I had my 24 titan 4x towed to the dealer for severe front end steering wobble and pulling that came on suddenly as I was backing into a parking spot. I assumed it would be some sort of Nissan warranty work.

They are saying its collision induced damage.
Replace rack and pinion assembly due to impact bending both inner tie rod ends on the steering rack, rack is skipping inside and not aligned. - $3,225
Replace outer tie rod end materials - $260
Replace driver side suspension control arm found to be bent and crocked at ball joint - $970
About $150 for balancing and alignment.

I was just wondering if that sounds reasonable or if I could expect to realize significant savings elsewhere. As I try to make my decision about just doing it there, changing shops or if it might be worth trying to get USAA involved.

Any advice would be appreciated.

6-7 months ago I scraped the skid plate crossing a little dirt culvert in the back of the office when the gate got stuck. I wasn't hauling but it was a bit of a jolt. The only physical damage I noticed at the time was breaking the license plate holder. No handling change.

2 months ago this same place did an alignment with the oil change, if it would have caught any damage from the above incident.

Week after that alignment I caught a pretty large pothole on the passenger side at speed on i-10 driving to Lake Charles. No handing change noticed.

Last week I scraped a curb on the passenger side wheel headed to the hospital. I drifted into it a bit going probably 40-45, didn't pop the curb. I just mention because it was so recent.

For completeness, I was in an actual collision a year ago. I see listed that they replaced the left control arm, stabilizer and tie rod. No mention of the rack and pinion though.

And that is all I can think of. Other than that, I can only assume something got thrown up under when I was driving and I didn't notice.

It's my daily driver.
I'm in San Antonio.

Sounds to me like your r&p has finally succumbed to some pretty good beatings
But any shop should be able to do that work, and probably for a lot less than the dealer

aggiedata said:

---

I don't know much about anything any more

But I do know this: a vetted, non dealer shop will be less expensive and do equal if not better work.

Where is this located? I'm sure we can get suggestions on multiple shops to get another quote.

---

Sounds like this poster stayed in a Holiday Inn Express last night. Seems pretty clear it is NOT a warranty issue and NOT the fault of Nissan. Go to a good independent shop and get a better price. Dealer is typically the most expensive option.

bexar said:

---

Last week I scraped a curb on the passenger side wheel headed to the hospital. I drifted into it a bit going probably 40-45, didn't pop the curb. I just mention because it was so recent.

---

That's a lot of force going into your steering and suspension components, and is probably what caused all the damage to your front end. Sometimes symptoms of failed components take a little time to make themselves known.

That being said, not seeing the actual quote makes it hard but those rates don't seem terrible considering its the dealer. Those steering racks ain't cheap to be begin with especially an OEM part + dealer labor rates.

maverick2076 said:

---

Sounds to me like maybe paying a little more attention when you are driving would save you $4500 next time.

---

yeah, I always wondered why they say we all will be in a minor fender bender or hit something at some point. Now I see OP is pulling up the averages for the rest of us.