You probably have the typical bad upper spring seat. It is not necessary to remove the axles to do the struts in this car, they are real straight forward. Remove the wheel, the ABS sensor connector, the 2 threw bolts in the strut itself, the upper link rod connection to the strut, and the three nuts up top that retain it. At this point the strut is completely loose and can be pulled right out. Put it in a big vice, compress the spring, remove the upper spring seat, and change it all out. Now is the time to replace the struts if you are so inclined. It is true that the struts will go a long time in these cars but the idea is not to wait until they are completely blown out to do so. If you do not want to go back in there at a later date and do the same work all over again you can hang another set of factory Boge struts or you can run your existing ones and see if the will make it until you need spring seats again. Factory spring seats will typically last you 60-120K or so, depending upon how much your teenage children drive the car and how many potholes you hit at full speed.

Mark