172 cup rear shock/strut clonk

[chris_harnessuk]

I have a 172 cup and ever since the snow and minus temperatures it has been clonking. I mean ever little bump in the road the car goes over it makes a clonking noise and it feels almost as if the strut is not working but after about 20miles it stops. I have later found the the rubber/plastic casing has torn into two so the strut is exposed. Im guessing it is a strut not a shock??

Is my car safe to drive until i can get it to a garage after christmas??

I have pushed the car down to test the strut and it seems to work. Ne ideas wot is wrong???

 

[Josh@Renparts]

they do give up on them a lot, is there any sign of oil leaking from it? it will be OK to drive. just dont go pushing it in the corners if its sticky due to the oil leaking it upsets the suspension dynamics.

 

[chris_harnessuk]

There is sign of oil but i wont sure if that was normal as it has the protective plastic casing. As there is sign of oil is that bad??

 

[lemonnobby]

is this front or back. could be bottom ball joint they suffer from up and down movement or anti roll bar bushes worn out too