Tie Rod
Hmm, so $179.40 later and my car has a new passenger side outer tie rod. $75 for the tie rod itself. Looking now I could have purchased this from Jim Fresard for $58.05, but labor to install it was $30. That seems pretty reasonable… Then with a four-wheel alignment was $69.95. Looking now, my alignment was a fair bit out of whack.
That said, my car now drives considerably better than it had been. For maybe the last six months I’ve noticed a small knock when going over very small bumps, and I’d noticed what felt like the car was pulling, but it wasn’t consistent. When I’d take my hands off the wheel, it’d stay within the lane, only moving like there was a cross wind.
After doing some reading, this appears to be consistent with a worn tie rod. Now the slight clunking / knocking sound is gone, and the car drives as if it’s on rails. I also don’t have to fear for the tie rod breaking, and the wheel ending up damaging everything near by while I skid to a halt against a concrete barrier. I think this is a good thing.
This is probably a retarded question but I know nothing about cars. When you go to get your tires rotated (which I desperately need to go do), do the tire people automatically align them as well?
Thank you, All-Knowing-Steve. :D
Nope, unfortunately they don’t… Rotating the tires is just taking them off, shuffling them, and putting them back on. An alignment will typically cost a bit more… Oh, and you can usually get a rotation done for free when you get your oil changed, as long as it’s at a place that does the work.
By the way, how long has it been since you’ve gotten your tires rotated? If it’s gone too long, you’ll likely have already ruined, or seriously worn, the tires, and rotating them will just cause vibration and lots of noise. :(
Erm… This is bad, but I don’t think they’ve ever been rotated. :( I’ve had at least 2 new tires put on because I broke them. The car will be 3 years old in June, but only has 27k miles on it or so.
So, does costco have pretty cheap tires? ;) And thank you for the info!
Yep, Costco is mighty cheap for tires… Although I was actually able to get the tires I needed for my car just a bit cheaper at Discount Tire. You’ll have to see what model you need, then call a few places and ask for their price for X tires, installed.
You might want to try getting them rotated anyway… Worst that can happen is a good bit of road noise and such. I rotate my tires every 7000 – 10000 miles, just to be safe these days. After I got my car I went maybe 40k before getting them rotated, and there was all sorts of noise, extra wear, etc. When I had to buy a full new set, I wanted to be certain that they’d last. :)