Midas said i need new ball joints. what exactly are ball joints? the said i have 1/2 inch of movement in my tires...is that really bad? is $744 a reasonable quote?

 

Price seems high to me even with an alignment added. Uppers come with new control arms and lowers are just pressed into existing lower arms.
Ball joints are the joints that your steering knuckles pivot on. They do wear out as do the tie rod ends that connect your steering knuckles to your steering rack. The rack is connected to your steering wheel through the column.

 

they wanted another 54 for the alignment too

 

$744 sounds so f-n high!!! my '01 got new ball joints for $300 installed & lined.

and as you can see, I really needed new ball joints

 

Check around I just replaced the lowers on mine with over 100,000 mi and the uppers were like new. Did it myself, bought the ball joints from Autozone, $80 for both lowers, easy job if you are mechanicly inclined and have basic tools, you can borrow a ball joint press from Autozone for free. Could be there is nothing wrong with the uppers maybe they are trying to sell something you don't need The lowers usualy go out long before the uppers. For that price I could almost drive to your house to do the job and still make a few $$

 

That sounds high to me also. My dealership just did some work on my Screw. THey replaced my upper and lower ball joints along with my idler arm and aligned the front end. It was covered under my extended warranty, but the bill was about $730.00 and we all know how high the dealerships are on parts and labor.