Front strut leak check

[zavikan]

Tried to get an inspection today from seedy place in town (have overly tinted windows). And instead of pulling the 'yea yea yea, looks good' routine and sticking a sticker on it, they pulled a "you need this this this this this this and this' routine instead.

They told me my front struts are leaking, and I want to call BS. How do I check this? I haven't noticed any problems w/ ride or anything, and I have had the car in for other things at reputible shops that would tell me if something else was wrong, and never had anyone say there was an issue. At this point I need to take it elsewhere as it is, because they want to nail me on the windows, but I want to make SURE the struts are good before I take it elsewhere. The last jerk charged me 35 bucks(which is big money at the moment) without actually doing anything.

Also, I need to replace my inner tierod ends. I have the parts for this, but no boots came w/ it. is there a universal boot I can use? or is reusing the old unbroken boot ok? suggestions? if I end up having to buy 2 new struts, I'll order the boots too, but this pretty much killed every bit of cash I had set aside for Christmas. Looks to be a smaaallll skimpy year this time around...