[s-cars] Re: S6 steering issues (also opening hood)

[K G Hayes]

Thanks for the replies.  The hood opened with a vice grip pulling the hood
cable from inside the car.  pulling harder than I expected, but it popped
right open.

The cause of the accident was evident before I opened the hood.  I jacked up
the front end (using the Colorado Mafia method) and put it on jack stands
(no, not cheap jack stands).  The front left wheel clunked and dropped a
good two inches lower than the right side as I jacked it up.  Upon
inspection the strut shaft failed near the top and was no longer connected.

When I opened the hood and pulled the dust cover off the strut area the nut
and the threaded top of the strut were just sitting there.  The steering
linkage (tie-rods, ball joints) is all tight no movement, no clunks.  Can
hitting a pot hole break a strut??  Colorado has bad roads, but I don't
think I hit any pot holes that were unusually huge, tire eating or strut
breaking.  Seems like a pretty unusual failure to me.

Kenny (with bizarre steering modifications) Hayes