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.