No it's not true. I just did my ball joints (both sides) The job is very easy if you know how to spin a wrench. Jack the car up. Put another jack under the spring. Just lightly put tention on the spring. Then take the brake calb. off and then take the ABS sensor off, then take the strut off. There is a bolt holding the the whole wheel assembly on to the lower ball joint. Take that off. Then take a ball joint fork and split it and pull it off. Now the fun starts. Take the rubber cover off the ball joint. I also took off the front sway bar, I didn't take off the tie rod, I left it on, I had plenty of room. Now you heat the heck out of the area the ball joint is seated. I used and asediling torch (sorry for the spelling), when it started glowing orange, I wacked it with a 2 LB hammer and pop came right off. I have a ball joint press, which looks like a large C clamp with a few attachments that go over the new ball joints and I pressed them in. The whole job took about 45 min per side. While I was there I did the top strut support mounts, Got them cheap on ebay, and they were Beilsteins too. Also did the brakes. I use to be a mechanic so it's a little more easy for me, but a very easy job. (Oh I also had the creeking noise when I was driving slow or making a turn at slow speed or stopped.) Now no noise car rides great and all is well. I didn't need an alignment because I didn't touch the tie rods. Good luck I hope this helped.
Rob

PS my car is a 124 91 300D 2.5
PPSS always do them both if one went the other one is going to go very soon