Avensis 54Reg 1.8 Petrol Manual Mot Advisories - Advice Needed!

[PradeepSharma]

Hi there,

My car has just gone through MOT and though it has passed, it has had the following advisories:

1. Offside front suspension arm ball joint dust cover damaged but preventing the ingress of dirt

2. Wear felt in off side front wheel bearing

I have been quoted £202.50 and £337.50 respectively for the above by Toyota Main dealer where I do services and had the MOT done.

My questions are:

A. Do the prices sound about right for these work?

B. Will the price come down considerably if taken to a non Toyota dealer?

C. How urgent are these works - which is a bigger priority?

D. Does anyone know of an honest, reasonable garage in Milton Keynes or nearby who could do this work by using original components?

Any other suggestions? I am no good at mechanical stuff so will not be doing the work myself.

Any suggestions gratefully received. Thanks in advance.

Regards

Pradeep

[garethpaul]

Prices are typical scary Toyota prices. You should get it done for a lot less at a good independent garage.

Neither would appear to be of immediate cause for concern.

Out of the two, then I would have thought the wheel bearing would be most safety critical as a fault here could end up with your wheel coming off.

If the suspension ball joint refers to anti-roll bar drop links, then they are cheap and easy to do and not safety critical.

However if they are referring to the bottom steering knuckle ball joint on the front, then if this fails your suspension could collapse

As they were only advisory you don't appear to be at risk of this anytime soon, however plan on getting them done ASAP.

Ask a few friends/family for recommendations for a garage. It's also worth looking at http://www.goodgaragescheme.co.uk/ as a start.

[+robster+]

Dust cover damaged but not allowing ingress of dirt so must not be split that would allow grease to dry out. Id leave that to develop as it may be a full wishbone thats reqd depending on the balljoint being part of the wishbone or not. Then tracking may have to be done also.

Front offside wheel bearing play. Again id put it off till you start hearing a grumble or notice excess heat from that area.

The prices are pretty steep and an independant garage will be cheaper. Old.wheel bearing can be a couple hours labour by using press on the hub to remove it and removal of track rod end will sometimes wreck it and req a new one.

Basically car has past its mot so dont panic and take time to get an inspection and quote from an indipendant garage. Should get whole lot done in a oner plus tracking done for £200 to £250 i would think cause parts should be under £100 and a few hours labour max as this is all common stuff for them to do all the time.

[PradeepSharma]

Thanks Gareth and Robbie, I am really glad I asked - the prices made me fall off my chair and I thought I would take expert advice in here - glad that I did. I will now seek local independent garages for inspection and pricing before going ahead with it.

Regards

Pradeep

[alan333]

Sounds expensive to me too. I'd think a decent mechanic would be able to change that lot in half a shift plus the price of the parts. Depending on how much an hour's labour is at your location I'd be looking for the whole job done for change from £200.