I just bought this 2005 Scion tC from a dealership, and noticed a little knock in the test drive. I know a lot about cars, and figured it was the lower ball joint. I got it home, jacked it up, and could move the wheel up and down. I knew it was a bad strut right away. It completely separated from the strut mount.

Strange thing is I hit some bumps, and speed bumps, but didn't hear the noise all the time, and I did the test where you apply weight to the 4 corners of the car, and see how many times it bounces. It came up first time every time. These tests I did at the dealership which is why I figured it was a lower ball joint.

I know the sway bar links need replaced, cause of bad boots.

My question is what else could be damaged from this strut?

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Tire wear and maybe a tiny bit of extra wear on all the rubber bushings on that corner, not a big deal if the tires are in good shape.

 

I decided to remove the outer tie rod ends which both had broken boots. Both inner tie rods also need replaced. Dejavu I just did struts, sway bar links, inner and outer tie rod ends on my wife's car.

How do you tell if the rack, and pinion is bad?

I am hoping this is the end of replacing parts for a while.

 

If the rack is bad it will usually grind when turning and/or have a tonnnn of play.

That's some fairly serious damage for one corner.. do you know if the car was hit at all?

 

Clean title, and doesn't look like it was in an accident at all.

 

That's good. Sounds like it was just never taken care of them. Hopefully that's the extent of it, but if they neglected that so much there's no telling what else is coming. Best of luck with it tho.