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Anyone know anything about Upper Control Arms? Specifically on an '06 Hyundai Sonata?
I'm mainly looking to find out (1) what happens if they completely fail (i.e., will my tire fall off/otherwise make the vehicle dangerous to drive?) and (2) how badly would I be getting ripped off if the dealership is quoting me $680 to replace them...
Anyone know anything about Upper Control Arms? Specifically on an '06 Hyundai Sonata?
I'm mainly looking to find out (1) what happens if they completely fail (i.e., will my tire fall off/otherwise make the vehicle dangerous to drive?) and (2) how badly would I be getting ripped off if the dealership is quoting me $680 to replace them...
The upper control arms attach to the chassis and the wheel hub. Their primary function is to keep the wheel from getting too much or too little camber. Along with the lower control arms, they keep the wheel hub positioned more or less upright.
Your tire won't fall off if they fail. Failure means that the rubber bushing is cracked or in worse case scenarios, it's just gone and broken away completely. There's a bolt that goes through the bushing, so that will still be there. But the bushing can rattle around in the control arm and have too much play if the rubber is shot. What that does is let your car's alignment specs wander all over the place, which can lead to premature tire wear, clunking sounds, etc. But it's not really a danger to drive.
They are easy to replace on most cars, jack up the car, remove the wheel, you might possibly have to remove the brake rotor if it's in the way, and then it's just 2 bolts per control arm. (You'll have two upper control arms on each wheel.) So 4 bolts total per side.
Personally, I think $680 is pretty steep to have them replaced. To do both sides shouldn't take any longer than 2 hours or so, unless there's some design flaw that doesn't let you remove them without having to remove a ton of other stuff to access them.
Anyone know anything about Upper Control Arms? Specifically on an '06 Hyundai Sonata?
I'm mainly looking to find out (1) what happens if they completely fail (i.e., will my tire fall off/otherwise make the vehicle dangerous to drive?) and (2) how badly would I be getting ripped off if the dealership is quoting me $680 to replace them...
Dealer retail for the upper A-arms shows to be $444 approx. The price is reasonable, particularly if it includes alignment.
The wheel will not fall of if the arms are being replaced because of worn bushings. However a very badly worn ball joint -- included in the arm -- could fail with disastrous results. Also, if the vehicle has lived in a severe road salt environment it is not impossible for the control arm itself to fail due to severe rust. This would be a disastrous result also.
Anyone know anything about Upper Control Arms? Specifically on an '06 Hyundai Sonata?
I'm mainly looking to find out (1) what happens if they completely fail (i.e., will my tire fall off/otherwise make the vehicle dangerous to drive?) and (2) how badly would I be getting ripped off if the dealership is quoting me $680 to replace them...
He does it in his garage with basic hand tools and he claims about two hours time.I'm not sure how mechanically inclined you are, but it looks fairly easy.
The only thing he doesn't mention is the bolt torque specs. You'll want to get those before doing this.
It doesn't look like $680 worth of work to me. A set of replacements on RockAuto are $55 each. It would probably take an hour to do both sides in a shop with a lift and air tools. Even with an alignment it shouldn't cost much more than $300
Thanks for the input everyone. I don't have the time to try and replace it myself (though I wish I had time to give it a shot), but your price estimations encouraged me to shop around and I was able to schedule the job for $300 less at a different place. Still pricey for me, but it at least seems reasonable.
Thanks for the input everyone. I don't have the time to try and replace it myself (though I wish I had time to give it a shot), but your price estimations encouraged me to shop around and I was able to schedule the job for $300 less at a different place. Still pricey for me, but it at least seems reasonable.
I know OP got it fixed, but if anyone else is hesitant about the $300 and up price this is what happens if your lucky and your ball joint goes bye-bye. Now this unfortunate soul has to get a new control arm, a new CV shaft, refill the tranny, maybe new struts, a new brake line, a new fender, and liner and maybe getting the door, and quarter panel straightened out. This happened to my wife, and she was fortunate she was only driving 20mph and the only thing that happened was wheel pushed the fender into the door.
I know OP got it fixed, but if anyone else is hesitant about the $300 and up price this is what happens if your lucky and your ball joint goes bye-bye. Now this unfortunate soul has to get a new control arm, a new CV shaft, refill the tranny, maybe new struts, a new brake line, a new fender, and liner and maybe getting the door, and quarter panel straightened out. This happened to my wife, and she was fortunate she was only driving 20mph and the only thing that happened was wheel pushed the fender into the door.
That's looks like an incredibly simplistic suspension setup. Most cars, a ball joint failure won't lead to that, as there are multiple other suspension pieces holding things in place. Even the axle doesn't look like it bolts to anything, and you can just pull it right out.
That's looks like an incredibly simplistic suspension setup. Most cars, a ball joint failure won't lead to that, as there are multiple other suspension pieces holding things in place. Even the axle doesn't look like it bolts to anything, and you can just pull it right out.
What car is that?
That's your pretty standard FWD suspension, a lower control arm, and a strut. When your doing 60-70 and your front tire decides to go the opposite direction it's going to take a lot of parts with it. Usually the only other thing attached to the knuckle is the tie rods, and that isn't going to keep your wheel in place if your ball joints blow. CV joints are usually just pressed in on the transmission side.
That's your pretty standard FWD suspension, a lower control arm, and a strut. When your doing 60-70 and your front tire decides to go the opposite direction it's going to take a lot of parts with it. Usually the only other thing attached to the knuckle is the tie rods, and that isn't going to keep your wheel in place if your ball joints blow. CV joints are usually just pressed in on the transmission side.
Not really...
All front drive and all wheel drive cars I've had have also had a bracket that the axle bolted to. Not to mention, there should be an upper control arm(s) as well.
What kind of car is that?
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