Any shop that does a two wheel front alignment on a car with alignment adjustment provisions in the rear isn't doing it right. If there are adjustments in the rear, the rear needs to be set first. Then the front is set based on the rear.

For the links, where did you tug on them? Did you tug on the links themselves? It is better to pull downward on the sway bar to check for play in the lower joint in the link, where they usually wear out. I wouldn't be surprised if some cheap links wore out in 25k miles.

 

I would never go on the cheap if I had bad struts or sway bar links. The links are an easy replacement front and rear. Change the other strut, change all 4 links, 2 font 2 rear then get a thrust alignment (4 in the next wheel). Saving money not doing this at this time doesn't make ant sense! You need the alignment when you change struts, so do both. Your front end will wear your tires out if you don't do all this NOW! IF not just have 2 more front tires ready in the next 3k miles and you will still have to do the same job!

 

There are no rear sway bar links.

 

Yes - I just pulled on the links themselves which is why I thought they were fine. By cheaper I meant that they were middle line ones from NAPA - not the real cheap stuff from eBay.

I was waiting to change the other side struts in order to do the 4 wheel alignment.

 

I like to unbolt the top link end from the strut and see how loose it is after you pull it out. It's really easy to get back in, at least if the car is jacked up. Like ES6T said, you can use a ratchet to spin the top bolt of the strut to see if the mount is bad. When mine were bad I could also just grab the end of the stud and shake it back and forth - there was a lot of play. They should be really tight.

 

Sounds good. Let me do that after class.

I also found that the rattle is from the rear of the car - not from the front as I mentioned

 

Just checked but was not able to jack up as there was no parking close by on level ground. But the sway bar and the end links on both sides are solid. No movement. Same with the control arm. The drivers side does look a bit worn out though.

Also, checked the top nut. It moves about 10 degrees either ways with little resistance. After that I would have to force it. So I am guessing its ok for now?

Looks like that one shop was trying to pull a fast one on me.

 

That just means the mount is not broken. If you have a small pry bar, you can pry the top spacer up a little to look at the top of the mount to see if its starting to crack. Either way, I would replace it when you do that strut.

 

Hopefully, after I fix the other side's strut - everything will be fine for a while.

Just out of curiosity, how do I check the ball joints? Is there any way to check it without jacking the car up?

Thanks ES6T! You have been of great help/

 

No, you have to jack it up. You need to use a pry bar between the spindle and the control arm to check the ball joint. The shop that did the alignment should have checked the suspension first. You can't align a car with a bad ball joint or tie rod end.

 

They did and said its alright for now. Its that one shop that said everything was bad (control arm, sway bar, links etc) said about ball joints also.

Car tracks straight no pulling to either sides. I guess everything is fine for now then.