[Charles]

I got my wheels rotated and took the opportunity to shoot a few pics. Is this shock rubbing and if so, why?

Here's the other:

 

[bobski]

I'm gonna guess that the dust shield/tube thing is rubbing, not the spring.

 

[jmart]

Looks a bit greasy in there, that damper isn't blown is it?

 

[Charles]

Nah, that dirt and dust from the roads in my neighborhood. They dug them up to put in new water lines then filled over them with crushed rock. dusty as hell. They will be laying concrete sometime this year.

 

[Charles]

I'm gonna guess that the dust shield/tube thing is rubbing, not the spring.

But it looks pretty scraped. I guess bumping up and down over two years would cause the same thing with the dust shield. I just don't see it on the others. Is there any way physically that the shock and spring can even come into contact? It seems like if they could, I would be noticing some serious ride quality issues.

 

[bobski]

The springs on lowered cars tend to lack pre-tension, so they can come off their perch or out of the top mount when the suspension is unloaded, potentially causing problems. When you have spring pre-load (as you appear to) the spring is still pressing against the shock perch and hat when the suspension is unloaded. As such, it can't move around and hit or rub against anything.
Is the dust shield distorted at all? It looks like a pretty close fit... It wouldn't take much to make it rub.