There are three tasks you can perform to corrective you decide if your struts are damaging on your vehicle. While two of these three tasks are pretty cut and dry, the third leaves a margin for error. Consider the age of your struts and the mileage on the vehicle and whether or not the struts have been replaced before. Manufacturers usually recommend strut replacement between 30,000- to 50,000-mile intervals to optimize the suspension in your vehicle.
Inspect the struts visually, and even touch the towers of the struts. Look for leaking oily liquid, or caked-on dirt and grime from the roads that have caked onto the oily liquid. This would be indicative of leaking struts, and although you cannot ascertain how much hydraulic oil remains intact inside the strut, you cannot stop the leaking from occurring without replacing the struts.
Loud clunking noises when going over small to medium bumps may indicate weakness in the struts.
Another aspect you'd be looking for is the handling of the vehicle going over the bumps. Is the bounce travel prolonged after striking the bumps? This test is not a confirmation that the struts are the actual culprit, but can certainly be contributing to the problem.
2. Jounce the suspension in the front or rear, or both. Place a knee and your body weight onto the bumper, bounce onto it and let it go. Watch the suspension, and determine how many times you can make it bounce after you're done jouncing it. More than two bounces indicates weakened suspension components. Also on this test, watch for side-to-side movement, as one strut on the same axle may be weaker than the other. This would be indicative of your vehicle leaning slightly to one side.
3.
