Lower Control Arm Replacement...this Sound Reasonable?

[SW03ES]

Hey all...

My mechanic just told me that at some point soon I will need to replace the lower control arms on the front suspension of my '03 ES300 due to worn bushings. He quoted me about $600 in labor to do the job...this sound reasonable? Car has 130,000 miles.

He says the ball joints look okay...I'm wondering if it might be smart to replace them while he's at it though to save on labor costs...any thoughts?

[George_Jetson]

I looked up the time in Alldata, and I am wondering if it is a misprint. They have it listed at 12 hours, (0dd but they listed the same number for 1 side, or both???). I do not know what to make of that. But anyways with 130k mile I would strongly recomend replacing the ball joints. You would be saving a lot of labor hours (since he's taking it all apart for the bushings). You may even want to consider struts.

I feel when working on suspensions, might as well do it all at once, and save on doing the alignment once.

[SW03ES]

When he looked it up on Alldata he said that was way longer than it would actually take. Its for one side, but the other side is pretty easy once all the stuff is apart...

Yeah thats my thinking too...

[SW03ES]

Any other thoughts?

I definately will have him do the ball joints also, I mean the parts are only $45 a peice. I'm not so sure about the struts though. The car still rides great, what is the general lifespan of the struts?

[George_Jetson]

I know what you mean about the struts, my 94 has about 140k, and the car feels fine when you drive it (but I do not push the car hard). I thought that a good pair of struts should last at least 60k, or maybe a little more. I was changing out the O2 sensors on mine, and after I removed the jackstands I decided to check the shocks. The shocks were not working anywhere near what they should be. Once the wife and I get done remodeling the kitchen I will probably pull my car apart.

The other things to consider, upper strut mounts (there is a bearing in there), outer tie rod ends, cv boots, and of course sway bar links / bushings. Now the cv boots are not as critical (you can replace boots without having to re-align), but if you have it pulled apart that far dropping the axles to repack the cv's is minor work.

That's about the only other things I can think of, it will probably be what I end up doing on mine in a few months.

[SW03ES]

I understand where you are coming from, but the labor plus all the parts we're talking about...its an outlay of getting close to $2,000 to replace things that don't yet need replacing...

[George_Jetson]

Yea, that adds up fast. A lot of that work is not that complicated. If you do the work yourself and then have the alignment done professionally. You do not live in the rust belt, so you won't have to deal with fronzen hardware. I just can't see paying for several alignments,,

[SW03ES]

Naa...I have zero interest in doing the work myself even if I could. I work so much it would actually wind up costing me more to take the time off to do the work than to just pay the mechanic...

[Lexusfreak]

Steve,

I too agree with replacing the ball joints along with the control arms....did your mechanic mention anything about the condition of the struts?

[SW03ES]

He said they were fine, he said the ball joints were fine too...