Originally Posted by SeanC

^^Correct. That's the spring pad that goes inside the mount.

It is not expected to go bad in that period of time, but I remember being very careful when assembling everything, since the correct orientation of the strut with respect to the spring is not easy to achieve, and could change while tightening the strut nut. I'd have recommended marking the position before disassembly of the strut, but I wouldn't trust that since your struts have already been "tinkered with".

The installer may not have paid close attention to the correct orientation when installing the struts, leading to premature wear on the pads, or incorrect orientation may also have caused a broken spring since then.