How does this much suspension stuff break at once?

[Fryguy]

Car started making creaking sounds under steering and light braking, and starts to randomly drift at highway speeds (sometimes it'll go straight, sometimes it'll drift left, sometimes it'll drift right).

Bring it to mechanic, he suspects simple alignment problem, tells me to go get an alignment and come back.

So I go to get an alignment, and the alignment shop (town fair tire, if you care), lets me know that they can't do the alignment for the reasons listed below, and if I bring it back within 30 days with the stuff fixed they will finish it:

Front tierods
rear passenger tierod
right upper ball joint * (see below)
front wheel bearings.

^^ Is a LOT OF SHIT TO BREAK AT ONCE! What the hell happened?

Also, for 97 NT Eclipses, are upper ball joints recalled or just lower? I already did the ball joint recall once (about 10k miles ago), but I totally forgot the details of the recall, if it's upper AND lower or what.

Any input on estimated price I can expect to pay tomorow (mechanic already has the car), or reasons why this much stuff would break at once (no accidents, no large potholes, no NOTHING), would be helpful.

 

[BigBADGSX]

My guess is that the wheel bearings might not be as bad as they say, but heres my question to you. Is the car lowerd??? when you lower a car things like this will happen especially if you lowerd it without an alignment like i see alot of people do. But it is a good idea to get all the stuff replaced and it shouldnt cost you alot, if you have time you could do it all yourself and just have the shop do the alignment for you. oh and if its lowerd invest in a camber kit it will save you tons of problems in the future good luck man.

 

[Fryguy]

My car was put on eibach springs (prokit) about 2 years ago (before I purchased the car), and the alignment has been good, even without a camber kit (got lucky on the rear I guess). It makes enough sense for this stuff to go due to the extra stress of stiffer springs (I also leave my KYB AGX very hard most of the time), but it just seems weird that it would all break at once.

Any ballpark $$ on how much this will cost to fix in total? front wheel bearing, front upper ball joints, and tierods all around?

 

[BigBADGSX]

im not 100% sure how much all that stuff would cost you but my guess is it shouldnt be to much.... especially if you can do all the stuff on your own. The wheel bearings might be a bi*** to do on your own if you dont have access to a press, im pretty sure our bearings have to be pressed out. To be honest with you i would fork over a little bit more money and have the camber kit at least installed on the front of the car to help with tire wear....just have them set the car up with a little camber so you can still get out there and hit some corners. also if your a diy guy like me then i do belive there is a vfaq on how to make your own camber kit for the rear...

good luck

 

[jfdid]

The wheel bearings: I paid about $45US for each bearing. They have to be pressed in and out. It's tough to do without a press, so save yourself some hassel. I took mine to chrysler cause they were the only people open on a Sunday with a press. They did one spindle for 1/2hrs work(I had taken the spindle/knuckle off of the car and handed it to them).

PS, you may need new oil seals as well, they're cheap ~$3, so do them. The mechanic will let you know if you need new ones anyway.

As for the rest of the stuff, tie rod ends are around $45 bucks each. Ball joints around $60. You can do tie rods/ends and ball joints by yourself if you have a vice.

 

[Fryguy]

just assume I have no access to tools.

So $60 for ball joints, about $170 for tie-rods (need all 4), and $70 for ball joints. + say 2 hours labor?

so we looking in the $300-$350 ballpark?

BTW, what exactly is a camber kit? what part does it add-on to or replace? I know what it DOES, but I'm pretty sure I don't need one, since there has been even tire-wear ever since the springs have been on the car, and the 215/45/17s I put on the car about 6 months ago are wearing evenly as well, both front and back.