when to replace struts?
 

I took my Monte into the shop this morning because my tires seem to be making a lot of noise (like I've got snow tires on) lately. This set of tires only has about 41K miles on them (they're not speed rated tires and have an 80,000 mile limited treadwear warranty) and I haven't noticed any unusual wear on them, except the front tires look like the tread is worn down a bit more than the rear ones. The guy at the shop is telling me that the noise is because the tires are "choppy" because the struts need to be replaced.... at $439/pair! Like I said, I don't really see any unusual wear on the tires, and don't feel any irregularities by running my hand over the tread, but the tires are definitely louder than they used to be. The ride of the car still seems OK to me though.

How long do struts normally last before they need to be replaced? Aside from irregular wear on the tires, how do you know when the struts are worn out?

what kind of tires? whats the max cold psi? and what are they set at now?

struts are recommended for change at 80,000km's or 50,000 miles. that is BS replace them when the ride is rough they start leaking or making noise or abnormal tire wear occurs. if your tires are noisy they probably didn't get rotated often enough. or they are goodyears lol.

let me know the questions i asked and i'll help ya out with some info

If you are using winter tires on dry pavement - that will cause more than average wear.

You can always tell your struts are bad when you go to the rear end or the front end of your car and push down on it and if it bounces more than twice its time for new struts.

If your running the Goodyear Assurance Triple tread tires on your Monte then they will be noisy.....more so as they wear down. I have them on my Monte and they are very good especially for snow traction but they are noisy.I just turn up the stereo if it bothers me while I'm driving!

I've got Yokohama Avid TRZ tires (225/55R 17 95T). Max cold PSI is 44, and they're all around 31-31.5 PSI cold right now (one was at 29 psi).

I tried pushing down on the front & rear of the car, and it doesn't seem to bounce excessively. I think the problem is that I haven't been rotating the tires enough recently. Like I said earlier, the front tires seem a little more worn down than the rears. The fronts are getting close to the level of the treadwear indicator bars.

AwesomeSS - These tires are all season tires. I've never used a separate set of winter tires on my Monte.

Heavy cornering, quick acceleration, quick deacceleration could all be the cause of the reason your front tires are worn more. When you corner you got all that weight on your front end pushing down on one side of the car, and when you corner those tires are holding back all that weight which means it will wear alot quicker. I've seen this in my 88' Mustang GT I took it for a cruise through the hills and when I got home I noticed excessive wear on the front tires.

If the max pressure is 44psi try them at 38-40 psi and see how they wear

The max pressure on the tire don't have anything to do with the psi that they should have. It is car specific. 30-33psi should be fine on a monte.

If your tires are choppy they could have broken belts, could be worn badly, not balanced, etc.

Also on front wheel drive cars the front tires wear faster than the rear ones. That is why you rotate them...

@ Crete

If you don't have certificate with your name on it hanging on a wall and years of post secondary education, and years of experience practicing as a professional, I would suggest you open up your mind a little and let someone who does give appropriate advice. If I followed that little placard on my
b-pillar my cars tires would have 29psi in them...give your head a shake even Michelin recommends 35 psi or higher. I suggest you keep a consumer based figure of 30-33psi and use that on your own car. It'll make people like me a lot of money throughout my career. And make sure to go and buy some goodyears for it while your at it because the internet surveys told you they were good tires...lmfao