I have 121k on the car. Gorn: Too much information for me to handle lol. So quick question, Are my new rods going to get ruined if I don't do an alignment? So do I get an alignment instead of joints? Will my car be good if i get the upper ball joints and wheel aligned? ?

 

HOW ABOUT THIS, HOW ABOUT THIS.........Can I just get the wheel alignment instead of the upper ball joints or do i have to do the upper ball joints first? ?

 

Your not going to hurt any other part of the car besides your tires. The alignment shop will not align your car till your upper joints are replaced.

 

With any fixed axle car you can just use a string across the tires and get the string to contact each tire on both side or 4 points (front and back of each tire). Once you get both sides done with out touching the wheel then give the both tie rod adjuster a half a turn in for some toe in. You will be pretty close. The hardest part is to get the suspension to normalize without floating turntables.

 

K, so I'm just going to get those things done. But question, why will my tires go bad without an alignment and is there shops that specalize on alignments only? ?

 

Bottom line is that you should have an alignment after any front suspension or steering linkage work. Sometimes only a minor tweak is all that's needed. This is often the case if upper and/or balljoints are replaced. Things are often a little more out of spec when a control arm bushing is replaced *if* the tech is careful and marks where the adjuster bolts were during disassembly and returns the bolts to that position during reassembly. If the tech just pulls things apart and installs new parts the alignment will probably be way, way off.
There are 3 basic alignment parameters for a front end: caster, camber, and toe. Caster won't affect tire wear but it does affect handling. Camber and toe do affect tire wear.
You absolutely need to get an alignment after replacing tie rod ends or you can chew up tires in remarkably few miles. Basically your tires are sliding sideways while you drive and grinding away. When you replace balljoints you have a less marked affect on the alignment. You can replace balljoints and drive to an alignment shop but I wouldn't do that after replacing tie rod ends.
It's best to replace all the worn parts at once and then get the alignment done. Otherwise you'l'l be getting an alignment after each component fails and is replaced. Around here a good shop charges about $80 for an alignment. The shop I use has a very expensive Hunter rig with big prisms that mount to each wheel and a touch screen computerized display. The machine prints before, spec, ande after values for each alignment setting.
When the alignment is out of whack the car may handle okay on dry pavement but get really unstable on wet pavement. You don't want to risk that.
I can't recall seeing a shop that was alignment only for many, many years. I'll bet, though, that there are a couple shops known for doing good alignments in your area. Ask around. If the shop owner is willing to invest $40 or $50k in a big drive-on rig with computerized interface you can be pretty sure that he takes the work seriously.

 

Crap!! Yea, I gotta get all this done on Friday. So I'm planning on doing the upper ball joints in the morning, then drive it to another shop for the alignment. Hopefully I get everything done that day cuz its going to be my girlfriend and I anniversary so we have dinner planned lol. Can I risk one more trip to work tomorrow?

 

If you take a rabbit's foot and rub it on the steering wheel, you might make it there and back alive. But it's gotta be a white foot!
Seriously though, nobody here can answer that question without being there and looking at it.

 

http://www.ls1tech.com/forums/suspen...tions-faq.html

Read this from:

"Diagnosing a bad tie-rod or ball joint
(knocking noises in front suspension)

Get that wheel up in the air.

Grab the wheel at the 9 o'clock and 3 o'clock position.
Rock it left/right.
Is there any play/noise?
If so, then the outer (or inner) tie rod needs to be replaced.

Grab the wheel at the 12 o'clock and 6 o'clock position.
Rock it up/down.
Is there any play/noise?
If so, then the upper and/or lower ball joint(s) need to be replaced.
When you get the spindle off you can inspect the ball joints to see which one has the excess play.
(or take it to Sears and have them replace both with Moog parts)

Rotate the wheel.
Any noise?
If so, take the wheel off and rotate the hub.
Any noise?
Look for anything that can contact the rotor or wheel.
if nothing, take off the caliper and rotor and rotate the hub.
Any noise?
If so then the wheel bearing needs to be replaced.

If there is no noise in any of that, then the nut on the top of the shock might be loose and the shock is moving up/down/left/right in the mount making noise. I left this for last because its the most work to check. You'll have to drop the shock/spring assembly from the tower to inspect the nut. Also make sure nothing is missing like a rubber isolator or washer.

As noted by jmdale1984 below, when tracking down front end noise, also check the sway bar mounts and end links to make sure that they aren't broken."

 

jmdale1984 Who?