It so happens that my car has now been suffering from the "steering rod, upper-control arms" syndrome for a couple of months. Well, it's a '98 so nothing totally unexpected as the forums abound in which messages can be found regarding such a problem.
The most incredible has turned out to be that I vividly remember taking my car in for "defective rod replacement covered under guarantee" or as Americans will have it a recall letter back in 2000.
Now, I've just been to the dealer for visual inspection and confirmation, and it turns out that neither their computer nor the service book have any record or such rod replacement.
Upon inspection the receptionist has very kindly noticed that both steering rods and the four upper control arm rods - read arms, need to be replaced.
The biggest surprise came when he said since he had no record in his computer - yes, it's the same dealer I went to in 2000 - he should have to check for a sticker that should have been placed under the boot floor mat. Guess what? They never actually replaced the rods, but they did tell me they had. It was a very honest man who attended to me at the dealer's today, but he said as the recall "campaign" had ended long ago, the odds are the repair is not going to be covered. More intriguingly yet, my car is now in for another campaign, this time regarding the lower arms. He also admitted that while he had seen a lot of the upper ones replaced, this had never been the case for lower arms. He said he was going to check with the officials and call me back this week, so I'll keep you posted.
Believe me, I really have pumpered my car's suspension and I told the guy that I've never seen or heard of any other street cars - including much cheaper ones - in which their suspension systems didn't last for the life of the car, unless an accident had been involved - excepting dampers, of course.