How do I know when its time to replace my struts? Is there any testing for this or is based on mileage?

 

check for any weird noises, and firmly press down all of your weight on the front and rear of the car (not at the same time, one at a time). if the whole rear or front bounces up and down more than once or twice, you probably need new struts. with good struts, you should be able to press down and let go and the car should bounce up/down once or twice

 

something helpful here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80C2N9ecSj4

 

I had a situation where my rear end would shimmy when going over small bumps at highway speed, but never got any repeated bouncing. I finally found one rear strut was completely gone when I parted the car out, as in the shaft was completely loose in the housing

 

Good struts will rebound 1.5 to 2 times.

Anything over that means the struts are shot. Get the car bouncing up and down, once at each corner, and count how many times the corner rebounds once you stop.

Another good indicator of bad struts (or struts on their way out) is if they "hiss" when you go over speedbumps or the likes.

 

lol this ad popped up when i viewed this thread again

 

When you can push your car's suspension down (by hand) rather easy and get a dance rythm going!

 

^^^^THIS!!!

 

u can sometimes tell by how low the car sits. When I had good struts, my car sat even. When they went bad, the rear sat really low like near the top of the tire, and it bounces around alot.

 

bounce the fron of the car itll rock for a longer time then normal if there bad

 

when you have hundreds of dollars to spend on a 1500 car for the sake of "ride quality"
not tryin to be a d___ ....im just sayin.