Seek second opinion on ‘front end overhaul’
I just bought new tires for my truck. The tire place recommended an alignment because the front tires were wearing more on the inside of the tread. They then called and said they can’t align it because I need a “front end overhaul” to the tune of around $900! The truck has 141,000 miles and seems to drive, stop and turn great. I asked what is the worst thing that could happen if I didn’t fix it, and they said my new tires will wear out too soon and I could lose control if I hit the wrong kind of bumps. What’s your opinion? What is done in a “front end overhaul”? I wasn’t planning to keep it more than another year or so. — Jim L.
It wouldn’t hurt to get a second opinion in a situation like this. The symptoms of worn out suspension or steering parts may be irregular and rapid tire wear, pulling to one side, the truck following grooves in the pavement, noises, and/or clunking felt in the steering wheel. There’s a performance aspect to this, with moderately worn parts, and also a safety consideration, should severe looseness lead to component separation. I’m not sure about the “losing control” part.
A “front-end overhaul” could mean different things; I’d interpret it as the replacement of all ball joints, tie rod ends, suspension bushings and perhaps front struts or shocks. It’s not unreasonable to find a worn ball joint or tie rod end at 141K miles, or perhaps moderate looseness in many of the parts. It’s a grey area as to how much looseness should be tolerated and/or corrected.
It’s best to renew worn suspension and steering parts before performing a wheel alignment, as the procedure is done while the vehicle is at rest, and road forces act on the loose parts, messing up alignment during actual driving conditions. Suspension and steering parts are somewhat like your hips, knees and ankles. While it might not be too difficult to align your feet while sitting or standing still, imagine how they might flop around as you ran across varying terrain with loose joints from the hips down. When the tires/wheels are allowed to wander from the desired plane, tire tread is scrubbed away and the vehicle begins to track sloppily.
Testing suspension and steering parts is fairly easy with the vehicle safely elevated. The various joints and bushings can be flexed or compressed to check for excessive looseness. Some parts, such as ball joints, may have a visible wear indicator or looseness specification, while other parts require a subjective evaluation. Any general repair shop should be capable of inspecting and replacing worn suspension components. You may find their opinion will differ from that of the tire shop folks, and you can weigh the merits of replacing perhaps a couple of worn parts or all of them. Let’s say you have moderate looseness in many parts (a performance but not a safety concern). This may cut the lifespan of a $700 set of tires by one-third, vs. the large cost to restore a truck you’ll not be keeping much longer to preferred condition.
Brad Bergholdt is an automotive technology instructor at Evergreen Valley College in San Jose, Calif. Readers may send him email at bradbergholdt@gmail.com; he cannot make personal replies.