I'm going to change the bump stops on the rear suspension in the near future as the current ones have nearly split all the way through.

But how can you check the bump stops on the front suspension, they appear to be up inside what looks like a piece of drainpipe and I can't see an easy way of checking them without dismantling things.

So are they made of the same manky foam as the rears are they likely to be in the same condition as the rears? The springs and dampers seems to be fine all the way round so I wasn't planning on changing anything else at this point.

You actually use the bump rubbers!? If you can see the clean length of damper rod, that's how much travel you need to use up before the car reaches the bump rubbers. I'm fairly sure I've never had mine on the stops, even with the roads up here.

I think I managed to bottom the rear suspension out once when I went over a stealth speed bump with a lot of kit in the back slightly too fast.

It looks like the rubber has just perished, they are splitting around the narrow bit just above the guard over the damper. I assume it's just because of the movement and weight of the guard. The car has done about 75k miles.

I was mainly planning on changing it because it holds the guard for the damper.

I'm going to change the bump stops on the rear suspension in the near future as the current ones have nearly split all the way through.

But how can you check the bump stops on the front suspension, they appear to be up inside what looks like a piece of drainpipe and I can't see an easy way of checking them without dismantling things.

So are they made of the same manky foam as the rears are they likely to be in the same condition as the rears? The springs and dampers seems to be fine all the way round so I wasn't planning on changing anything else at this point.

The front bump stops are made of rubber and not the same as the rear(which fall apart) I would expect that your front bump stop are ok unless the suspension has been changed a number of times. They sit inside the plastic dust covers(drainpipe as you call it) and keep well under cover and out the way of the road dirt and abuse which the rears tend to get.

I think you will be safe to leave them as is.

I thought that would probably be the case. the dust covers just remind the of the corrugated drainage pipe you can get.

I don't the rears have been overused I think it is just wear and tear from the mileage, they look fine on SWMBOs Seat Leon which is 6 months younger than my car.