sent my car for changing oil, the machanic told me I need to replace both front upper control arms for my 1999 Accord LX. He said this is a "safety issue", and he showed me he could move the tire a bit up and down. The cost is $510 (part &labor) + $90 (for alignment). My questions are,

1) How do I know/measure it is time to replace the upper control arms?
2) Is the cost too high?

Thanks,

Ming

 

I know that you would be in deep trouble if the upper ball joint separates when you are driving. The tire would pretty much fall down.

Since the upper ball joint is loose, you should consider replacing. I would definitely get a second opinion from another shop.

The Honda parts are probably around $150 each, so the quote may be accurate.

 

Honda will only sell you the upper control will the ball joint as one unit, around $125 each side online. I bought and replaced the ball joint with a Moog one ($50 most parts stores) which has a grease fitting and is a lot beefier than OEM.

The strut needs to come out and the ball joint separated from the knuckle, but all in all it was 2 bolts and 6 nuts that needed to be removed to complete the entire job. All in all, it's only a 1 hour job at the most for a mechanic, so they shouldn't charge you more than $130 before tax.

 

And then you still should get an alignment when it's done.

 

Thanks for all your replies. My 1999 Accord ~135,000 km, it seems driving fine, no noise from the suspension on bumps. It seemed to me the machanic picked up this 'issue' randomly, so I had the question is: how do you know the arms are loosen and could cause safety issue? any other signs I could pick up while driving?

Ming