The Jeep's not ready yet. Spoke to the service writer who tried to tell me that the arms were replaced because they were old. 2007 is old? My '87 Buick has original control arms, bushings and ball joints and comparable mileage and dont' make any noise. Either way, after replacement they couldn't get the vehicle to align, so they took it apart and discovered a bent knuckle and something else...possibly the spindle.
Doesn't make sense to me at ALL. Guy said that there must have been some sort of collision with the front suspension. We've had the car for 3 years and it had 8k on it when we got it. The tires were original. Vehicle was perfectly aligned before and hasn't been aligned since we've had it. While I understand that someone might have tagged it before we got it, you'd think it'd show up in the past 32k miles and three years, and it just doesn't seem likely.
They are covering everything under the warranty, so it's not costing anything else, but I'm concerned about longevity and other issues arising later. We're supposed to drive to Tennessee tomorrow late afternoon and even if the Jeep is ready to go (dealer said no promises) I'm not keen on a road trip through the mountains and possibly dragging a trailer back with it.
I'm planning on going to the dealer tomorrow and speaking directly to the mechanic. Hopefully I can see the parts too.