Front Struts on 84-89 Carrera...When to Replace.
 

How long can the front struts last on a 84-89 Carrera , assuming they have never been replaced? .. Are we talking 100K miles, 120K, 150K etc?? Assume the car has never been raced and taken good care of its entire life.

Thanks,

SmileWavy

Bilstein recommends every 75K. I am sure it depends largely on the type of driving of each individual. But 75K is probably a good basic figure.

Purchased my '87 with 67K miles. Front shocks felt OK. Did bumper test. No bounce. Rode nice. Freshened front suspension at 77K. Front struts could easily be compressed and extended by hand. Car is much better now with new Bilstein HD.

how much are the struts and is this a DYI home repair or better take it to a professional?

Real simple, check our host, they carry everything that you wil need,

for the inserts -- not really the struts per se (that would be more involved) but the struts don't wear out -- except after centuries

struts don't wear out or do they need replacement at 75K ?

which one is it?

What he was trying to say was the actual stut does not wear out, but the insert does. They are easily replaced.

Bingo

The struts do wear out, symptoms are pulsing through the steering wheel and brake pedal. I'm on my second set of struts & third set of inserts on my oemed Bilstein C3, same for a friend w/ a '78 930.

Ok. But... Those are raced cars - right? The initial poster said "Assume the car has never been raced..." so his struts should last a long, long time, whereas the inserts are likely good for 75k miles or so.

Since we're on the topic... Is there a test one can give the strut body -- once the pulsing is felt. Or do you just have to try and rule out everything else, then end up with nothing left but the strut itself.

I think if the o.d. of the strut is less than the i.d. of the inner race of the large inner bearing, then you're looking at strut replacement. The inner wheel bearing should sort of press onto the strut with a little resistance.

If the front end doesn't do the wheel hop too bad, especially under braking, then the insert is ok. Torsion bars don't wallow up and down by nature, so the typical bounce test doesn't really work on older Porsches.

I'm going through this right now, my inserts should arrive on Friday. I felt pulsing through the steering at higher speeds so brought it to a friend mechanic. He said my inserts were bad and needed to be replace. So how does the pusling of a strut wearout differ from the pulsing of an instert wearout?

Replaced mine at 72k or so and they fell apart in my hands, so they should have been replaced years before. An average of 10k a year in most cars equals 5 years or so. Thats when I will replace mine next.

ah, maybe I should clarify that I was talking about wear of the spindle, not really the insert.

Glad I found this post...my '88 has 200k on the clock with, AFAIK, the original inserts so obviously shot. BUT, the comment about pulsing caught my attention. My car is RARELY driven and I've noticed when I do finally drive it I get a distinct pulsing in the steering wheel on slow right turns that goes away fairly quickly. Is this a bad strut symptom? I recall replacing the outer front bearings at some point in the past but not the inner if I recall correctly. Also, are there more than one struts on the Carreras? I seem to recall someone saying there are inner and outer thread versions. I think my car has the "outer" version.

Bilstein struts have a sliding bearing that does wear over time, the pulsing I experienced was only w/ bib 964/930 brakes on hard braking

I would guess that what you describe is not that

Are you sure that what you have are Bilstein? green w/ a roll pin near the bottom

Everything wears out. Some parts quicker than others. Bearing and bushing surfaces inside the strut housing and on the wheel bearing spindle definitely wear.

New bushings all around and new struts with proper alignment and tires feels soooo good in my bum

To my it's about the driving experience and my enjoyment

88911couoe - “ My car is RARELY driven and I've noticed when I do finally drive it I get a distinct pulsing in the steering wheel on slow right turns that goes away fairly quickly.

- steering wheel impulse can be as simple as low tire pressure, out of balance, alignment issue, worn ball joints, and a steering wheel shimmy driving at speeds. Not driving can seize up a caliper, corrosion on rotor. Brake pedal pulse with steering wheel impulse could be a combination of the above and felt at braking including warped rotor(s). Bearing can be checked by jacking up and wiggle the tire holding at 3 & 9 o’clock And 12 & 6 o’clock. Very noisy if they’re really bad. Check the tire wear for indicators.