300M strut problem

My 99 300M had a problem with one of its front struts. Car has 40k miles on
it. Not sure what happened but it was clear that it was not doing its job
any more. Perhaps one pothole too many. Anyway, dealer planned on
replacing both front struts under the extended warranty but after waiting 2
weeks for parts from Chrysler they could only dig up a replacement for the
bad strut. The second strut is still at least a week or more away from
showing up. The dealer decided to replace the bad one to see if the car
could be drivable that way. In fact the dealer feels the new strut fixed
the problem and is doing fine with the old strut and now feels there is no
point in replacing the old "good" strut. I've always heard struts should be
replaced in pairs but admittedly these Chrysler struts normally last one
heck of a long time... probably longer than I will keep the car.

Assuming the car drives ok (haven't picked it up yet) should I let it go or
should I insist on getting the second strut replaced. Thanks for your
opinions on the issue.

 

Question 2...


Should an alignment been performed after switching out a strut.

 

It would be gross malpractice not to, but I guess you're right - you
can't assume anything. The OP probably ought to ask the dealer if that
was done to make sure.

Bill Putney
(To reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my
adddress with the letter 'x')