My car is a black, 2001 Chrysler Sebring Sedan v6 2.7L.
Recently, I was driving and hit a small pot hole and my rear passenger strut broke. It made a very loud clanking noise and continued to do so on bumps until I got home almost 15 miles away. I did some research and found these struts at the link below and replaced both the left and right rear struts when they arrived. The left rear strut seems perfectly fine with plenty of room from the tire of about an inch and a half. The rear passenger strut though is very close to my tire. I had the manufacturers send me another strut to put on this side because I thought it was bent. It had actually rubbed my tire until it popped it leaving a groove all the way round it. This new strut for sure is not bent at all, yet it is still too close. How would I fix this?
Either the struts are not what they’re advertised to be, you have an installation error, or you have additional suspension damage. I’m going to guess damage.
I strongly urge you, I beg you, to get this looked at by a competent chassis shop immediately. You just might be on the verge of a part failing catastrophically.
As I usually do, I agree with mountainbike.
An impact that was hard enough to break a strut may have been hard enough to lead to other types of damage to the suspension and–maybe–even the chassis.
Does this car show evidence of significant rust damage on the chassis?
If the answer is “yes”, it is possible that the impact damage caused some deformation of the chassis–in which case it is time to get rid of the car.
You most likely BENT THE KNUCKLE on the rear passenger side!!! This is a bad thing, very bad! Please pay attention the the posters above. Get professional help as you obviously did not notice the problem when you were right on top if it. Please have it towed as the knuckle may break and the wheel fall off. This would make a very bad day for you. Good Luck.
I agree that you did more damage than just a broken strut. Squat down behind the vehicle and look at the rear tire. Does the passenger tire lean in to the car at the top? If so, you may have broken the bottom hub bolts and the hub is about to fall out.
Count this a another vote for suspension damage. Get this checked out at an independent alignment shop before the suspension fails on you. At 20mph…you will survive. At 70+mph you will put your life and the lives of others at risk.