Knackered dampers?

[Tahrey1043]

What's a good sign that your front suspension's wearing out? I think mine's seen just a little too much abuse e.g. rushing to beat the light and taking oddly cambered hillside junctions too quick, resulting in a BANG / CLONG noise from one front side or the other. Or driving around the local park which proved to be even less nicely paved than it first appeared (2-foot potholes big enough to swallow a bus? HELLO!)

Because, like, they've started creaking worryingly. First the front left and now both. The FL seems to have a chunk missing out of one of the mounting points or something (errr... i know next to diddly squat about these things so it may be best if i photo it if you dont know what i mean).
Or is this just because summer's arrived and the grease has gotten thinner with heat?

This could be very bad (costs, time off-road) or a good learning/improvement experience (change it myself, maybe stick a cheap bit of subtle lowering - or more particularly, stiffening, in)