I paid an independent shop big bucks but less than the dealer wanted; I draw the line at removing springs and don't have the tools. Used to replace strut shock cartridges myself in my Audi 5000s when I drove those, but that could be done from above with the car on its wheels. This is the second replacement of these shocks; the first was at around 80 or 85K and covered by the extended service contract. The fronts are original and show no wear that I can readily appreciate. Interestingly the "peripherals" on this car don't seem to be failing - alternator, water pump, radiator,etc - so I haven't had to do any wrench work on it at all; the Audis (I owned 3 of them at the same time at one point) were more of a constant project; always something going sour. The Jeep I owned prior to this leaked water and Chrysler could never fix it, so the ML is a great relief as far as I'm concerned.