How long do front struts last
 

I know...dumb question. I put inserts(Boge) in about 10 years ago/40k miles.
Car handles fine. I am rebuilding the front end and wondered if there was a definitive way to tell their condition. When I removed the strut assembly, they were fairly easy to compress to get the assembly out of the car but rebound quickly.

When I purchased mine years ago, she was a garage queen with 46K on the odometer. That was the first thing I did, original Boges > new Bilsteins...I couldn't believe the difference it made. If the Boges were easy to compress, then I think you may be in the same circumstance imo.

I had my Boge in since 1999 (3.2 Carrera) and about 31K miles. The car still felt "fine", but I replaced them with new Bilsteins HD, and it felt like a new car, so much better and worth every penny of it (under $300).

40-50k are about all you can hope to achieve. I had an Audi TQ where the original Boge were totally shot at 50k. I think you answered your question, when you said the Boge were fairly easy to compress. Bilstein HD are far superior and no degradation in ride quality - stick with rubber bushings for OE ride.

My recent BOGE changeouts (all around on the '89) yielded SUBSTANTIAL RESULTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Keeping her stock....


Doyle

I know this is a very subjective matter, but I went the other way and absolutely love my go-kart on rails. Bilstein HDs (front), Sports (rear), 22/29 T bars, polybronze bearings all around, monoballs, lowered, etc. (and also dropped a couple hundred lbs). We've got decent roads around here, so the ride quality isn't degraded at all imo (subjective like I said) and the handling...well, I'd do the exact same thing again in a heartbeat :).

I had my boges replaced with bilsteins.
The car had 120K miles on the original shocks.....
Haven't driven it with the Bilsteins yet bit I am sure it will be a lot different...