ArandA4

Had a clunking from my driver side. Both upper control arm ball joint boots were torn. Total swap time was about an hour and a half. I had already done my passenger side because those boots were torn too.

Clunking all gone, total part cost under $300. Probably close to that saved in labor.

I wish I'd thought to take pictures, but it really is pretty straight forward. Requires pulling the shock body out since the control arms are bolted to the upper mount and you can't get the control arm bolts out with the shock body on the car. Only requires loosening 7 bolts (3 upper mount bolts in engine bay), lower shock to control arm bolt, upper control arm ball joint clamp bolt, and 2 control arm pivot bolts.

Clout

do you need to get an alignment after pulling out the shock?

ArandA4

unless of course you install new shocks/spring. But I'm wondering if I should get an alignment after swapping upper control arms.

This answer is probably yes to be safe.