Outside Tie Rod
 

I went to a Midas in San Francisco with a problem of my steering column and tires shaking intermittently at high speeds. They said my driver's side tie rod needed to be replaced and I should replace both of them. They wanted to charge 300 dollars in parts and 175 in labor(including an alignment). Is this a fair price? They couldn't get the parts sameday and I wasn't available to come in the next day.
The guy at Midas didn't say anything about it being dangerous to drive on so should I not be too worried about getting this fixed right away? I'm looking for a good car guy in San Francisco who won't try to rip me off too bad. Any suggestions?

2002 Saturn L-200

Have your nearest Saturn dealer check it out ... and get a price.

Sounds like a tire balance problem to me. Swap the rear tires to the front and see if the problem disappears. You can also push the tie rod around by hand and see how much play it has. You don't change them all just because one is bad. I've got 230 k on mine and it still has the original tie rod ends on it.

Personally I would get a second opinion. It is unusual to have a tie rod end wear out, not impossible and an alignment is about $65.00 or so and I assume that you do not do any of your own work. For me replacing a Tie Rod end is not a big deal and parts cost can be verified at an autoparts store by just checking at the counter. I'm not sure a dealer is a good suggestion at this point in time as they are quickly dissappearing. Chain repair stores or a local mechanic should work out o.k. for a second opinion, not a second midas. Frankly to me the cost sounds a bit stiff. I would find it hard to believe that both need replacing on an 8 year old car.

Just doing a quick search I found these:
http://www.partsgeek.com/gbproducts/...ek+Google+Base

$300 in parts sounds pretty steep.
Also, I would also tend to lean toward tire balance, shocks, alignment first. Before a tie rod.

220K on both my S cars -- all tie rod ends orig; these don't tend to wear out -- replacement is required if you damage them.....

Agree that it sounds like a tire balance issue or possibly uneven tire wear issue combined with a balance issue