replace struts?

if they are leaking then its time to replace them, basically they are there to do one job, to absorb the bounce in the spring and if the oil is leaking out then they wont be working as efficiently as they should, without this absorbancy the road wheel has a hard job staying on the ground so its a safety issue. you can get uprated gas shocks instead of oil filled ones but they are more expensive. as a rule cars with proven defective shock absorbers will not pass an annual MOT test in england. steve.

Any strut with 58000 miles on it need to be replaced. It may not be totally toast yet, but it's very likely getting tired. Some people run them until they provide no damping at all. Why wait that long?

not always true.

If I replaced parts just because of mileage I would probably be fired.

My old 94 Maxima, which I see every 3,000 miles still has its original struts on it and they show no sign of going bad , the car has close to 95k on it.

You replace the struts when they are bad , not when a mileage interval is reached.

it is not uncommon for factory Nissan OEM struts to last well over 100k miles.by the way if you purchase Nissan OEM replacement struts they come with a LIFETIME warranty.

Your best bet is to take it to the dealer and have them check it or you can do it yourself.

The bounce test is.

with all your weight and then some , press down on each corner of the car and release it , the suspension should dip , then rebound then settle into position within a 1/2 of the full stroke you initiated on the suspension.

so it goes like this

The experts say any shocks will be tired by 100,000 miles. The wasteful wackos state mileage as low as 50,000. Somewhere inbetween should do. I replaced my Sentra's struts at 90K and, in retrospect, it felt like the proper time.

Sounds like tire store advice. I've seen late model ZX's with almost 200K and the shocks are still fine. I've seen others with bad shocks at 60K. You test them by the bouce test or a test drive by someone who knows what to look for, not by how many miles they have on them.

Then what's bad about them if they dampen the car? Shock absorption is easy to test and a competent mechanic will be able to tell on a test drive if there is a problem. What you're saying is like saying tires should be replaced every 10,000 miles regardless of the wear.

------ Steve

Yes you did Jim "Any strut with 58000 miles on it need to be replaced."

But then you said "The truth is there is no fool proof way to test them."

The bounce test gives a real good indication of their condition. Between that and a test drive by good mechanic should determine if they are good or bad.

I guess trying to argue this from your side it is... :-)

I replace them when they are bad, not because of the miles I have on them. My 77 Z car goes through them about every 45K, my 77 civic has 260K and still has the original struts that still work fine. It depends on the vehicle and the way it's designed as to what a normal life will be.

If they still work good why shouldn't I keep using them? Again it's like replacing tires every 10K no matter how much they are worn.

The struts on my E30 325is easily passed the bounce test at 80,000 miles and felt fine on the track. When I replaced them with Bilsteins, I noticed that both of the strut housings were filled with oil and the struts had very little damping.

-Rob

forget the bounce test, speaking as an experienced mechanic this theory may have worked on tiny lightweight cars of the 60's but trying to bounce test a sentra is a waste of effort, besides its certainly no indication that a shock is in good order. just because it only bounces once or twice before coming to rest is not good proof that its going to keep your tyres on the road when your doing 50 mph on a tight bend !!!!! the other issue is that when a shock absorber starts to lose its ability to dampen the spring effect, this wear will occur over a lengthy period of time, which means that the driver may not feel any difference in road holding as its a gradual effect, this makes it very difficult to determine whether or not it is indeed worn. a second opinion is always a good idea, but even getting a proffesional technician to test drive it may not be conclusive since in certain cases it may not be evident until loss of control. i wouldnt test drive a car with suspect shocks to its limit if there was a chance of this happening. if in doubt then replace them if you have the spare cash. safety should always be the main concern, anyone trying to save a bit of cash by putting things off until they break etc are just tight gits IMO, besides 99% of the time you will notice a huge improvement in driveability after replacing shock absorbers. steve.

Why would anyone be doing 50MPH in a tight bend in a sentra to start with? And there are many other things besides the shocks that would contribute to loss of control in that situation.

i was speaking generally, even on a long sweeping bend which you may find yourself doing quite often at that speed the smallest pothole in the road would cause loss of control with defective shock absorbers. and i agree, tyres, tyre pressures, suspension bushes, incorrectly set up wheel alignment, etc etc would all cause loss of control in the right (or wrong) circumstances, but i believe we are talking about the effects of shock absorbers here.

steve........someone.

Anyone who is driving that close to the edge on the -street-, needs to go buy a race car and go to the race track!

you havent heard of freeways or motorways, some even have bends believe it or not, you want straight roads i suggest rome, although i believe even they use bends nowadays, besides we are talking about a safety issue, even an old lady driving on a freeway might have to suddenly swerve to avoid another carless driver etc,

50 MPH is NOT a ridiculously fast speed nowadays, but fast enough to cause an accident if your vehicle has defective shock absorbers. we are not talking about driving "close to the edge" besides good shock absorbers are not exclusive to those who wish to do so.

steve UK.

Alan:

The job of a shock absorber is to control the springs. That is, the spring hold up the car on (what passes for) the chassis. Shocks control the springs to keep them from bouncing uncontrollably. When you hit a bump, the spring compresses and then decompresses (springs back). The shock's job is to stop the bouncing. Note that in the UK shocks are called "dampers". Shock absorber is a bad term because that's actually the spring's job.

The bounce test is done by getting the car moving vigorously on the springs then watching to see if the shocks can stop the bouncing quickly.

Well seems if you hit a bump and that causes the car to crash you are pretty close to the edge, bad shocks or no. And if shocks were so bad they'd cause the car to crash hitting a bump in the road, they wouldn't pass any sort of "test" either.

This "mystery" about shocks that -no one can diagnose bad ones, they'll cause you to wreck so you better just replace them- is silly.