I have a bad left front UCA and scored a pair of 3 month old OEM arms for cheap. I also have a full set of lower bushings, ball joints and struts on the way that haven't arrived yet. Can I pop in the upper arms and wait a bit to get the alignement after I get the rest of the parts installed? Or would replacing the upper arms require an alignment right away? My search turned up write ups about 5th gens and half say yes, the other say it can wait or it won't be off by much. Would 4th gens be off by much if just the uppers are changed?

I ask because the one upper ball joint is pretty bad and I have time today to knock it out. Otherwise I don't want to drive it until I can get it all done and I won't get to the rest of the work until a couple weeks. I'll get it aligned after that.

Thanks

 

No you don't need to do the alignment as soon as you replace a part. I have been trouble shooting a bad steering pull for about a month now on my car. Also check around and see if anyone in your area offers lifetime alignment deals. I took my car to a Firestone dealer and a single alignment was $89, or a lifetime was $185. With the lifetime they will redo the allignment at no charge as often as you bring it in. Pretty sweet real I thought!

 

Thanks for the tip.

BTW, for anyone else wondering the same thing, there is absolutley no adjustment on the stock upper control arms with my 4th gen. So there should be very minimal effect, if any, on alignment when changing out just the UCAs. Which is like a half our job. It's more work getting the passenger side fuse box out of the way then changing the arms.

 

i would only do the alignment if you need it. sure teh arms are not adjustable, but if you had a worn out upper ball joint or the bushings in the anchor bolts were shot you could have altered alignment.

 

You'll be fine, just get it aligned as soon as the other parts are installed.

 

If your car is pulling your toe is out of alignment and you should get it taken care of immediately.
Its a huge safety hazard and is easy to adjust correctly at home.
Just do it yourself after the uca install then take it to a shop to check your caster angle.
Camber is not adjustable on our cars so don't worry about it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8qFjAB67vk