When do you know to replace your shocks/struts? What is the difference between shocks and struts? Aside from the obvious signs of leakage it is hard to discern the the slow loss of ride comfort from worn out shocks. I am the original owner of a 1989 GTA which still has the original shocks at 205,000km.

 

Your car has shocks in the rear and struts up front. They are different types of suspension dampeners. You can usualy tell when they are worn out by how the car rides. If you hit a bump and you bottom out easily and or the car tends to float and feel unstable, it is time for new ones. The ones you have now need to be replaced. Age alone can degrade shocks and struts.

 

you replace them when they're worn out... could be anything... seems like there's a rash of 4th gen HALs out there that are dieing at somethign like 5K miles.