$597 two front hub assembly/wheel bearinggs w/ control arm and 4 wheel alignment

[oboytroyman]

shop said the 2 wheel bearings are bad and said might as well do hub assemblies. with passenger control arm and 4 wheel alignment. all for 597. good price? initially i was getting an inner tie rod with control arm plus a front end alignment for 300 out the door. but they said my wheel bearings are shot.

 

[Phoenix]

shop said the 2 wheel bearings are bad and said might as well do hub assemblies. with passenger control arm and 4 wheel alignment. all for 597. good price? initially i was getting an inner tie rod with control arm plus a front end alignment for 300 out the door. but they said my wheel bearings are shot.

You know you dont need an alignement with that stuff done. unless you need one BEFORE replacing all this. Plus the rear end , you cant align it unless you have bought adjustable stuff in the past.

Just to give you an idea , here is the rockauto prices:

Bearings with hubs: 60$ each
LCA: 30-40$


The problem with these places is that you're screwed with the labor AND the parts.

 

[SHOclass]

^ True, most shops have $90+ labor rate, they get parts just like you would from NAPA, Autozone, Advanced....ect, at their cost which is probably in the neighborhood of 7%-15% off of the regular price (depending on the part) and then they mark it up 25%-35% for you. .... So yeah ****************** on your wallet. Find a mom and pop garage that will let you bring your own parts, and a far cheaper labor rate. $250-$300 (OTD) is reasonable IMO

 

[LOUDSHO92]

Pull the knuckles, have the shop replace the bearings. You can then replace the knuckles and control arms to save yourself a lot of money.

Control arm: SHO Source

 

[Eric VerValin]

A couple of hours labor to remove the knuckle, and press out and in the bearings... and pull your lcas.... sounds like a "reasonable" shop price when you figure half is in parts..

I replaced 3 of those bearings on one side because I dunno, they were just bad or something..... if I had someone else do it, they would have done it 3 times.. just something to think about.

Used "good" knuckles are the cheap and easy way to go for sure. I think "Boat" has a set somewhere, and I'm sure there is probally someone around you that does too.

 

[32MTX]

that seems like a fair price to do both, but are they indeed bad is the question you should be finding an answer for.

the price seems ok for all of that, in fact its almost a damn good deal, two bearings, control arms, labor, and an alignment?

most of those press on bearings call for 2-3 hours of labor per side.........

don't hate on shops charging more for parts, we gotta make a living too. I know what are decent parts and know my customers and what they want to spend/expect. I search down your parts, I get them and make sure they are application correct, I have to warranty them and deal with that, sometimes I even eat the cost of the part...... I do all of this for you for, in reality, a small fee.

I like to think of my wiper blades I sell as a reason why our parts are more. I charge about 10 bucks a wiper blade. The same wiper blade is 5 bucks at walmart. I find the right size, I install it, and I warranty them. Its convenient and your already in my shop. When you think about it, I'd pay someone 10 extra bucks to make wiper blades magically appear on my car, instead of going on my time off, dealing with the zoo we call walmart and the lines, customer service, and parking lot........ oh yeah the last 15 dollar michelin wiper blade I bought at walmart was deffective right out of the box...... sorry about that.... at my shop you would atleast have gotten a new one right then and there.

 

[TYSHO]

You know you dont need an alignement with that stuff done. unless you need one BEFORE replacing all this.

If he didn't need an alignment, the parts wouldn't be worn. It is good practice to have your suspension aligned after replacing such parts. I guess it doesn't matter if you like to buy tires instead.

 

[sperold]

Get another opinion on what you need.
Any wheel bearings that go bad for me always make enough noise, that you know they want out. I have never had a quiet, bad bearing.
If it needs an inner tie rod end (and that is not that common), do it yourself.
There is a test for the lower control arm using a bar under the tire that is raised just off the concrete, do it and see for yourself. Do the other side (the good side) first to see how a good one feels.
There have been a lot of threads on this forum about alignment shops that don't know what they are doing. Search out a few and see what you are in for on the alignment issue. They are not all created equal.
Maybe you need it all, but maybe you don't.

 

[oboytroyman]

well belle tire told me me driver side inner tie rod was loose and auto analyst in kalamazoo is telling me that it is completely solid. so they said:

passenger control arm
both front hub assemblies/wheel bearings
front end alignment (needed since i did 2 subframe bushings)
front axle (ABS light) common issue he says, and giving me for 120 not charging for labor

also he said my front passenger strut is leaking? but its not that bad...any advice on this...he said 400 for the front struts (good kind)

but for everything except struts im getting for about 700.

Sidenote: I just got 4 continental extreme contact dws tires. (225/55/16) for $440 installed. i thought i got a sweet deal just wanted to share

 

[LOUDSHO92]

What type of struts? They may say the good kind but that may not always be correct. Is that $400 including the labor?

No KYB!

Did he pull the codes or run a test for the ABS light? Mine was the ABS pump being bad.

 

[itwonder]

I am thinking some additional checking is needed before committing. The LCA's are long lasting, so I am a bit cautious they are being called bad, unless the ball joint boots are torn. It is common for the driver side inner tie rod end to be worn. The driving symptom is shimmy. Did you have any shimmy in the front end? Checking is easy. Jack up the left side, remove the tire, and install two lug nuts to hold the brake disk on securely. Hold the disk at 6 and 9 o'clock. Wiggle back and forth. Look for play at the back, where the tie rod connects the knuckle to the rack. Any play is bad.

