My father in-law used to have a 1984 Ford Tempo.

He had 5 different noises, 1 at 3 corners, 2 at the passenger side Front.

Shocks were good, the spring were well within squat-limits (Front and Rears == Coiled Struts).

One corner had a "clung-clung-clung" sound when the steering wheel turned.

The other had a Sequak with any movement of the car and a grinding noise when ever the car went over a bump.

The rears had a rattle, other had a loud click once in a while

The "clung-clung-clung" was fixed by the rubber lubricant after a good spraying at a carwash, there was a lot crud and dirt above the spring mount causing the strut-bearing to bind.

The squeak was fixed by cleaning (at the car wash) and lubricating the the rubber stabilizer bar's bushings, we did all four.

The grinding noise ended up being a "stick caught in the spring" across diameter as a chord, sort of like crossways and dragged on the plastic of the fender wheel.

The click, was the lower control arm rubber bushings, stuck to the bolt which was binding and then meeting a "break-point" and let go. Had to keep lubricating that one for a couple of weeks.

The rattle ended up being the Strut Dust-cover that was loose from the top of the spring mount.

He had driven with these problems for years (except the stick) and I finally had to convince him to fix them.

AS far as the prices, get an over the phone quote (tell them it is just for estimating how long you need to save) and that you won't "hold them to it" assuming a "no additional problems found while fixing".

Every dealership I know of will do that, barring the Mercedes/Audi/VW/Porsche/Saab dealer in town.