Ok the dealer said that my suspension sway bar/bushings needed replacement ($430 quote). The bushings are rubber, I understand that they would wear down over time. He stated that the car is pulling left a bit and it could be an axel problem, could be suspension sway bar/bushing, etc. BTW, the car is making no noises in regards to the suspension. I'm thinking this is an early sign but it probably does need to be replaced. Absolutely nothing major that I've noticed.

2001 S40, 51K miles, never driven hard or for very long distances. My father thinks this is bull and that 51K is very low mileage for bushing replacement.

Yeah, I'm a chick but I'm not an idi*t. I take good care of my car. But I don't want to be screwed over ;-)

Comments, suggestions? Thanks so much!

When it comes to bushings time causes more wear than mileage sometimes. However I don't see why that would make the car pull to the left. Pulling to the left or right is most commonly caused by tires.

I would try rotating the tires from front to back and see if you still have a pulling problem before spending money needlessly on parts. My car is VERY sensitive to tire pull. When I first bought my car it pulled and I ended up rotating the tires every way possible until I finally found the perfect rotation. I had pull to the right, rotated and ended up with pull to the left, finally on the third tire swap combination I found it to drive perfectly straight.

You may also find that many tires cause a lot of noise on these cars that can be mistaken for bad wheel bearings. I found a website that suggested you avoid running tires with a block style tread pattern. I guess it's just a suspension design issue. My original Michelin tires were so noisy I hated driving my car.

Good luck!