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I did 3 sets of these this week alone. I had a customer ask me when do you usually need to replace the struts on these cars? The short answer is about 150K or so. The long answer is that it is not so much the condition of the strut that dictates it's replacement but the condition of the spring seats. Often times I am in replacing the spring seat at around 70-90K and I always reused the struts unless they are an exceptional case. However, when you are back there in another 70-90K at around the 150K mark you will typically recommend and replace the struts because by 225-250K they are pretty much overdue for replacement. What I find when I am in there is that most all of the hardware is in decent shape and re-usable with the exception of the hammered upper spring seat. I do stock a single set of bellows and rubber bump stops just in case and as the other guy pointed out, if the link rods are even kind of iffy then just throw a new set in while you have them half way out anyhow. If you purchase factory Volvo struts they will come with new mount hardware, if you get the Boge struts (same thing) you will get now hardware. Myself, I run the Boges and I re-use the mount hardware.
To recap, I'd inspect the boots (bellows) and bump stops with a flash light, concentrate on the bump stops as the boots rarely wear, and I'd order up Boge struts and spring seats and if the boots and bump stops were hammered then order them up too.
Mark
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