Hey, brand new user here. First time poster, so please excuse my Lexus ignorance!

My wife has a 1999 ES300, and we needed to replace her front two tires due to abnormal wear. So I took the car up to Gateway this morning and asked for two tires and a front end alignment.

They called me back and said they can't align it because the bushings are worn out and that's what caused the excessive tire wear.

He told me the lower control arms needed to be replaced. The quoted cost was $195 each for the control arms and then $160 for labor.

A quick Google search indicates that the parts can be found for much cheaper than that. The guy told me I could supply my own parts and they could do the labor.

Rock Auto has DORMAN Part # 520403 for $41.79. They' have the Front Right Lower and the Front Left lower and the part Includes Bushings.

Am I missing something? Can I really get this part for less than $50 compared to the almost $200 that Gateway has quoted me?

And what about putting them on? Could this be a DIY if I'm not familiar working on a Lexus?

Any and all help that could potentially save me money is much appreciated!

 

I purchased two lower control arms for less than $35 each off ebay, so yeah, there are cheaper alternatives.

And it's a fairly easy DIY job if you have the right tools (impact gun or very long extention).

I had my control arms replaced at a garage because I couldn't break the bolts loose from the frame.

 

I currently have those same Dorman arms on my '01. The quality won't be the same as an OEM replacement but still at 40$/side I can afford to replace them once every one-two years and still come out on top in the end...

 

Get them with the ball joint. Trust me when i say this.

 

I replaced mine two years ago with Beck Arnleys. Now I'm replacing the lower right because the bushing totally disintegrated. The OEMs lasted 16 years, the Beck Arnleys lasted less then two years. I'm hoping I just got a bad one. One that was not indicative of Beck Arnleys true quality.

 

That would be a separate purchase, correct? So I'd have to get the front right and front left lower control arms and then purchase ball joints separately?

Gateway didn't say anything about the ball joints, but I'm assuming that adding new ball joints would add to the labor? Man, the costs just continue to add up.

 

Beck Arnleys' control arms can be purchased with ball joint for about $75 at RockAuto. BTW, that 30 percent less then I paid two years ago. Shouldn't be too much more to replace the ball joint. Just need to remove one more nut and pop out the ball joint using the correct tool.

I can't vouch for the quality of the Beck Arnleys because the bushing in one of mine totally disintegrated in less then two years. See picture below

 

I personally bought new Moog balljoints, since the nice design with the zerg fittings was available for this car [the nipple that allows them to be re-greased from the inside], and eventually [one year later] new arms.