9/20    I just got new tires on my car and they (Sears) told me
        that one of the struts is leaking and that I should replace
        it soon.  From looking on the web, I'm getting the impression
        that if I don't replace it, that it will not put me in
        danger, nor will it cause any damage to anything else in
        the car (including affecting the alignment?).  According
        to more than one web site, the only harm of not replacing
        the struts is that the car will not handle as well.  So my
        question is this.  Is there any good reason to change the
        struts before I notice that it's not handling well?  The
        car has over 130k miles and I've never changed the struts.
        \_ anything that leaks will eventually dry out and then
         doom happens
        \_ fyi, i have a 91 civic hatchback and also got new tires last month.
           the guys there said my bushings were all crushed and dried up and
           said they should be replaced asap, and they also said they wanted
           to do the struts.  i said later.  my car does wander a bit on the
           freeway.
        \_ Bad shocks can make handling bad enough to be unsafe as well
           as reduce braking ability. Additionally, they can lead to bad
           tire wear as oscillations are much more likely (read about
           flat spots, cupping, etc.).  You may not notice it going bad
           with a gradual failure, unlike the sudden change when something
           snaps.  At 130k miles, handling has probably already diminished
           a lot! Most shocks have a rated lifetime of around 60k miles.