Is there any way to check for wear on these things without removing them?

 

When mine wore out (passenger side), I'd hear a hell of a creak when I turned the wheel.

When I tried to get an alignment with my old suspension, my tire shop told me "no way". Besides the 10 other things they listed, they listed the strut mounts. I asked him how they knew the mounts were bad. He said that when he lifted up the front end to check the suspension, the "strut dropped".

When I replaced the upper strut mounts as part of my full-out rebuild, I noticed that there was absolutely no bearing left on the passenger side mount!! None whatsoever!! It was either gone or melted.

So maybe you could just remove the upper nut and see if you've got a bearing anymore