When I drive my impala at 60mph or higher it starts shaking. a lot of mechanics have told me it needs a balance. but, I don't want to do that because I need new tires anyways. otherwise I would do it. when I first got the car i took it to midas and they told me that the rear axle tie rods were bent which you could plainly see that they were bent. I thought they were just lying and wanted to screw me over with something else. well, time elapsed I took it to a friend of a friends and he told me that its the tie rods and that they need to be changed ASAP that its a life threatening thing. now he gave me an estimate and hes charging me 155 per tie rod to change the inner and outer tie rod ends so that's 310 for the both sides. plus 82.50 for the labor. so it comes out to about 400 plus tax.
Now I wanted to know is this something I could do by myself and save myself A LOT of money on or should I spend the money and save time?
Thank you
Bradley
P.S. I bought this car with rebuilt title and it was crashed from the rear.
Driving problems with 2003 chevy impala.?
dont be a tight wad with your car or your life--or someone elses either . you could have major problem if the tie rod was to break at say 60mph or if you lose a tire because they bald too... fix it on your own and save the labor cost. then head down for the alignment right away. they dont tell you things --and then show you if they're not serious. you could always leave it till you feel like fixing it and take the chane of something breaking while you're driving and hurting someone else.... that will be cheap... dont be a fool-- fix it.
Driving problems with 2003 chevy impala.?
Fix the car your life is worth more than $400 plus tax. You are getting a deal on the labor. You may get a little cheaper if you buy used tie rods but that's not a bad price.
You will most likely not be able to re-align the suspension without the tools to do it, at least not with any real accuracy. Suspension adjustments and replacements, especially if the vehicle has been wrecked, are best left to a mechanic with the right alignment equipment. Some people try to do it with a tape measure, but the results are never as accurate, and will typically need to be redone.
Another option would be to change the actual rods yourself, just make everything look straight as possible, it may want to pull or dogtrack, then take it to a shop to do the actual tweaking and alignment, that may save you some money.
wel when a mechanic tells you what the problem is then why not listen.. bad tires yes tire balance yes and yes you could have change thew tie rods your self two bolts to loosen and one nut to remove and with a hammer knock it out and twist it loose count how many turns it take to remove and screw back in that many turns will get you close and able to drive it to be align and tie rods you can call any parts store and not way they that high might be like 100 buck for both of them just call autozone and ask how much tie rods are... lay down on ground and look how they come off not much to them might need a crows foot or a tie rod fork to get the one end loose not hard job but still have to have a alignment done after job price is high when the job is easy.. tie rod will unscrew with a pair of pliars will have like two locking nuts you loosen or remove then you drive out the other end and unscrew it not hard you can rent the tool autozone also just ask for the tool to remove tie rod make a call easy here a few hows to's they all about the same
