What does this metal piece do?
 

Hi, I heard a noise coming from my passenger front side of my car the other day. Sort of sounded like loose change when you hit bumps in the road. Fast forward a few days later. I lifted up my car today and found a metal piece loose. Not sure what the piece does. It seems like there is a black plastic piece under the boot, and this metal piece is supposed to be attached to it. I figured this out by looking my drivers side suspension.

I have that loose metal piece in my cup holder now. The car doesn't seem to function any differently than it did before.

Can anybody tell me what is the purpose of this metal piece? Is this something serious or minor?

Fyi, stock suspension from the factory.

It doesn’t belong there. You likely picked it up while driving.

That’s my guess anyways...

You clearly didn't read my whole post. I said I checked my drivers side. On the drivers side, it has the same metal piece under the boot, but its attached to a plastic piece under the boot. It's not a piece I picked up while driving. It's part of the suspension.

Well, damn, it’s late. Never seen it before. Night

can you post a picture of the other side?

Some cara have blocks on suspensions during shipping. You have to remove them.

Secret government tracking device, they're onto you...

This is a very long shot, it looks like one of those fancy business card holders.. perhaps the guy selling springs dropped it, serendipity played it's card and here we are....

Flux Capacitor.

I've been taking struts apart for 15 years, never seen one of those.

Business card holder it is.

Maybe take a photo of the other side with the piece attached.

Spacer to keep the rubber boot from getting pinched?

Spacer to keep the rubber boot of the slidy bit to not grind dirt into it thus breaking the seal?

Ok, here are some photos of the black piece. Its actually rubber or rubber like, not plastic. The metal piece is like a clamp, it keeps the rubber closed. If the rubber is removed, you can slide the black rubber piece off the shaft (not sure if that's the right word). The drivers side (the side that didn't fall out) seems like it either has a bigger piece of the black rubber, or its two of them stacked on each other. Sort of hard pushing the boot up and taking a photo at the same time.

First two photos is the one from my passenger side that i took off to take a photo. I put the black rubber back on, just in case. 3rd and 4th photo is the drivers side, with everything still intact.

I've seen the other photos of stock suspension, and it definitely doesn't have this piece. Makes me wonder if i do have stock suspension, or is it aftermarket. I bought the car used, and it didn't have an accident on it previously, so that's a possibility. My suspension looks like stock suspension though. There is a number on my front strut, is that a part number? if so, can someone take a photo of that number, if you do have stock suspension. My car is a 2016 frs.

Told you.

My guess is that these rubber bits are simply to reduce shock travel for when car is shipped, to prevent for car swinging around when on trailer or when on cargo ship's deck. Metallic bit just to keep that rubber together, to prevent it slipping off the strut, not that it is used by itself. And it's there on your car and not for most others, because someone at dealership your car was sold new at, forgot to remove it :). Probably someone working with taking deliveries of new twins and who knows procedures of shipping and/or procedures what to do on received cars, will be able to chime in if my guess is right.

Or less wordy posted here already before:

Gotta be that. Must have ridden hard with an inch + of travel removed.

We had to remove the shipping blocks 10 years ago or so, haven't seen anything like that in a while.

Clearly this is unusual

This.
They are shipping blocks used to reduce lateral movement when on the ships. We use something similar on the assembly’s we make for vehicles shipped to Europe. They should have been removed at port before they went in the truck or train. Somebody was probably hung over that day. Throw them away unless you ever intend to cram the car on a ship with a thousand others.

Doesn't belong there, just look at this schematic:
https://www.subarupartsdeal.com/part...0321aa201.html

Here’s a camaro with a similar piece

https://www.camaro6.com/forums/attac...1&d=1505137855

^^^ Better design, but clearly the florescent color doesn't help an inspector remember to remove the spacer.

Thanks everyone, will be removing these tomorrow. Going to check my rear suspension as well, just in case.

What’s cool is you are about to get a free upgrade on your car. Hahaha