How to extend the life of older front struts

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Care, Maintenance & Troubleshooting' started by Georgina Rudkus, Apr 5, 2025.

  1. Georgina Rudkus

    Georgina Rudkus Senior Member

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    During a recent tire rotation, I discovered that the front strut dust boots have degraded and shredded.

    This debris could get into the space between the shaft and the seal to eventually cause a leak. So, I cut the "spaghetti " up and removed it.

    While the dust boots are good to have and may extend the life of the strut's seal, it has the disadvantage of hiding leaks.

    There is normally a thin coat of oil to wet the seal in normal operation.

    With the dust boots in place, the boots hide any beginning of a larger leak and puddle until the leak is so large that the seal us fully blown as to cause the fluid to run down the side if the strut's outer tube.

    By the time that happens, it's too late. The strut needs replacement.

    With every oil change and the dust boots gone, it's easy to find an initial leak by rubbing your finger over the seal area.

    Should excessive wearing be discovered, brushing a small amount of seal revitalizing treatment like ATP 205 will revive and extend the life of the seal and the strut.
     
    #1 Georgina Rudkus, Apr 5, 2025
  2. fotomoto

    fotomoto Senior Member

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    Many motorcycles have "naked" front fork seals but a little preventative care in the form of small frontwards facing plastic guards, they greatly extend the seals' service life.

    I'd suggest some sort of blocking guard facing the tire instead of going completely "naked". Just like mud guards on cars or fork guards on motorcycles, it doesn't have to be large to do the job; just in the right spot. Rock chips are the biggest foe as the jagged edges the create (and the later rust buildup) on the shaft are what really eat away at the seals.
     
    #2 fotomoto, Apr 5, 2025
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  3. Tombukt2

    Tombukt2 Senior Member

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    Yeah all that and then just change them struts are so cheap now. It's almost pointless to fret over stuff like this but yeah I guess you could spray all kinds of stuff and what have you has been mentioned my scooters and motorcycles have the same thing in their exposed on my scarabeo. And haven't had a problem in like 17 years so far but they're cheap and easy to change The struts on the Prius I just did all four in like I don't know two and a half hours or something The rear is slow you down because of all the interior panels that have to be swung in and whatnot But other than that I bought two or three different sets of struts from the fairly inexpensive eBay kind of thing even got some with single rate springs instead of the vari rate like the single rate quite a bit on the car.
     
    #3 Tombukt2, Apr 5, 2025
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