I recently damage one of my front struts and it has to be replaced. I was told that both have to replaced -- is that normally the case? Also, if anyone has done a front end strut replacement reccently I'd love to know what the cost was (for one or two). Thanks in advance!

 

The idea of replacing both is to keep the car's handling in balance. Since the struts are considered a wear item, it makes sense to do both, then get an alignment. They are pretty easy to replace (helps to have air tools when using a spring compressor). OEM struts are Sachs which go for $80 per side, I'd also recommend new HD spring seats (use genuine Volvo) at $40/side, new bolts for the strut to knuckle $10 and new dust boot/bump stop as needed so that gets the HW total to $250-300. Add about 2 to 2.5 hours for shop time is another $250, then $100 for an alignment = $600. Doing one side may wear out tires and kicks the can down the road as you'd need to eventually do both.