I took my car in to get an alignment today. The mechanic just called and said that I needed a new spindle bearing before they can do an alignment. He said that the spindle bearing controls up and down movement of the wheel and he quoted me a price of $240 to fix it. Does this sound reasonable? And what exactly is a spindle bearing?

Thanks

 

Ok so $673 dollars later my car no longer makes a grinding noise while driving and is perfectly aligned. Apparently in addition to the spindle bearing being worn out the whole unit that houses it was also messed up, hence the $673. Well at least I got an oil change out of it.