KONI FSD Longetivity?

I've had KONI FSD's installed for about 11 years/60 k miles on my 04' Jetta. No rust issues in SO Cal but rough roads take a toll. I noticed the cars steering is not as tight and that my strut bushings are probably bad as the gap is pretty large.

Is it likely the FSD's are shot at this time or would I be okay just replacing the strut bushings and bearings, considering all the work involved removing the struts?

At least you'll know for sure once it's all disassembled. Koni's lifetime warranty has a 1/2 off swap option: if you think your current struts are bad you can purchase a second pair to replace them. If the first set are indeed bad, you get a refund on your purchased set.

If the old set are not yet dead, they will still credit you 1/2 of the purchase price of the new parts.

It is likely that the FSDs are OK, and you have bushing wear. The strut mounts as you already noticed, the rear bushing on the lower control arms are the most likely candidates for replacement.

Also possible but much less likely are the ball joints at the bottom of the bearing carrier (aka steering knuckle) and the outer tie rods.

Cheers,

PH

I've run FSDs for well over 100K miles with no problems. I'm betting yours are fine. I tend to replace strut mounts every 3-4 years. If the other bushings are in good shape I'd replace the mounts, get the car aligned, and drive on.