Baumblog EST 1968 - A blog for the Baumbachs who originated in Syracuse, NY

I had a dealer look at my car to see how much he'd give me for it. He told me my struts were bad. He didn't drive it or put it on a lift or anything...is this something you can just look at and tell? Just curious.

GJ said about 9 hours later

Yeah, push down on the ends of your car. It if snaps back with little or no bounce, you're fine. If it bounces, your struts are bad. Have you ever had them replaced? They don't last forever.

I'd wait for Steve to weigh in, as I'm not the most mechanically inclined of the family. :)
GJ said about 9 hours later

Also, if he saw you drive in, that may have been enough to tell you need struts.
Steve said about 22 hours later

I already emailed this response to Geoff, but thought I'd post it here for you all to see.

The only way you can tell from looking outside the car is to look for oil residue on the top of the strut body. This would indicate the struts may be bad. Another quick check you can do is to push down on the car a fair bit (sometimes bounce it a few times, to get it to move a lot). When you let go, if the car oscillates more than 3 times, the struts are likely bad. While driving the car, if you feel a lot of shake in the car after hitting a bump, that's another indication that the struts were bad.