I had my timing belt, water pump, idler pulleys and tensioners replaced and also the 2 serpentine belts. Right afterwards, there was a new grinding type noise coming from the front right wheel area and my steering wheel was no longer centered. Went back to the shop to find out what was the problem was. He explained something about the control arm which I didn't understand, but then said the problem is a rubber boot kind of thing that had already deteriorated and that when he did the timing belt, that the car had to sit in a way that it's weight was not supported like it would be normally and that caused the already deteriorating rubber to tear. So now I need to have that repaired on both sides, although it's worse on the right side and it's going to cost around $500 to do this to both sides.

Does this sound right or is it hinky? Was there a way to support the weight of the car while I assume it was up on the rack, that he should have done to prevent this? I'm a little bit peeved that after paying for a large repair that now I have to have an even more costly repair done. If this is a common occurrence, should he have mentioned it before he did the work?

Thanks in advance.

 

I'm not sure about the details because there is no use of proper terms/vocabulary but:
I assume the mechanic was talking about the CV shaft boots.
With the car on the lift, the suspension hangs low. This can cause extra extension on the travel of parts.
From what you have said, putting the car on the lift caused the suspension to go slack and the CV boots ripped. I think this would be noticed while they were doing the original repairs but I guess they didn't notice?
When were the repairs done? When was the noise noticed?

 

The repairs were done about a month ago. The noise was noticed when I pulled into my driveway right after driving it home from the shop. I went back there the next day.

I know what the CV boots are but he didn't use that terminology with me. He said something about a control arm and then there was a rubber part inside of something.

I think I'm going to take the car to another mechanic and see what they say. What is the typical lifespan of CV boots? I'm in a desert climate so rubber does take a beating here. I guess I just really want to know if he could have prevented this from happening and/or warned me ahead of time that it might happen. Maybe he did notice it but didn't want to say anything since what he did apparently caused it. Do people typically have this problem after replacing the timing belt, etc?

 

Your car has 125K miles so I would expect the CV's to be okay. But, like you said, the desert climate can be hard on the rubber.
The control arm does have bushings in it and they do wear. The lifting of the vehicle and the slack in the suspension can make this wear rear it's head.
A second opinion is good and explain the situation to them so they know the back story.
Keep us posted.