2005 Prius: front tires vibrate sideways, lower contol arms need to be replaced per tire...

Dookie T

...place, can I do? Ran out of room....















Can I do this on my own?















Is it a relatively easy process?































I do my own brake jobs.















I have many tools.















Jacks, Jack stands, Electric Impact Wrench, Socket Wrenches, Torque Wrench, etc..































Labor is estimated at $300 to $400 per mechanic.















Parts approx $250 per control arm (unverified)































Tires on front driver & passenger side easily rocked sideways when on lift, about half an inch (estimate) each direction.































I've had car 2 years now, I hit a massive pothole about 7 months ago that rocked the heck out of the car. I think this may to blame because alignment got wrecked and front passenger tire wore uneven. Mechanic does not want to do an alignment until control arm is fixed.































Any advice is appreciated.















Specifically, can I replace the control arms in my driveway and save $300 to $400 of labor.

JBF

If you have to ask then... no, you can't do it yourself.

JerryJ

The lower control arm is $143.82 but you may need other parts as well.































http://www.trademotion.com/partlocat...layCatalogid=0































To see what's involved go to http://techinfo.toyota.com/ pay your $10 and download the appropriate pages of the repair manual.































However, replacing the control arm means removing the coil spring. This is a dangerous procedure if you don't know what you are doing. In addition, it's not even remotely a 15 minute job, so doing it in the driveway isn't an option. If it was me, I'd also replace the wheel bearings, the struts, and anything else that was even remotely suspect, turns, or is made of rubber. Once you've done all the labour to remove the coil springs, replacing the rest of the parts is trivial and doesn't add much additional labour.































The various pieces (* means they could be suspect):































1) FRONT HUB















2*) FRONT WHEEL BEARING















3*) STRUT















4*) LOWER INSULATOR















5) COIL SPRING















6*) STRUT BUMPER















7*) UPPER INSULATOR















8*) SPRING SEAT















9*) SEAL















10*) STRUT MOUNT















11) KNUCKLE















12*) LOWER BALL JOINT















13*) LOWER CONTROL ARM















14) STABILIZER BAR















15) BUSHINGS















16) BRACKET















17) LINK