New front suspension

[seattlestiva]

Hi The mechanic across the street from my work took a look at my Festiva front end.
Says I need the following :

Both axles
Lower ball joints/arms?
Sway bar bushings front and rear
both outer tie rods
alignment
struts and shocks (my call)

car has 176,000 miles

How expensive should this be to have done at a shop?

[xaero_81]

$500-$600?

$200-$300 for parts depending on how smart you shop.

With the right tools, it can be done quite easily.

[TominMO]

Hi The mechanic across the street from my work took a look at my Festiva front end.
Says I need the following :

Both axles
Lower ball joints/arms?
Sway bar bushings front and rear
both outer tie rods
alignment
struts and shocks (my call)

car has 176,000 miles

How expensive should this be to have done at a shop?

The Bottom Line: do it yourself.

All this, with struts front and rear, would be about $1000 I'd guess. $550 for parts and $450 for labor. And that's with him using high-quality parts, and not screwing you on parts markup.

You can buy all the parts from Rock Auto or McParts and stick 'em on yourself. That way you control parts quality and price, and can do it over time, with the most important stuff first as finances allow. Any of these things can be done alone; no need to do two or three simultaneously. But in that case, do the alignment last.

Just have him do the alignment if you don't feel comfortable doing a DIY alignment.

If you don't feel up to the job and/or don't have the tools, find a mechanically-inclined friend to guide you or do some of it for you. But this is a great time to start learning about simple repairs, and with part of the money you save by not taking it to a shop you can assemble a pretty good tool kit.

BTW if you need tie rod ends, you probably need steering boots. They are about $15 apiece, and you can do them at the same time as the tie rod ends.

Edit: the only special tools you will need will be a set of spring compressors for the front springs, and a torque wrench for the outer CV axle nut. All the rest is just common hand tools.

[Grey Vw]

What ever you do don't take it to a shop. He sounds like a stealership, he want's to change a bunch parts. If it ain't broke don't fix it.

[perucho]

...If it ain't broke don't fix it.

I have to disagree with that when it comes to front suspension and steering. If it's worn out, replace it. You don't want to risk having to fix that after they break.

[91mcnasty]

or the rest of your car!!!!

[TominMO]

I'd recommend you inspect the parts on your car yourself. Things that have rubber boots like tie rod ends, steering boots and lower control arms can be easily checked to see if they need replacing. Those are the most important from a safety standpoint, so I'd concentrate on them first. Looking at $300 for top-quality parts, like Moog, if all these need replacing.

[nitrofarm]

If you are going to have all that done. I would seriously recomend new bearings and seals as well. Then its a new front end. Nice & tight.

[denguy]

Start putting PB blaster on all the nuts and bolts involved.

[WmWatt]

I'm not a mechanic. I only work on my one car so don't have much experience. However, with the Haynes manual and this website I've done the control arms and axles on your list, as well as brakes and bearings and other things as needed. You need a place to work. If you need the car to get to work you should do one thing at a time on weekends. You can save money on parts by making a few 'phone calls out of the yellow pages. I find on DIY projects that the money I save on labour more than pays for tools I might have to purchase which can then be used to save more money on future repairs.

As for the price for having it done, the mechanic who told you what needs to be replaced should give you a written estimate.

PS I find the photos posted my people on this website help a lot. You can also find generic videos on Youtube.

[seattlestiva]

Thanks to all. The guy across the street from my business runs a shop that works only on older Mercedes, but told me he use to have a couple of Festy's so he's very familiar(and very slow right now with Benz's) with what needs to be done. He said I can get my own parts if I wanted, so I think he's pretty straight up.
As with all older cars, if you don't do your own work, you better wait for that
certified "creampuff". Otherwise, it get's expensive:cry_smile:!