2008 prius: How long do the front struts last on the prius?

[ski.dive]

How long do the front struts last on the 2008 prius?

How long are they covered by warranty?

[LeviSmith]

Originally Posted by ski.dive

How long do the front struts last on the 2008 prius?

How long are they covered by warranty?

Depends on your use. On my 2004, I notice that one of them is leaking at 120K miles. It still seems to be handling pretty well though so I'll probably wait till next year or so before replacing them...

Levi

[Boo]

~80,000 to 120,000 miles.

They're covered by the 3 years/36,000 miles basic warranty.

I believe they're also covered by the Toyota Extra Care Platinum Plan extended warranty, the longest of which is 7 years/100,000 miles.

[efusco]

Mine went out at around 60k miles...I paid about $1000 to replace them before learning it would've been covered by the extended warranty--brilliant!

[DeadPhish]

I'm at 135,000 miles and I haven't noticed anything unusual in sounds or handling yet.

[rfelley]

I've heard that aging struts can get stiffer and create a harsher ride rather than getting mushy. Is that true? If true, then how does one determine when it's time to replace?

Originally Posted by DeadPhish

I'm at 135,000 miles and I haven't noticed anything unusual in sounds or handling yet.

[Shawn Clark]

Strut failure in cars is often subtle in my experience. It occurs slowly over tens of thousands of miles so there is no gotcha moment. Until you replace them you might think the ride hasn't deteriorated much...but once you put the new ones on it tends to be "Whoa! How did I ever let it get that bad?" It's sort of like replacing a worn set of tires. Yes, you knew they weren't new anymore but it doesn't seem that bad...

Unfortunately, the best comparison is against a brand new car (test drive). And when your ride gets to about 5+ years old (when struts tend to be shot) there is usually a new iteration of the vehicle out, so that showroom comparison is unavailable.

Sometimes you can see strut failure in scalloping of the treads (they are pretty bad when it gets that noticeable.) Sometimes you can feel it when cornering or stopping. The vehicle won't feel properly damped and will bob more after a disturbance. Some of the tires won't stay in contact with the road when there is some roughness/rippling of the surface.

How long they last probably has a lot to do with the roads they are driven on and how hard you push the suspension. When I had to drive over a dozen or more sets of rails every day it was hard on the struts, toe, etc. and I blew fluid out a few under warranty.

When I replaced my 240's struts through an independent shop I asked the dealer first to evaluate my suspension. The dealer thought the rears were the problem and based on the feel I suspected they were right. Turned out the fronts were completely trashed when we pulled them off and the rears were weak, but still functioning. I never would have guessed the fronts were shot based on "corner bounce tests" and driving feel, until I was holding them in my hands.

[LeviSmith]

Originally Posted by Shawn Clark

Strut failure in cars is often subtle in my experience. It occurs slowly over tens of thousands of miles so there is no gotcha moment. Until you replace them you might think the ride hasn't deteriorated much...but once you put the new ones on it tends to be "Whoa! How did I ever let it get that bad?" It's sort of like replacing a worn set of tires. Yes, you knew they weren't new anymore but it doesn't seem that bad...

Unfortunately, the best comparison is against a brand new car (test drive). And when your ride gets to about 5+ years old (when struts tend to be shot) there is usually a new iteration of the vehicle out, so that showroom comparison is unavailable.

Sometimes you can see strut failure in scalloping of the treads (they are pretty bad when it gets that noticeable.) Sometimes you can feel it when cornering or stopping. The vehicle won't feel properly damped and will bob more after a disturbance. Some of the tires won't stay in contact with the road when there is some roughness/rippling of the surface.

How long they last probably has a lot to do with the roads they are driven on and how hard you push the suspension. When I had to drive over a dozen or more sets of rails every day it was hard on the struts, toe, etc. and I blew fluid out a few under warranty.

When I replaced my 240's struts through an independent shop I asked the dealer first to evaluate my suspension. The dealer thought the rears were the problem and based on the feel I suspected they were right. Turned out the fronts were completely trashed when we pulled them off and the rears were weak, but still functioning. I never would have guessed the fronts were shot based on "corner bounce tests" and driving feel, until I was holding them in my hands.

From what I've seen on my last few cars with strut suspension(though they were awd vehicles), the bounce test never showed any problems. What I noticed was a sideways movement over bumps. When the rears were going, I'd notice the rear end sliding sideways a bit more often over a rough road, and when the front ones went it would occasionally "jump" slightly to the side like over a bump on the highway. Both were fairly suttle, but noticeable if you notice those sorts of things. (:

Levi

[Patrick Wong]

Originally Posted by LeviSmith

... On my 2004, I notice that one of them is leaking at 120K miles. It still seems to be handling pretty well though so I'll probably wait till next year or so before replacing them...

If you can see a pronounced leak, that is good evidence that the strut is bad. However the reverse is not true: lack of a leak does not imply that the strut must be good.

Originally Posted by Boo

~80,000 to 120,000 miles...

I'd say this is optimistic, 60K miles is a likely service life with Prius struts/shocks.

Originally Posted by Shawn Clark

Strut failure in cars is often subtle in my experience. It occurs slowly over tens of thousands of miles so there is no gotcha moment. Until you replace them you might think the ride hasn't deteriorated much...but once you put the new ones on it tends to be "Whoa! How did I ever let it get that bad?"

...Turned out the fronts were completely trashed when we pulled them off and the rears were weak, but still functioning. I never would have guessed the fronts were shot based on "corner bounce tests" and driving feel, until I was holding them in my hands.

Yes, this also was my experience when replacing struts/shocks on my two Prius. Until the spring has been removed from the part so that you can compress it manually, you can't say for sure whether it is good or bad.

[2009Prius]

Gee this makes me wonder if I should buy the extended warranty if the struts tend to fail before 100K and cost $1K to fix. I assume both front and back struts are covered?