Tire Rod ends and Bushing Replacement

[dephrag]

So after just dropping $550 on new tires, I'm noticing the pull on my
car has gotten significantly worse.. So I take her into Speedy to get
an alignment, and it turns out I need $500 worth of work + an
alignment after I do that! Looks like my whole pulling problem has
been that the bushings are all bent to crap, and when I turn hard one
way, it crushes the bushing so then when I drive straight, it will
always pull to the way i just turned hard. So I'm wondering what the
hell I can do about this... The quote here states the following..

1 Outer Left Hand/Right Hand Tie Rod End $82
2 Stabilizer Link Kits @ $87 each = $174
Tie Rod Labour .7 Hours @ 74 = $52
Steering/Chassis Labour 1.5 Hours = $111
+tax +alignment

Does anyone think any of this work is possible by someone with fairly
minor experience like myself (but is willing to try), without
screwing up the saftey of my car and putting my life in jepardy? I
heard people were buying upgraded bushings off of that guy in
vancouver. But speedy tells me the part where the bushings are 1 big
piece and I have to replace the whole thing. Can anyone tell me
anything contrary to this, or am I out another $500 that is gonna
ruin my life for a few months....

Thanks in advance guys!

[drift freaq]

you can buy the TC rods with the bushings already pressed in from PDM for $75 and install them yourself its not hard. that should solve your problem . then you just take it in for an alignment which should cost about $40 and as far as stabilizer end links . I am gonna hazard a guess you mean your front swaybar. which you can replace with new bushings for about $125 again from PDM and you can install it yourself .
hhhhmmmm thats $75+$125+40+ 20-$30 for shipping = $240-$260 and you could also get your rear swaybar while your at it for another $125 that comes out to $400 give or take seems alot cheaper than letting speedy rip your ass off. <img src="http://www.zilvia.net/f/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':p'> &nbsp;<img src="http://www.zilvia.net/f/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/hehe.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':hehe:'> &nbsp;<img src="http://www.zilvia.net/f/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/hehe.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':hehe:'>

[Archangel]

The part with the bushings is not all one peice, the bushings are replacable by themselves. But as drift kinda mentioned above, the bushings have to be pressed into the tc rods.
Most shops don't have the press to do this (or they might, and are just trying to get you to buy more shit <img src="http://www.zilvia.net/f/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/mad.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':angry:'>).

Check out PDM's site, and talk to Don with your questions.
PDM Racing (http://www.pdm-racing.com/)

If you aren't comfortable working on your suspension, and you don't know some one who would be, get it done professionally.
I'm willing to try to fix alot of things, but If I'm really unsure, I'd rather have a shop do it.

[dephrag]

Ended up having the dealer look at it, and show me everything for $20, think it was worth it though.. &nbsp;It does actually need the tie rod end badly, the wheel had soo much foreplay, and the stablilizer kit, which he showed me to be something to have a big screw though it, and it just needed to be replaced because it was a different size from the other one, and it wasn't tottaly nessesary, or contributing to the problem, it will just make one of my front tires wear out faster, so I'm gonna have it done, since I just dropped all that coin on nice tires.. &nbsp;But its much cheaper than the $175 speedy was charging me for the stabilizer parts alone, he said it would only be like $150 including both stabilizers, labour and tax. &nbsp;Total cost is now $350, which is down from $480.. &nbsp;So I'm just glad I went to the dealer...

[junia]

Man, this is like one of the few times I heard that someone was actually glad they went to the dealer...

[Grant]

oops, nevermind.. you meant Tie rods, not T/C rods

[Grant]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Grant @ Mar. 14 2002,06:50)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE"></span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (drift freaq @ Mar. 12 2002,9:25)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">you can buy the TC rods with the bushings already pressed in from PDM for $75 and install them yourself its not hard. that should solve your problem . then you just take it in for an alignment which should cost about $40 and as far as stabilizer end links . I am gonna hazard a guess you mean your front swaybar. which you can replace with new bushings for about $125 again from PDM and you can install it yourself .
hhhhmmmm thats $75+$125+40+ 20-$30 for shipping = $240-$260 and you could also get your rear swaybar while your at it for another $125 that comes out to $400 give or take seems alot cheaper than letting speedy rip your ass off. <img src="http://www.zilvia.net/f/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':p'> <img src="http://www.zilvia.net/f/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/hehe.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':hehe:'> <img src="http://www.zilvia.net/f/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/hehe.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':hehe:'></td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'>
he's right on this one, I've actually paid $650 to get my front brake pads changed and stock clutch replaced (what a f**king ripoff).. Drift freaq only charged me $790 for a whole transmission (w/30k mi) + brand new clutch, installed.

Anyways, if you car is pulling a certain way, you might want to try adjustable tension control rods. I use the Eastbear Pillow tension rods which are adjustable in length and also use pillowball bushings (which are a lot better than the polyurethane ones, AND a lot more expensive). My car used to pull right, but after I installed the adjustables, I took it to an alignment shop to get it fixed.

For the PDM T/C rods, price as already been stated, but even less with core exchange.

For Pillowball mounts, there are a couple of options:
Monkey Magic $260 + shipping (+ a long wait)
Project Silvia $170 (www.projectsilvia.com)
East Bear $250-270 shipped (www.phase2motortrend.com).</td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'>
DOH! oops, Dave did you notice he mentioned Tie rods??? lol.

yeah i believe you can change those out for relatively cheap yourself as well, I was quoted $790 to get the tie rods, strut mounts(front) and the 2 front shocks replaced.