406 collapsed suspension. Stainless Steel balls on the road.

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 , snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com 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!

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.