should i replace the some of the front suspension?

[bowlofturtle]

I have a 96 camry 4 cylinder that my mother drives once in a while. I think on average 2-3 times a month. She drives it in the city so never going 30mph.

Car has 115k on it now. Rust on the rears quarters. Pretty much a great beater for my mother since it starts up everytime. I do all the repairs and maintence work when i have time and remember. I drive it once in a while on the highway, kinda serves a lot of purposes. I get to see how the car drives, make sure nothing crazy wrong with it, it gets better MPG, clean out the carbon and etc.

I found the whole end to have very SLOPPY handling. I can move the steering about 5 degrees left or right and the car will still remotely go straight. LOTS of play in everything but manageable to drive. Car goes straight and turns when you want it. Overall really sloppy. I asked my mother about fixing it she said she didn't care about it and not to waste my money.

I did brakes, valve cover and both front axles this summer because those were HUGE things for me to replace. Now i feel the car SHOULD benefit a lot from new tie rod ends and ball joints. They look like cake to do, ball joint is 3 nuts and i think a larger nut. tie rods are just a 17/19mm nut, cotter pin and twist off. But i do need an alignment after. My main question is safety, with those worn i think its safe to drive. Nothing life or death related. It breaks or is worn it should make a noise and have more slop, right?

It my mother, obviously i dont want anything to happen, but she doesn't want it fix. Would there be more things i need to replace? Sway bar related i dont care about, i know thats just body roll related. Wheel bearings aren't making any noise what so ever. Struts might need replacement but they blow and the car just sags.

Clearly the car is a beater and most likely worth $1000 on a good day. But the car gives my mother a sense of freedom so we keep the thing around. Also my brother uses it when he comes back from college in the summer and breaks. Funny thing was my mother told me not to do another belt on it, took me like 5 hours to do it. when it comes time for it we are just going to sell it for what its worth. Oddly enough the car just keeps on running. All these parts are like $10-30 which is really cheap. My rear camber arm on my g35 ran $150.

[Mister_Perkins]

If your tie-rod breaks your going to be in some trouble.

Jack the car up and take both front tires off. (make sure to use jack stands to support the car)

Have a helper sit in the car without it turned, but the ignition to the "ON" position and have them wiggle the wheel left to right. Watch the play in the tie-rods. You can physically pull and push the tie rods as well.

Note: While the car is on the ground, you should be able to feel if your tie-rods are going bad as well. (left right)

Also you would notice uneven tire wear if a ball joint or tie-rod is going bad. A Ripped boot is on the tie-rod or ball joint is a problem as well and should be replaced as soon as possible.

[carsrus]

Honestly these parts are really cheap for a camry. A tie rod is something like $!6 at autozone and if you measure the length/threads when you remove the old one and put it on exactly the same way you shouldn't need an alignment.

Then again if the tires are wearing even and it doesnt pull... your probally alright.

[bowlofturtle]

last time i measured out the tie rod, reinstalled it still needed an alignment. Tires aren't wearing bad, looks fairly normal.

Anything else i should look into that is giving me this much play.... new pads/rotors/ cv axle were done. I checked the sway end links and not broken or damaged. Only thing would be tie rods and ball joints, tires and wheel bearing but wheel bearing hums or wobbles w/o me doing anything down the road.

I might use the advance $20 off $50