Hi all,
I recently changed a front control arm as it was knocking and now the air bag on that corner has sprung a leak. I can feel the air blowing by the o rings down the strut. I'm now weighing up whether to just change the air bag or get a whole strut assembly bearing in mind they are the original ones from 2012. And then, do I change both sides or just the broken one?
Any thoughts on the best way to proceed?
Also, I guess it's probably good practice to use a second jack to support the hub to prevent the strut fully extending and causing issues like this?
Cheers.

I would look at various factors, what mileage is on the car.
Do you intend keeping the car for several more years etc ?are the struts still performing perfectly?

Personally I would change both complete units if I were keeping the car, as it is now 13 yrs old.

Using an extra jack for the hub is common when working on the car, and taking measures to stop the air suspension from operating once the car is lifted, leave a door / tailgate open, and /or remove the fuse for the air suspension. I always use two quality axle stands when working under the car due to the weight involved.

Thanks for the reply. The car has done 145k so pretty well run in, but apart from a knackered bushing on the arm it drives faultlessly. No evidence of misting on the shocks and despite the age I'm kind of tempted to just change the bag. But then it does make sense to keep on top of the preventative maintenance for peace of mind as I'd like to try to avoid being stranded whenever possible.
Any tips on the best places to get parts with decent quality but reasonable prices? I take it with the ebay specials it's very much buy cheap, buy twice.

Site sponsors are a good start for spares, for instance I have used Advanced Factors and Duckworths, the added benefit is you can contact Advanced factors for instance and they will identify exactly the spares for your model / year etc and offer plenty of advice. If in stock, delivery tends to be very quick and reliable.

I don't always fit original LR spares as sometimes the prices are ridiculous, but I always go for quality.

It sounds like you are keeping the car long term so preventative maintenance is always a good move, plus if you wait till the car breaks it's always at the wrong time and costs more, plus preventative maintenance gives you peace of mind.

As it's done 145K, I would change the complete struts, then you have 145K more miles or forever without changing them again
For struts I would go for quality hence higher prices. Items like Parking sensors can be horrendous prices for new originals, for small items which are not as important I go for cheaper copies, but try to stay away from Chinese stuff.

Last point is that there is a wealth of info to be found when you use the search function, on the subject of air bags and struts there will be lot's of posts for bedtime reading to help you choose good name branded items and how to fit them, plus the Wiki for car manuals, how to guides etc lots of the how to guides and excellent this cuts down the job time and can help people stay out of trouble.

Hope this helps

Replacing parts just in case they fail can end up as a very expensive excercise. Certain components that require time consuming removal such as the anciliaries at the front of the engine could benefit from this but easy stuff to do like removing struts - just replace when broken. 2012 TDV8 Vogue (L322)