blown strut?
 

So I believe I may have a blown strut(drivers side front). I tried to be descriptive below but, tl;dr is this a bad strut or just simply dirty? (the passenger side doesn't look like this.

Here's a few pictures:
Attachment 107945

Attachment 107946

Attachment 107947

And yes I searched to see what a blown strut looks like and found many pictures similar but worse then how mine looks. I'm asking for your input because I'm no expert on suspension. The only experience I have is removing the struts and springs when I installed my swift springs following the DIY on this forum.

I installed my swift springs in march of last year and in the last few months have been hearing a clanking or metal on metal noise at slow speeds(<30) mainly when turning right only while going over uneven surfaces.

A few weeks ago I was at the dealership to have the 15K maintenance done and had them look at it, without me knowing what the problem was. I rode along with the tech and he was able to duplicate the noise and believed it was a bad ball joint. So when we got back to the dealership he put the car back on the lift and comes back to me and says that they will have to order the ball joint. He also told me "your coil spring is really dirty with sand and dirt trapped, I'll clean it off and that should solve your problem, but we will still order the ball joint and replace it under warranty for you." Now I'm not griping about the dealer experience as I was surprised he was still willing to replace the ball joint.

Now that I have taken the wheels off and looked at the springs myself the driver side is the only one like this, the passenger side looks just like the day I installed it plus a bit of dirt but nowhere near what the driver side looks like.

I'd appreciate any helpful input! :thanks:

Did you possibly let the shaft spin while you were loosening/tightening the top nut on the strut? I'm hardly an expert but if you let that spin out far enough the pictures you showed are exactly what I'd expect. However, given that it was a year ago maybe it just failed on its own.


Needless to say your ball-joint is likely fine, but your strut is ruined.

Honestly I'm not sure. If I did it barely turned because I was trying my best to not let it spin since I had read all the warnings about spinning it. But it is possible since this is the one I did first when I installed them.

Thanks for the quick response!!