After an inspection, I was told by two shops (Monro, Cole) that the ball joints are bad on my front end suspention and I need to replace the entire control arm on both sides at a cost of $450 each plus labor (said it takes a couple hours per side?)
I end up doing some research to find aftermarket control arms on ebar for $250-$300 shipped for both, call a shop who says they'll install them but still dont know what the labor will end up being.
Car drives just fine to me but these guys act like this can result in the wheels falling off and I need to get these fixed ASAP. Im expecting I can get this all done for $400 or so.

ANyone have any insight on the seriousness of this and the expected number of hours to do the job?

 

You can do it yourself and take about an hour and a half.for the 6th gen I think when your balljoint goes bad you have to replace the whole arm.

If it is really bad and does break yo won't be going anywhere

 

They are ripping you off. My nissan parts site gets 300 for the lower control arms. Install is not that hard.

 

Yeah I know they were nuts with the prices. I read that if the joints are really bad you might notice a tight spot int he steering or it would be looser than usual, make noises, etc. If it isnt that bad of a job, hopefully the shop will only charge me a couple hours of labor.

Im not set up with air tools or anything, Im not going to try this myself. Yes the whole control arm needs to go is what im told.

I was just wondering if anyone else had them replaced and can give me an idea of if they noticed anything in the driving or how big of a deal this really is.

 

Actually list is 300 the site I use sell the lower arm for 230 bucks. Good luck with it but don't get ripped off. Some of these shops are really funny

 

Just got my struts replaced on the 05 maxima and I have a new steering rack, but I keep hearing a clunk noise on either side when I hit a dip in the road. Any clues, because the dealer is shooting blanks and say they dont hear it when they drive it.

 

ive had ball joints to last 300k miles,, are you sure they are bad?

 

A shop quoted me about $800 on my '04 SE. They were really adamant on getting it fixed too. I didn't even know it it was bad.

 

Well, just lifht the car and test the wheels?

 

To test ball joints lift the car and shake the wheel. if it moves freely then you have a bad ball joint and very important to get it fixed ASAP. Control arms for $90.

http://www.partsgeek.com/catalog/200...ntrol_arm.html

Enjoy!

 

OR a bad tie rod (inner or outer)


Where I work it takes us about an hour to do a control arm (1 side) and about $230 for both sides.

The shop is ripping you off, they see a newer car and automatically jump to throwing out prices..call a few local garage's in your area and see what they say, don't always go with the 1st shop.

GL in your search though, hope you get it fixed !

 

I ended up ordering new control arms off ebay and a shop installed them for me for 150 or so, i dont remember. but the whole thing cost 400 not almost 1000 according to nissan!