rubber protective cover has been damaged.
Caliper work is quite far out of the way of the shocks etc.

leachyd

Thanks!

Yeah i wondered if they had been rough with the struts then prehaps they could have damaged them?

Gloomendoom

leachyd wrote: »

Thanks!

Yeah i wondered if they had been rough with the struts then prehaps they could have damaged them?

Highly unlikely. I've replaced a fair few brake callipers in my time and I can't see how the job would cause damage to the strut gaiter. I've also seen a fair few gaiters damaged like that but it has been due to the deterioration of the rubber over time. I wouldn't expect to see it on a 4 month old car.

leachyd

Sorry, i meant to say the strut is only 4 months old.

Its the gap that concerns me, it just doesnt look right, and foe both wheels to start knocking at the same times a few miles after the discs and callipers were changed just seems too much of a coincidence?!

arcon5

Renewing caliper, discs and pads couldn't cause this damage. Caliper involves a couple of bolts & a hose and that's it - no playing around with the strut at all.

Gloomendoom

If you are hearing knocking when driving on rough roads, my first suspicion would be worn suspension bushes, a broken spring, worn track rod ends etc. If you have just had the car worked on, I'd check all the nuts and bolts have been done up tight.

A torn strut gaiter wouldn't cause a knocking noise.

TrickyWicky

Definitely damaged but doubtful it's by the mechanic (unless they weren't busy and need some extra work). Either way there is no real way you could pin that on your mechanic. They should have told you it was damaged though .. even then you can't prove it was damaged when it was in there.

Just book it in and prepare to be a bit poorer..

Stooby2

I would take it back to the garage - they may have neglected to tighten something which is now knocking and if there was no knock beforehand, then they should check. You've spotted the damage to the suspension and this might be leading you along the wrong path as to what's wrong.

Norman_Castle

If the gaiter is new or part of the strut it shouldn't have failed. Was it fitted wrongly or was it like this after the strut was replaced but this is the first time you have looked at it closely?

Weird_Nev

The part you can see (Or rather not see) is the Gaitor that covers the strut and keeps the damper rod free of dirt. They are rubber, and perish over time until eventually when you jack the car up and the gaitor extends far past it's range of movement and snaps apart. You cna see that that is what has happened with the diagonal bit of the boot connecting top and bottom.

It's what happens over time. There is no way that will have happened as a direct result of the work to the caliper, you don't go near that end of the strut to work on the brakes other than in jacking the car, which may or may not have been what caused the gaitor to snap in the first place.

The consequences of it being like that? Grit might stick to your damper rod and wear the shock out a bit more quickly.

Ideally, you should ahve the boot there, but it's probably an hours labor to replace since you have to remove the strut, hold the spring in compression and remove the top mount to replace the gaitor, then reassemble the whole lot.

I don't see how the garage could be held liable for that: It may or may not have been in that condition before it went to them, and I'd not be replacing it FOC as a garage if you came back to me.

By the "state of the strut" what do you mean? IT looks fine to me with no obvious corrosion, and it's quite normal on some cars for the top of the damper body to stick up proud like in that photo. (with the flat round platform about to make contact with the orange rubber bump stop above).