My wife's very low mileage VX rides 24/7 on the spring helpers. So you can't blame the springs/shocks. Spring helpers are an engineered portion of the suspension and contibute full time to the ride characteristics. They don't really limit upward wheel travel as my higher mileage Vx demostrated, having the spring helpers MIA for so long. I have over sized tires and have never had them hit the wheel housing. As mentioned earlier, these spring helpers are missing on a lot of VX 's in the wrecking yard, they wouldn't be missing if they only stopped extreme bumps top hits, as that problem would need to be addressed due to tire and body damage. The reason they were not replaced is that they merely contributed a smooth ride feature that owners did not perceive going degrading with their departure. They are called "spring helpers" because they contribute something extra, they are not mission critical.