406 collapsed suspension. Stainless Steel balls on the road.

All,
After returning from a holiday yesterday I noticed that the front suspension
on my 406 3.0 V6 looked low on the OSF. (the top of the wheel is about 40mm
into the arch) Having peeked under/behind the wheel I noticed that there are
a number (6) of Stainless Steel Balls ~3-4mm in diameter. When you pull the
car backwards it is not a healthy sound. Inronically if was fine when I left
it. Any ideas of what this is? I'm guessing that this will need to be lifted
back to the garage as driving it will mean more damage.
Thanks for your response(s) in advance.
Regards
G.

 

Should have made clear that the 3-4mm balls are on the floor not attached to
the car.

 

This is a bit of a funny one. Obviously the car needs to be towed away
for repair but it seems miraculous that you parked it fine and then
came back to it like this.
Hard to tell what the damage is but the balls are from one of the
bearings but hard to tell which. It takes a lot before the bearings
will bust out so it should have been evident while you were driving it.
Unless someone drove into the wheel (parked with wheel out?) while it
was parked. Just guessing here.

 

In message <>,
joss stops reading and ponders a while before
scribbling this reply

Alternatively, Never leave your car keys at home whilst on holiday!
1) May be someone borrowed the car without your knowledge.(did you leave
children at home?) Drove it around and down a very large pot hole. Got
the car lifted and returned to its original place. Your non the wiser.
2) If the OSF has dropped 40mm maybe someone lowered it for you!
alternatively, are there any large dints in the bonnet that would
indicate a large foreign object landed on it? Possible UFO?
3) It sounds like the suspension has collapsed. See 1)
4) the steel ball bearings x6 3-4 mm in size may be a red herring!
Please do let us know the outcome

regards
Joss

 

Mystery over. It was a snapped spring on the drivers side. The balls were
from the top cup. On looking at the fracture in the spring it appears to
have had a small pit hole in it. This let in the water and there is what can
only be described as a rust worm going into the spring. Lucky it snapped
when I was not driving it. Damage to other stuff was minimal. According to
the mechanic this is not uncommon, says he does quite a few a year!! Also
says Peugeot springs are crap. He replaced them with another manufacturer
that was cheaper but he reasons was better.

Regards
Gary

 

There seems to be a spate of this. There have been a couple of threads in
uk.rec.cars.maintenance recently about Moandeo springs snapping. I know
springs do snap but I don't recall it happening very often when I was a lad.
And I abused most of my cars terribly, 10 people in a Renault 12 on a two
mile trip to the pub!

--
Malc

"When I say 'Run like ufck and commit assault on a police officer
several times,' run like ufck and commit assault on a police
officer several times."
- Channon
Transmetropolitan

 

Had one go a couple of years ago....drove home from work with no problems
and parked overnight. Next morning reversed off drive and spring snapped

 

I did once bust a rear leaf spring on a Marina whilst doing a reverse flip!
These days, I reckon suspension components are just worked harder than they
used to be by the proliferation of speed bumps.