Front Strut Lifetime Question

[squirrely]

Replaced my front struts and strut arm at ~80K miles to get rid of
vibration, wheel shimmy, and was largely successful. Done at a dealer, and I
encouraged the thought that the front struts were not up to snuff. My
feeling is that shocks this age may damp large motions adequately, they lose
the ability to dampen finer motions of slight road imperfections. Diagnosis
was that the front drivers strut was damaged, made a wierd sound on
compression. Replaced both front struts and strut link arms.

Took the car later to an independent mechanic about replacing rear shocks to
eliminate remaining vibration. Although he didn't test car, felt shocks
would not be the cause, and that he regarded replacement of front struts at
80K as highly unusual.

Car is a 1998 S70, curious as to group's experience on typical mileage on
struts before replacement is needed.

 

[R Weinberger]

If you ask 4 mechanics you will likely get 4 different diagnoses!
Sometimes those problems are tricky to eliminate. 80K may be a bit early
for new struts, but those vibrations and shakes are a subjective
concern. Another owner may be perfectly happy with your car. But if YOU
are not happy with it then you need to fix as needed until you feel that
it's right. Richard W.