My luck with cars....

[Mars]

So im out a hundred miles form home visiting my fiance, and i hear a ping form my suspension.
Before i could think about doing anything, i heard a horrible grinding noise and lose my steering.
Somehow i made it safely out fo traffic, and upon inspection, my front wheel is leaning in slightly.

Got it towed to a local firestone shop (only place open on a weekend), and they replaced my lower balljoint.

That got me home fine, and so i have my car jacked up today to change the oil (and inpect my suspension) and i notiec that the lower contorl arm right about where the balljoint is dosnt look right. Where the toher side is smooth all the way to the end of arm, the drivers side is kind of notched upward. i get to feeling around, and it turns out the arm broke off of the joint and ground into the wheel. Its kind of hard to tell, but i think the arm may be cracked. How hard are these guys to replace?

[Mars]

p.s. you can see part of the gouge on the wheel int he bakcground

['89AccordLX(Rus)]

The lower control arm isn't difficult to replace if you can get the pinch fork and body mount bolts out. I suggest you soak the crap out of them with PB Blaster. Your bushing looks a bit cracked. May be a good time to install a new one. You'll need a puller and at the least basic hand tools. Air tools help. Having a torch may also be beneficial. Hope this helps.

[Mars]

PHEW, i got the wheel off and steam cleaned the contorl arm, its not cracked.

[FyreDaug]

wow thats wierd, and that damn shop didnt say anything? pricks

[Mars]

it was a corporate shop =/
i didnt have anywhere else to take it, i figured a firstone shop would be better than picking a random garage in a town ive never serviced a car in.