Tie Rod replacement

daedalus · Post by **daedalus** » 06 Jul 2011, 06:55

Well, I have screwed up enough courage to try my hand at replacing my own tie rods for the first time. I think I have a pretty good grasp on how to do it, thanks to the tutorials found on this site. My question is in regards to the tie rods themselves. I would like to do the job this weekend, so I will need to buy the parts locally. Does anyone have any experience or knowledge with the tie rods that Napa sells for these cars? Or, is there another national chain that has better? In my area, I have AutoZone, Advance Auto Parts, Carquest...and possibly some others I cannot recall. Thanks for the advice!

Post by **erikv11** » 06 Jul 2011, 08:22

I agree NAPA would seem your best bet, but I would get on the phone and see who has them in stock, for each possible source ask them what brand the tie rods are. Make several calls.

If you come across TRW then grab them, those are original for most Volvos. Febi, Moog and Beck Arnley are probably pretty good. Raybestos makes a "professional grade" that might be good but I have no experience with it. If they are selling a tie rod for $15 or less then it is probably junk and the ball joint will be loose in a year. I would avoid Uro, Deeza and the bottom of the line Raybestos.

Post by **vjaneczko** » 06 Jul 2011, 22:50

Since you're in Maine, I'd check FCP; good parts, great prices and they'd probably ship to you in one day via UPS ground - I'm just outside of Chicago and they make it to my door in 2 days.

And yeah, the tie rods are quite easy to do - If you can do brake pads, you can do most anything on the car, especially the tie rods. 10 or 15 minutes a side and I did them for the first time because of the write-ups found here.

One thing that I needed was a nut splitter (10 bucks at AutoZone). The compression nut between the inner and outer rods got jammed with some rust and would not budge. If you're doing both inner & outer, you probably won't have to worry about getting one since the inner should come with a new nut.

daedalus · Post by **daedalus** » 07 Jul 2011, 07:48

vjaneczko wrote:Since you're in Maine, I'd check FCP; good parts, great prices....

Well, that is a good segue into a follow up question regarding these parts from FCP. How do they compare to OEM, such as what I can get at iPD? There is a slight price difference, but I am willing to spend that if there is a performance / durability consideration. Has anyone had any issues with these specific parts from FCP? Thanks again in advance.

Post by **jblackburn** » 07 Jul 2011, 08:15

FCP carries many OEM parts, but they're still usually pretty expensive. As erik above mentioned, if it's really cheap...it's probably junk. Look for the brands he posted above.

kiss4afrog · Post by **kiss4afrog** » 19 Sep 2011, 22:30

jblackburn wrote:FCP carries many OEM parts, but they're still usually pretty expensive. As Erik above mentioned, if it's really cheap...it's probably junk.

My 2 cents, always get the best quality you can in front end parts that steer, support or stop it. With the suspension and steering parts remember in most cases once you're done you are going to shell out 75 to 200 bucks for an alignment and even if you get a lifetime warranty on that 15 dollar whatever, they aren't going to pitch in on the alignment.
If you do a lot of the repairs yourself you might want to look for a "lifetime" alignment. That way if you aren't doing it all at once you can do the tie rods now, get it aligned and when you do the struts, control arms, ball joints etc later you get it aligned free.

swede_speed · Post by **swede_speed** » 20 Sep 2011, 18:06

Try www.RMEuropean.com

They have good prices and lowest prices I've found for OEM Control arms !

Sladethesleeper · Post by **Sladethesleeper** » 20 Sep 2011, 18:26

If you are in New England, can't go wrong with FCPGroton. 9 times out of 10, they'll have it to your door before Autozone or Napa will even have it in stock. And then there is the fact it's usually much cheaper and better quality.

I'm south of Boston and so long as I place my order before 2pm, I have it on my door the next day when I get home from work. If you order it today, you'll probably have it before friday using the ground option.