Hi car people. I haven't contributed anything to the cars & vehicles forum because I don't know much about cars (I still retain my membership in the Dudes Club--I know how to change a tire and I know how to change the oil, so rest easy, fellow dudes).

But I have a quick question. I'm selling my car to a nice family and I took it over today to get oil changed, tires balanced, wheels aligned. I want to leave it in super duper shape. No crummy car from me that'll break down over the summer.

Autoport folks were really nice and helpful. But when it came time to do the wheel alignment, they stopped. They said both side tension rod assemblies needed to be replaced first, then they could do the alignment. Total cost for that and wheel alignment will be 419.00.

That makes me sad, as it looks like I'm gonna take a 2700 dollar loss on a 1996 Cedric I just bought last year (it's on here in car sales. I should probably take it down now, hah!). But I don't care, at least I got something back and it's a beautiful wonderful car. So I'm okay.

Here's my question: if I get this replaced, will this last for a long long long time? I just don't want to do it and then have the same problem happen later to this guy. The car drifts to the right, it's done that for a few months. I was gonna get it done if I didn't get a PCS.

I thought about taking it over to the Car Hobby place, but I don't have the time to get it fixed there (NOT that the Autoport is bad. I freakin' love the Autoport). I just wanna make sure this is a permanent kinda thing that'll make the car happy again.

Sorry for the long post. Thank you for reading and I hope you can offer your car expertise!

the tension rod should last the life of the car unless you hit something and bent it. In all likeleyhood (spelling) it's the bushings on the rod that have gone bad. Either way this is a minor repair (despite the high cost) and the car should be good for many years to come, as long ad the engine and transmission are in order.

Drudwn, thank you so very much for responding. I feel much better now. Yay and yay to you for being so helpful!

Yeah, engine runs really well and transmission was great when I got it checked.

THANK YOU SIR!

No problem... All suspension and steering related things on a car are easy fixes (except when the car has been wrecked). Even most engine problems are a breeze.... When the transmission has problems.... That's when I start to worry. But if that's all good carry on....