So I took my car into the dealership this past Saturday to have the front suspension looked at because there was a rattle coming from that general area. Dealer just called and told me that the strut is bad and they are going replace it, but when I asked if they were going to replace both struts like you're supposed to do when struts start failing, he told me that GM will not replace both under the manufactures warranty. Is it just me, or is that a load of BS? Should I be making them change both?

 

If struts are being replaced due to wear and tear, ie normal maintenance, yes, you always replace both. If struts are covered under a warranty, no warranty will cover both, just for the sake of covering both. It s basically assumed that the failed strut was a manufacturing defect, and the other strut was not.

 

Yeah assuming it was a manufacturing defect that makes sense. Only one strut is bad, I just don't want the handling of my car to be messed up because they only changed one of them. Every time I take my car into this dealer they try to jerk me around so I'm always fighting with them to do the work I need done. Reason why I asked. Thanks for the reply

 

Dont HAVE to but its always best for reasons you stated above..

 

If you have low miles and it is a manufacturing defect or you hit something sharp and damaged one of the struts or shocks you're probably fine. It's hard to put a mileage on their life, but I'd personally say after 20-30k miles or so most stock suspensions will start to lose some the dampening and control ability and I'd be much more comfortable in replacing them as a set at that point.

Warranty isn't going to cover a good strut so it would be up to you to decide if you want to buy another new matching strut but with how much most dealers charge for labor it might be beneficial to replace it yourself or take it to an independent shop (which would also require another alignment).