adventurenali92
Full Access Member
I’ll have to pull up my invoice, but I paid WAY LESS than $1750 to have ball joint control arms, and tie rods replaced in January on my 2006, and that was all 4 of each replaced. $1750 is a total rip off!
Are we allowed to talk about shop quotes?
- Thread starter Tonyv__
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bill1013
Full Access Member
My 1999 Tahoe almost failed a state safety inspection due to water in the light. That sounded rather an odd infraction, so I asked him to show it to me. We went out to the bay and he proceeded to point to a REFLECTOR on the passenger side of the truck that was no where near a light and wasn't even an electrical item! The mechanic wouldn't budge, so I spoke with the manager and he corrected and educated the mechanic immediately. Needless to say I never went back.
My current vehicle, 2012 Yukon SLE, just broke 100K miles. I used to have it serviced at Honolulu Buick/GMC, but stopped due to the ever changing personnel (who by the way don't know their ass from a hole in the ground) who insist on doing work that doesn't need to be done and pressuring me into selling them my Yuk, or trading it in for another Yukon, which I absolutely won't do. I don't need the high payments! Really the last straw was I wanted to get my A/C checked out. There was a coupon for a A/C inspection and charge for $30. Sounded good so I made an appointment. Went in and the rep. looks at the coupon and asks, "What's this?" She had to take it to the service manager who told me that I would have to leave my vehicle for a week. I never went back. Dealers will be dealers. It's really hard to find one that is honest and supports the vehicles that they sell. Most can't find their own asses with a map, compass or swift kick in it!
My current vehicle, 2012 Yukon SLE, just broke 100K miles. I used to have it serviced at Honolulu Buick/GMC, but stopped due to the ever changing personnel (who by the way don't know their ass from a hole in the ground) who insist on doing work that doesn't need to be done and pressuring me into selling them my Yuk, or trading it in for another Yukon, which I absolutely won't do. I don't need the high payments! Really the last straw was I wanted to get my A/C checked out. There was a coupon for a A/C inspection and charge for $30. Sounded good so I made an appointment. Went in and the rep. looks at the coupon and asks, "What's this?" She had to take it to the service manager who told me that I would have to leave my vehicle for a week. I never went back. Dealers will be dealers. It's really hard to find one that is honest and supports the vehicles that they sell. Most can't find their own asses with a map, compass or swift kick in it!
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Tonyv__
Full Access Member
The cadi swaps were on my agenda but I have mixed feelings. If I get smoked I’ll have to do the fronts and probably start ditching all my chrome…. And of course I bought wheels that accent the chrome because I planned on keeping it lol.
Also the price worries me. U ever see people with the aftermarket LED tail lights. Half are missing because they’re junk quality lol. I’d be constantly worried about that too. But then again I drive a Yukon. I should of been worried about my lights since I bought it hahaha. Something to think about. I’m gonna try to solder it again for now if it’s actually broken
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Tonyv__
Full Access Member
Yeah that’s what I’m thinking. Maybe $500 for parts at the most but they’re still getting $1000 labor. I personally think the place is over priced but they’re in walking distance of my youse so I tried them out. I’ll have to start visiting my old mechanic again
TollKeeper
Full Access Member
But if you do the smoked headlights, you might get another ding on the "inspection". At least you can say the tail lights are factory smoked. Cant do that on headlights.
On the flip, you could always get the chromed (non-smoked) ones to keep your flow of chrome going.
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Tonyv__
Full Access Member
Honestly I didn’t even think about that but smoked tails might be a fail too since they’re low visibility during the day
Tonyrodz
Resident Resident
I used to live in E. Burg, and once took my 89 Bonneville to get Kost Tire for my inspection. I paid $2200 for the car and they AMAZINGLY found it needed $2000 worth of work to "pass" inspection. One of the items they had on their list was a little plastic hold down for the battery. Then he says "Wanna do the work now?". I laughed at him and left. I didn't even give him a response. Went to another place down the road and passed. Charged me $20 for the inspection.
The upper ball joints aren’t serviced, they only come as part of the control arm so they’ve quoted the whole arm there for sure. I generally recommend replacing the whole lower arms also because then you get new bushings as well. Plus, if you have a 15 or early 16 with the aluminum arms they get replaced with stamped steel arms and the ball joints are a lot better. For whatever reason the ball joints in the aluminum arms like to wear out at 40k-60k miles.
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Tonyv__
Full Access Member
Thanks for that answer. I may just buy the arms. Install them. Then bring it back for alignment. So if I do the arms instead of having to press new ball joints in. I imagine I won’t even have to remove the axle?
For example if I do the top first and support the hub there would be no reason to remove that axle nut right? And then same for the bottom
You will have to pull the axle out of the hub for the lower ball joint to clear. If you’re going to do it on the ground I would say just remove the axle and get it out of the way. I’m doing them on a lift so I keep the new arm within arms reach and push the knuckle out until the axle falls out and swap the arms out.
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