[m_star01]

Hello all,

I had new tyres fitted all round and had them hunter wheel aligned too.
My local garage said i will need my track rod ends replaced as the left one is siezed and they had to do something (to loose it??).

Is track rod ends a expensive job inc parts? and how can i know and be sure this is 100% worth doing? Does this make the steering more stiffer? Will new ones actually do anything that i can notice?


Car is 320D 2007, 4dr.

[seanblee]

Parts are about £30 per side (e.g. left or right) for Lemfoerder, which is the original manufacturer of the BMW part . Labour to fit is probably about an hour per side, depending on how seized the existing ones are. I'd suggest changing both sides.

They're a wear component so on a 2007, if you've done >60K miles, you'll probably find they tighten up the steering a little.

[Aragorn30d]

If they are worn, they're also an MOT failure, and can cause your tyres to wear out very quickly as the alignment can move around.

If they're knackered, it seems somewhat silly that they did the alignment though, as it'll need done again after they're changed. Would have made far more sense to abort the alignment job, fix the broken parts, then do the alignment properly afterwards.

Did they actually complete the alignment? If so i'd be taking the car elsewhere for a second opinion, because doing an alignment (and charging your for it!) on a car with broken TRE's seems somewhat underhanded. I'd take it into your local friendly MOT station and ask them nicely if they can check the front track rod ends.

[m_star01]

i must admit i wasn't happy about getting the track rod ends done and redo the alignment again

But having them done does it improve the steering? will i actually notice any difference at all?

[Dan-danGT]

Sounds to me like it was seized on the arm with the threads on. did they say it had play or just seized? if they was seized on the thread then don't worry. They all seize up eventually due to water ingress plus corrosion.