Need advice on purchasing a brand new set, never installed Tokico shocks/struts 5002 5003

[1badsho]

I put a deposit on a brand new set of Tokico shocks/struts, 5002, 5003 but the catch is they were bought in 2004 and though never installed, they are 16 years old

My service advisor at the Ford store I retired from advised me to stay away from them that the seals could be cracked or dry rotted and first compression could leak oil

Current owner stated they were in dry storage 72 degrees

Since I have been out of touch with the SHO community, those people who know this system well, is my concern legitimate?

 

[zoomlater]

Awhile back, I picked up set from Oldsho, I was able to compress them without the springs installed. Maybe you can ask to see a video of them being compressed to see if there are any leaks. If they do eventually leak, maybe they can be repaired like Koni's.

Here's an old post who found someone who rebuilds Tokicos. Try contacting Shosource, they might know if there is someone rebuilding Tokicos. They now have the set of Tokicos that I got from Oldsho. I thought I saw a post that was sort of recent where someone was trying to rebuild one

https://shoforum.com/index.php?threads/tokico-rebuild-option.106881/#post-1143961