So I was driving to Kroger tonight and as I hit a rough spot in the road rounding a corner I heard this loud clunk coming from my front driver strut. I have been needing new compliance bushings for a while, but it was louder than that sound... got to the parking lot right away and checked it out. The spring has somehow come unseated from the bottom cup. Has anyone experienced this problem before? I have new bushings and springs coming in the mail this week, so it's not that big of a deal to fix, but it's really disconcerting to me. I checked for all the connections on the control arms and strut as well as tierod ends and swaybars and it all appears to be fine, but I'm sitting about half an inch lower on that side because the spring is crooked. Am I alone here?

 

heres a crappy nighttime pic of the situation...



the more I look at it, it looks like somebody put the spring on either upsidedown or on the wrong side... the end of it that is visible hanging over the edge seems to be pointing the wrong way from where it should be seated. anybody else see that?

 

thats not the spring its the plastic cover off the spring

 

any ideas on why my car is riding lower on that side than the passenger's then?

 

maybe tire pressure

 

thats not it... I just put air in the tires yesterday. I don't have my metric tools here at school or I'd go over to our engineering garage and start taking it apart, but I'll have to wait until later. thanks for the input.

 

the spring definately does not look like it's sitting correctly on the strut. Go have it checked out by a professional. Try taking out the shock and spring on that side and re installing it. Definately does not seem like it's sitting right. The bottom part of the spring should not be sticking out like that

 

ok, so the thing sticking up is in fact the plastic cover, and nothing is broken visibly. I plan on replacing my compliance bushings and springs within a week or two, so I'll probably fix the problem in the process. I'll keep yall updated. thanks for the help.