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Firestone Tires $105 for a left out tie rod? Altoona, Pennsylvania
So I have 2003 Pontiac Grand Am SE1 v6 and took it to Firestone since they had a coupon for a $29 state and emissions test. When I dropped it off everything seemed fine. I got a call the next day at work letting me know I needed a left front outter tie rod end which didn't surprise me since I had 93,000 miles on the car. They also suggested I get a front end allignment done after I had that along with a coolant flush (which had just been done 5,000 mile earlier). So when I asked how much to have the tie rod end and front end allignment he told me $314 with the sate inspection which with tax came to about $37. I told them to not do any work and I would call them right back. Immed called my husband who worked on humvees in the army and he informed me that is a major rip off and he could do it for me. I called Auto Zone and they had the part for $27. So I got home my husband fix it in a 1/2 hour. I found out after reading all the paperwork from firestone they were charging me $105 for the tie rod end and $80 for labor and $60 for the front end alligment. What I have learned from all this is to never go to a big name auto place. The little guys are generaly the best and the least expensice. Any mechanic worth their weight in salt would have no porblem showing you the problem. After taking my car back to get it reinspected (it passed) I gave them the old part which by the way was not broken. But hey got a new tie rod end put on and learned all about how not to get riped off in the end.