3 Ball joints per wheel!?

swihfr01
Mon, 01 Mar 2010 22:12:23 +0000
Maintenance/Repairs

I went to have an alignment done on my talon because she was pulling right a little. My mechanic wanted to do all four wheels and charge me $1300!! He explained that the “rear controls were frozen and had to be replaced and that’s where most of the money was.” When I balked at the price he offered to only do the front end for around $250 and told me the “passenger side lower following ball joint definitely needed replaced.” However he couldn?t finish the work over the weekend because there wasn?t enough time.

During the week I took my car to another mechanic for a second opinion and he agreed that the same joint was in bad shape. He told me that there was no need to replace more than the one bad joint and both mechanics told me that there were 3 ball joints for each front wheel.

When I called my regular mechanic for an official estimate he wanted $600 to replace the ?lower following ball joint? on both wheels with an aftermarket joint that was adjustable. He told me that the original joints from the factory were not adjustable and he needed to get the aftermarket joints so he could fix the alignment.

Here are my questions:

1 Does my ?97 Eagle Tallon TSI really have 3 ball joints per front wheel? If so, why 3 and not just the normal 2?

2 Is there a way of adjusting Camber, Caster, and Toe with OEM parts? If not, why in the world would someone make a car without a way to adjust the alignment?

3 Is it time for me to start looking for another mechanic?

6 posts - 4 participants