TW wagon, 116k. I drove over a speed bump in a car park the other day, and the front of the car swayed up and down, up and down, up and down. I thought, time for new struts? Seems to be driving OK but sometimes things get worse gradually and you don't notice. Kmart just quoted $680, for the front. Any thoughts?
thanks.

That is a little high to be honest, probably only using cheap dampers as well

As a Guide (yes I know you are in SA and not coming over here to do suspension) I would charge $450 fitted for Sachs, KMart would no doubt be either using Gabriel, Ultima (both as bad as each other) or KYB which on standard springs should be ok but would not use KYB on heavy springs.

Would it be ok to use KYB with King Springs? Ie lows

Personally I would not, the rebound is too harsh due to the way they are gassed. KYB use gas to get the stiff feel, is ok'ish on compression but on rebound is bad. Our cars geometry being FWD will not handle as well with an over gassed unit as they will with a unit which mainly uses fluid to dampen.

Given Sachs have lifetime warranty, this in itself is a good reason to get them, they cost more but are also much better quality and built to much better standards, lets face it, some of the worlds biggest car manufactures use them as OEM

Sounds good. I had KYB & King springs fitted quite some time ago now, but if I can achieve a better ride I am all for that. Can we buy Sachs through you Mal?

I did think about coilovers as well

If you want a better ride Coil Overs are not the way to go, if you want a ride that will rattle every joint out of your body then coil overs are your thing

Sachs we do have in stock, coupled with the Dobinsons will give the best result, are ok with the Kings as well

What would you fit Mal if you were more concerned about ride quality than anything else.

yeah I'd like to know that too

what are monroe struts like?

my other question is: how can I test my front struts? If I try to push the front of the car up and down, it doesn't oscillate, but my guess is that's a crappy test.