Strut boots, or lack thereof... Toyota Corolla.
I have an 04 Corolla. The black, plastic boots that cover the front struts are cracked on one side, missing on the other. The car has 130,000+ miles. Suspension still fine despite driving on city streets. I will double check to make sure the seal is still intact and no oil is leaking out on to the strut as it leaves the strut assembly. I live in Wisconsin and winter is approaching. Are these black boots needed? Looking at car forums on line, the verdict is 50-50. I just dropped $1500 in repairs this last month, would love to avoid having to repair/ replace this part and/or both struts. Thanks for your help/ feedback. Jon VB
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Mr_Shiftright
Member Posts: 64,481
Hi Jon -- there doesn't seem to be a definitive answer here. The idea of the boots makes sense but trying to prove that a strut will fail without them seems elusive. Many people swear they have run without boots for years, no problem. I think as long as the seal remains effective, there's nothing to worry about. Given the age of your struts, you probably need new struts anyway, so I guess if I were you I'd forget about the boots and just start budgeting for new struts in the next year.
Struts tend to degrade gradually, so you don't noticed how much they've worn until you put new ones on.5
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