Well I got some new front tires after they were worn pretty bad on the side of the tires. I told the guy to do an alignment too. After doing the tires he said he couldn't align the car because the front tie rods were frozen (he could not turn them to adjust them.) I brought it to another tire guy, and he didn't even look at the car when I told him it was an A4. He said take it to the dealer (which I probablycannot afford to do.)
Do the tie rods freeze up on these or is the guy just weak? Has anyone replaced their tie rods? Is it a pain? What should I do, because I don't want to ruin mynew tires b/c of misalignment.

Thanks

 

i replaced mine. the only parts that maybe a little hard is getting it the same length as it was on the car. is ur car lowered? there's rly not much any1 can do for an alignment on our cars if all the suspension is stock or OEM parts. my car had 111k on it when i changed it and it was a vermont car, i took it off really easily.

 

My car is 100% stock with 104k miles. It's definitely out of alignment, the tire was worn way down on one side, and had probably 40% tread left on the other. I wonder if it would be possible to remove the tie rod, put it in a vice and break it the adjusting part free, and slop a bunch of antiseize in there? Or is it absolutely necessary to buy 2 new tie rod assemblies from Blaufernugen for $90 a piece?

 

The guy is weak. Mine were siezed too. Propane, pb blaster, etc. wouldnt cut it. Took it to a muffler shop and they used their own heat (forget what its called, but it gets a lot hotter than propane) to get em off. www.purems.com sells beefy tie rod ends made by Meyle for $33ish per TR.

 

Tie rod ends are no different than any other threaded fastener left outside. Heat, penetrant, and force. Any "shop" that can't get one loose shoud be in another business.

 

I had my tie rod ends replaced at 110K mi. The right one was loose,
and heat was needed to remove them. It cost $450 with an alignment.