I took my 04 sedan to the shop today for a simple alignment because my car is pulling just slightly to the right.. After waiting for an hour they told me that they didn't do the alignment and that I needed the following items replaced before the car could be aligned.

-Left front lower control arm
-Right front lower control arm
-Right rear lower control arm
-Left outer tie rod end

Then they gave me a quote for $1600 for parts and labor. Needless to say, I wasn't happy... I'd gone in thinking I was getting a $59 alignment job done and leaving after an hour without my alignment done and a $1600 quote for work I didn't even know I needed.

My first question is this... Should I just buy the parts online and do this myself? I've never replaced these things before but it doesn't look too difficult. I typically do minor repairs myself. I just replaced the pads and rotors on all four corners last weekend.

My second question is where should I buy the parts? Is partsgeek.com a decent place to pick up parts or is there somewhere else you'd recommend? Looking at these parts on partsgeek.com, it looks like I can buy all of the parts for less than $400 (The repair shop quoted me nearly $1000 just for parts), but is this a reputable site with quality parts??

Any guidance here would be greatly appreciated..

 

Of course do it urself. Why not save 1200 smackers while further exploring ur car. Itll be a bit tuffer then brakes but with the right tools, Its cake. Ball joint puller is better then ah pickle fork. Impact makes quick work of any job. I havent done my G yet but looking forward to doing that and swappin in tein springs while its all apart...

 

Then take it back to the same place to get it lined up. An boast how you saved diy. But tell em to check ur work

 

So as far as tools go, the only special tools I'll need are a ball joint puller and pickle fork?

 

Not unless you're planning on rebuilding your LCA's.

If you're just going to replace them, all you should need are sockets, a ratchet, a breaker bar, and maybe a 4 or 5 pound sledge hammer to break the ball joint free from the wheel hub...

 

Good to know.. I have all of those already.

 

What about the parts? Is partsgeek.com a good resource for the parts or is there another site that sells quality parts at a decent price that I should try?

 

Not sure...I have a buddy who owns a shop, so he gets all of my parts for me at wholesale price from Beck/Arnley.

 

You need a FSM too, that will make replacing these parts even easier!!!

 

Check out infinitipartsonline.com to make sure you are getting the right ones since they have diagrams. Also rock auto.com is a great place for parts

 

A service manual?

 

Yeah. A FSM. But I think they're on here in PDF format somewhere.

Honestly, the LCA's and tie rod ends are pretty straight forward. You might not need a manual, but if you've never done anything like this before, I'd get one just to be safe.

 

fairly easy work with air tools. just time consuming really.

 

I wish I had air tools.


Thanks for all of the input.. I'm definitely going to do this and save myself $1200.

I'm a little confused about the "Right rear lower control arm" though. Looking through the parts on various websites I see a few different options that the repair shop could be referring to in their quote.

Their exact wording was "Right rear lower control arm". Here are the parts options I see:

-"Right rear lower front"
-"Right rear lower rear"
-or maybe even "Right front lower rear".

??? Any suggestions on this?

 

Control arms are a little confusing as to which one is which.
"right rear lower front" = right front control arm (right front wheel), rear & lower control arm (there is an upper control arm)