i noticed that there wasa burning rubber smell coming from my rear left tire. my friend took a look at it, and the spring was rubbing up against the tire... and it was grooving a huge dent into the tire... is the strut blown? PLease Help!

 

I would say that if its eating away at your tire then yes it might be time for a new strut. The way to tell if its out is if the car appears to be slumped at one side and takes hard impacts from the road.

 

Yep, your strut's coil retenion bracket rusted out and broke, there byreleasing the compressed spring. You will want to replace both struts (i.e., rear or front). If not both the rear and the front since they will also fail eventually.

Paul