Quoted $1,650 front control Arm suspension service, aftermarket or OEM?

Z

ziggy

Joined
Aug 8, 2005
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Location
stamford, CT
Hi all! 98 Buick LeSabre. Mechanic did my brakes rotors,I bought he put on a Delco rotors, silver pads.
Thiers a clunk been passenger side some time now. He told me yesterday,inspecting, replace control arm bushings, outer tie rods, and ball joints. The bushings are nearly shot ...
Said was cheaper but new control arms,he would have too drill out the bushings . Cheapest 8 saw was TRQ brand eBay... $145 2 control arms with bushings, ball joints,and sway bar links 8 don't need..buy tie rods separately
How expensive is it drill out bushings,compared too pre bushing arms installed? TRQ good brand? I saw dormans, $10 more or so.
Wanna keep the original control arms if I could ...
Quoted about $1,650 for everything.
 
Keep in mind if you supply your own parts, your mechanic basically has no warranty obligations to you.

For a 98, I would go with the least expensive option. Either way, the repair likely will outlast your old Buick. You are fast approaching the market value of your 98.
 
The problem with any aftermarket parts which have rubber is that they are highly likely sourced from China, and the rubber is of poor quality. This is VERY common in aftermarket parts. Regardless if you get assembled parts, or buy components and assemble yourself, you're still probably going to get poor quality rubber.

The only way to get good quality rubber bushings, belts, hoses, etc is to buy from reputable places. OEMs will require the parts still meet factory specs, and have at least some quality checks in place to assure that happens. Aftermarket sources have few checks, and therefore are often not held to the same standards. Even if the OE replacement parts are made in China, they are far more likely to be of good quality because OEs often do things to ensure their reputation is intact, and that the OE part warranty (often 36 months) is going to be satisfied. OE parts will typically outlast their warranty by a decent margin, also.


Example ...
Many years ago we had a 1995 Mercury Villager (Nissan Quest clone). It was a great-running van. After about 10 years, one of the motor-mounts went bad and the engine would "clunk" inside the mount bracket every time you go on or off the gas as the bolt would bang against the metal bracket. I got a cheap replacement part at AAP and installed it. It came with a 1 year warranty. And it only lasted about 1 year ... so I went back and got another replacement under warranty. It, too, only lasted about a year. So then I got an OE replacement from an online Nissan dealer; that replacement part was still good when we sold the van several years later.


Rubber is one of those commodities that has a WIDE range of quality. You get what you pay for. If your car is something you intend to keep long-term, and it's in otherwise good shape and can be expected to be serviceable for years to come, then it may be worth spending the up-cost for better parts and not have to replace cheap stuff frequently. Only you can say whether the expense is reasonable or not; we cannot tell you what to do. All we can do is clarify your choices ... and my experience is that cheap rubber parts don't last very long.
 
Another related story from my direct experience ...

Many years ago I worked for a large HVAC OEM. I held many roles over the years, but most of my time was spent in the QC department as a Quality Engineer. Part of my quality job at the time was to oversee the inspection of incoming parts for compliance and make determinations of acceptability. The little rubber bushings which most OEs use to mount the various motors (blower motors; inducer motors; etc) were always checked for durometer readings (that's a rating the the hardness of rubber). And we'd do HALT functional tests to see how compliant the rubber was after being heat-cycled, etc. We always were having new vendors come in and try to bid on corporate business. The inexpensive (lower-cost) products would typically fail the tests; this always ticked-off the corporate commodity buyers who thought they'd found a way to save $.004 per piece. These low-cost vendors would come in and promise that their parts would pass our quality standards, but the only ones which would really pass were the ones which cost more.

I can say that rubber is something where you definitely get what you pay for. I don't care if it's rubber for bushings, grommets, belts, hoses, tires ...
Cheap parts are made from cheap-quality rubber and it won't hold up in the long term nearly as well as good-quality rubber.
 
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If you can find OEM, get that otherwise have your mechanic supply the parts.

Finding the OEM parts for my 1997 Blazer is getting more difficult. I bought Professional (Gold) uppers and lowers back in 2018. Now I can only find the uppers. I suppose I could try Mevotech? I am not sure on the quality. Another thing that makes it difficult is the control arms and ball joints are technically 1 assembly. The rivets can be removed and replacements can be bought, but fitment isn’t the best IMO.
 
Carrier bearings for rear driveshafts. OEM lasted ~17 years. Aftermarket Precision-boxed lasted under 2 years and was in worse shape, like ALL the rubber was just GONE

OP, I wouldn't say Dorman is any better than TRQ. They most likely come out of the same or comparable facilities
 
Also if your indy is even willing to replace bushings a la carte, that's impressive.

