I had my strut rod bushings replaced by a local shop a few months ago. They did the ball joints and the sway bar bushings as well. Last week i had my brakes (rear) worked on by another shop who checked over the car while checking out the brakes.They said by sway bar links were loose. A few days after the brake work i noticed movement and noise from the front suspension. When i got under there and looked, the front bolt that holds the strut rod into the control arm (right were the front conical bushing goes) apears to be broken off up in the strut rod.

Is it likely that the nut was overtorqued (maybe by one of the shops) or do these bolts break under normal use and torque?

Should i pre-emptively go to the u-wrench-it and try to find another strut rod or might the shop be able to remove it without much trouble? I'm assuming a new one is pricey and overkill for a 15 year old car. Is the nut and any other hardware that hold the bushing in and bar on available?

Thanks for any insights.

Wonder if your strut rod bushings were replaced with something other than the origional rubber ones. Polyurethane bushings are thicker and often require a longer bolt. If a thicker bushing was used without a longer bolt, wonder if only a thread or two of the old bolt "caught" and then let go with vibration of driving. I'm with John, never heard of these bolts breaking unless due to severe corrosion as they are very hard and quite robust.

bl

I have never seen a strut rod bolt break. I will assume that it was the victim of an air impact wrench. Get a used strut rod and hardware from the U-Pull It. The strut rods were available in about three lengths I have heard here on the brickboard. Two lengths were available to cure castor problems, but most cars have the standard length. Verify the length is the same before installing the replacement part.
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john