Wheel bearings are usually accompanied by noise developing before they fail. If you are going to have the knuckles off to do bearings, it would be a shame to not go ahead and replace the strut tension rod bushings with Energy suspension kit PN 4.7119G, and weld the cups ifthat has not been done per the TSB. Everything is all apart and that job would add maybe 30 minutes a side.

 

[oboytroyman]

They said the struts would be sens a trac, which i know are 250 on shosource. and 400 would be total out the door for 2 front sens a tracs. I'll do this another day unfortunately since i don't have the $ for it yet.

As far as the shimmy in the front end, it has always felt off when cruising at high speeds, vibrating a lot, and almost always when i would floor it from a stop the car would pull to the side a lot! which im guessing wheel bearings cause this? I'm also pretty sure my steering rack has a problem too because there has always been quite a bit of play in the steering wheel. but the dealer wants about 500 for parts and labor and another 100 for power steering flush. ill save that for another day too i guess.

All in all, with getting the 1 control arm, 2 front hubs, axle (yes he did check the codes for the abs light, i specifically asked him to), new tires, and alignment, I figure the car should be driving much much better!

*****itwonder: Whenever I turn my car i hear and awful rubbing noise/clunking coming from the front passenger side. I've been told by 3 places the ball joint is very loose on that side. They also said the front passenger strut was leaking, i don't know exactly what the symptoms of that would be. would i just notice some noise where it is located?

 

[itwonder]

I've been told by 3 places the ball joint is very loose on that side. They also said the front passenger strut was leaking, i don't know exactly what the symptoms of that would be. would i just notice some noise where it is located?

If 3 places say the ball joint is toast, then it probably is. What I'm saying is if you are going to have both knuckles and one LCA off, it would be a shame not to go ahead and re-bush the strut tension rods (rods that go from the frame to the LCA) because they are a frequent source of clunks and looseness. Everything you need opened up to do it is already done, so the additional labor for the tension rods should be only about an hour. To do it later on will require taking it all apart again.

if you are having steering problems, then do not spend money on the inner tie rod end job! Instead, apply that money to replacing the whole rack. The new rack comes with two brand new inner tie rod ends already on it. No need to pay for that twice!! The cheapest way to do it is to order a TRW rack from Rockauto for just $70, no core charge. Have a shop install it for you. Should be about 3 hours labor I would guess.

 

[turbo79]

They said the struts would be sens a trac, which i know are 250 on shosource. and 400 would be total out the door for 2 front sens a tracs. I'll do this another day unfortunately since i don't have the $ for it yet.

As far as the shimmy in the front end, it has always felt off when cruising at high speeds, vibrating a lot, and almost always when i would floor it from a stop the car would pull to the side a lot! which im guessing wheel bearings cause this? I'm also pretty sure my steering rack has a problem too because there has always been quite a bit of play in the steering wheel. but the dealer wants about 500 for parts and labor and another 100 for power steering flush. ill save that for another day too i guess.

All in all, with getting the 1 control arm, 2 front hubs, axle (yes he did check the codes for the abs light, i specifically asked him to), new tires, and alignment, I figure the car should be driving much much better!

<snip>

I think that any SHO will pull to the side no matter what condition the suspension is in when you punch it at lower speeds; it's called torque steer and is an effect of the power and front wheel drive.

There is a nut/bolt that is part of the steering system that can get loose and make you think that the steering rack is worn/loose, so check that out too before committing to a rack replacement. Look for the information on SHOTimes (IIRC).

 

[oboytroyman]

final cost

So total cost for everything was $689.

passenger control arm
both front wheel bearing/hub assemblies
right axle
4 wheel alignment.

As far as my ABS light goes there was another code, the abs pump/ controller which they said they didn't recommend replacing because it's about 1500 bucks if you can even find the part.

***turbo: yes i have tried to tighten that nut for the steering and it is as tight as possible. still large amount of play.

 

[TYSHO]

So total cost for everything was $689.

passenger control arm
both front wheel bearing/hub assemblies
right axle
4 wheel alignment.

As far as my ABS light goes there was another code, the abs pump/ controller which they said they didn't recommend replacing because it's about 1500 bucks if you can even find the part.

***turbo: yes i have tried to tighten that nut for the steering and it is as tight as possible. still large amount of play.

I have a new Ford ABS pump in my classified ad for all V6 models, nothing near $1500.

Also, I know it's been said that a front wheel bearing will not go bad without making noise but I disagree. I just inspected mine the other week [I really don't drive this SHO much, 5k miles in 3 years] and it is bad and never made noise. I guess I caught it right in time, it's not real loose but it's not tight either. The wheel will move with my hands gripped anywhere on the tire, while the tie rod and end remains tight.

As for the play in the steering, remove the front strut rod nuts and bushing to inspect the subframe. There is a common failure in these, thread broken subframe club has great information. You can also check your rack by putting the car in neutral at speed, and shutting the engine off. If the play goes away, it's an internal rack problem. If the play remains, it's not the rack.