I've never done the control arms of which you speak but can tell you from general experience that type of work can range from fairly straightforward to all-day nightmare depending upon rust and other factors.

But if he's not competent and patient, he might just screw it up.

Let's see, you can get a TRW kit (not to be confused w TRQ) for $7.29 for a kit. Or the AC Delco "Gold" is about $20 per bushing. Don't forget 5% codes 'cause 5% is 5%
Screenshot_20250206_072242_Chrome.webp

edit: not sure if in this instance GM "Gold" = GM Genuine? They keep changing their monikers
 
ziggy said:
Hi all! 98 Buick LeSabre. Mechanic did my brakes rotors,I bought he put on a Delco rotors, silver pads.
Thiers a clunk been passenger side some time now. He told me yesterday,inspecting, replace control arm bushings, outer tie rods, and ball joints. The bushings are nearly shot ...
Said was cheaper but new control arms,he would have too drill out the bushings . Cheapest 8 saw was TRQ brand eBay... $145 2 control arms with bushings, ball joints,and sway bar links 8 don't need..buy tie rods separately
How expensive is it drill out bushings,compared too pre bushing arms installed? TRQ good brand? I saw dormans, $10 more or so.
Wanna keep the original control arms if I could ...
Quoted about $1,650 for everything.
Click to expand...
GM OE are less than $50 ea for the control arms which includes the bushings. TRW ball joints and tie rod ends are okay and $13ea on close out at RA, TRW tie rod ends $8ea.
This is a quick and very easy job, you do need an alignment after the install. At $1600 they are bending you over a barrel.

https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=13892401&cc=1303287&pt=7428&jsn=579

https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=13876489&cc=1303287&pt=10070&jsn=524

https://www.gmpartsgiant.com/parts/...year=1998&submodel=&extra1=&extra2=&filter=()
 
dnewton3 said:
Another related story from my direct experience ...

Many years ago I worked for a large HVAC OEM. I held many roles over the years, but most of my time was spent in the QC department as a Quality Engineer. Part of my quality job at the time was to oversee the inspection of incoming parts for compliance and make determinations of acceptability. The little rubber bushings which most OEs use to mount the various motors (blower motors; inducer motors; etc) were always checked for durometer readings (that's a rating the the hardness of rubber). And we'd do HALT functional tests to see how compliant the rubber was after being heat-cycled, etc. We always were having new vendors come in and try to bid on corporate business. The inexpensive (lower-cost) products would typically fail the tests; this always ticked-off the corporate commodity buyers who thought they'd found a way to save $.004 per piece. These low-cost vendors would come in and promise that their parts would pass our quality standards, but the only ones which would really pass were the ones which cost more.

I can say that rubber is something where you definitely get what you pay for. I don't care if it's rubber for bushings, grommets, belts, hoses, tires ...
Cheap parts are made from cheap-quality rubber and it won't hold up in the long term nearly as well as good-quality rubber.
Click to expand...
I got to handle Anchor brand mounts for my ford flex and I swear a youtube video of a Pakistani dirt shop floor with safety flip flops pouring some resin in a mount popped into my head as soon as I touched it.
 
Last edited:
Well part numbers are GM 19149203 front right and 19149204 front left control arm. The 204 is discontinued . GM parts giant,others ..the 203 is available Amazon,eBay I think.ths rest is moog, dormans ,and TRQ pop up...
Called mechanic shop. He dosnt press bushings out. He charges replacement or get the parts for you( he likes moog,I don't).
 
So ..found a shop near me,they press old bushings out! Know the owner very well . He's gunna get back to me price for labor with and without parts ..Incase I order the Delco bushings. Seen em on eBay.
Find out tomorrow I'm sure. Driving,I'm driving it like it's my grandmother's car, you can hear an Audible muffler metal noise. It's still driving ..but hopefully get I. Shop by next week or so.
Mechanic other place, was gunna charge me $680 ,install my parts, oy aftermarket would be dormans control arms,but Delco tie rods n ball joints ..$287
His $1,650 he was gunna use moog stuff,and his vendors...pricer...
 
Trav said:
GM OE are less than $50 ea for the control arms which includes the bushings. TRW ball joints and tie rod ends are okay and $13ea on close out at RA, TRW tie rod ends $8ea.
This is a quick and very easy job, you do need an alignment after the install. At $1600 they are bending you over a barrel.

https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=13892401&cc=1303287&pt=7428&jsn=579

https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=13876489&cc=1303287&pt=10070&jsn=524

https://www.gmpartsgiant.com/parts/...year=1998&submodel=&extra1=&extra2=&filter=()
Click to expand...
This is a great reminder that Rock Auto shouldn’t always be my go to. Thank you for sharing.

*Just looked up control arms for my blazer. Looks like they only have 1 side available. Darn.
 
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