I had a whole post written out, but when I went to add media to my gallery I lost it. I was under my hood checking things out and noticed this. The passenger side you can see it popped up. I wonder if the driver side is popped up as well, but not as much and on the back side instead of the front. Something I didn't think to check is that the steering wheel was turned right about 1 full turn. I know the boots have been torn since I've had the car but never noticed any oil. Right side hit a pothole/went offroad at 3mph on a turn at an intersection. (roads lined up weird) Thanks, Higgins909 Driver Strut by Higgins909 posted Sep 10, 2020 at 8:18 PM Passenger Strut by Higgins909 posted Sep 10, 2020 at 8:18 PM
Those are just plastic dust covers, #23 in this image. You should be able to use a screwdriver or other flat tool to reach in and push them back down.
After further inspection it seems that they pop out when you turn the wheel. Turn the wheel right and looking at the passenger side, the front pops up and turn wheel left and it pops up in the back side a bit. Vise versa for the driver side. They also appear to be metal. It's got me wondering if these actively pop up when hitting bumps. At least there doesn't seem to be something catastrophically wrong with my strut, as I initially thought. Wish I had thought to check that before making post.
That's...interesting. If they're firmly seated (they just pop in, IIRC) they shouldn't be coming up when you go over a bump, let alone just turning the wheel. You might have to remove the cowl pan (first part of the NutzAboutBolts spark plug video) and check both the plastic covers and strut mount bolts; if those somehow came loose and the strut is moving that could account for the covers popping up.
