I did have the car inspected this week. The garage I went to has a rep for being through which actually I like since I drive the car at 75 or so every day. I specifically asked that they be take a good gander at the front end parts. They were the ones told me the upper control arms and bushings were fairly new. No mention of ball-joint problems. I will do a crawl and check tomorrow for rubber boot problems. If, in fact, the ball-joints are ready for replacement will I have to go to MB for this or can a suspension shop do the job? What am I looking at ball-park here, 500, 1000 more ?? It's an important factor in that the car, although liked very much, is not truly loved if you know what I mean.

Thanks Much.

PS, don't tell the car I said that :-)