Ball Joint and Idler Arm Replacement

[Skippy]

My 300D has been making a clunking sound from the front end for a while. Being both somewhat busy and very lazy, I haven't done the troubleshooting on this myself, except to get under the car and inspect the control arm bushings, which seem to be intact, but a bit weathered.

Lately, I noticed that the right front tire is getting feathered on the inside of the tread. I also recently bought a much-lower-mileage 240D and realized that the front end of the 300 feels much sloppier than the 240. I was used to American land yachts and the 300 felt more or less normal in comparison to them.

So, I brought the 300 to my local independent shop, with whom I've been doing business for over a year, and who've treated me fairly in the past. The diagnosis: Bad upper and lower ball joints, and a bad idler arm. Ok, pretty much what I expected. Now the kicker-they want $1600 for the repair. This seems excessive.

I looked up the ball joint replacement procedure in my Chilton manual, and it looks pretty straightforward, though it does require some tools that I don't have, such as a spring compressor and a ball joint press. As I mentioned, I'm pretty lazy, so I'd like to farm this work out if the price is good. OTOH, I'm also cheap, and this is a car I bought for $800, so I'm open to the possibility of buying/renting the tools and doing it myself.

Fellow forum members, what do you recommend?

Note: I don't have a garage, and my aparment management frowns on vehicle repair in the parking lot, but I may be able to work a facility rental from a co-worker who just had a shop built.