Toyota Repair: 1998 Corolla w/ 90,000 miles - needs struts & belt tensioner replaced, toyota corolla, rear brakes


Question
I just want to know if the garage I've taken my 1998 Toyota Corolla to is giving me good advise.  I took my car in for its 90,000 mile service and the garage found three problems: 1) rear brakes at 10%; 2) weak struts; & 3) belt tensioner is bad.  I had them do the brake work (I've never had any work done on the rear brakes before this), but the strut work is pretty expensive so I just want to make sure that it's likely that this repair needs to be done considering the age and mileage on my car.  The car doesn't handle great on the highway, but I've never noticed anything major - also it's a Corolla so you don't buy one for the road feel.

That's pretty much it - since my car has just over 90,000 miles on it, is it likely the struts and belt tensioner need to be replaced?  Really, other than having the front breaks done and maybe replacing a little belt, the car has hardly had any repairs.

Thanks.  

Answer
Inspect the stuts youself, check them for any leakage, if they need to be replaced it will be obvious, check to see if they leak, if not bounce the car at the front and rear, it should bounce about two times and stop, if it feels spongy and keeps bouncing the shocks are weak, if it feels solid while driving without excessive bouncing the shocks are good, toyota shocks normally last longer than this. Have the toyta dealer verify if it whether it need shocks or not or at least get another opinion.
There have been wsome issues with the belt tensioner which causes a rattle noise or belt squeek so that sounds reasonable.