First off, a little background. I have a 93 prelude. Nuespeed race springs (2.25" front, 2.00" rear), and SPC balljoint camber kit on the front.

Well, I was used to the large amounts of rubbing I had been getting because I have 225/45 tires (I got them BEFORE I got the camber kit, I know they are huge). And If I hit an occasional bad bump, I would cringe as a loud knock came from my front fenders. I knew it was my ball-joints because they were huge compared to the stock ones. Well, for some reason I just noticed something today as I was checking my oil. My ball-joints are starting to make their way through into my engine bay. The holes arent very big, like 1" on each side. And I don't bring my car to the autox very much. What should I do? Wait until I get a new suspension (4+ years) and then just get them welded back down? Or does this need some more immediate attention? Here are some pictures...

Driver's Side:


Passenger Side:


Is this going to affect my car in any way? I haven't jacked the car up yet to see possible damage to the suspension, I will do that soon.

Thanks for the help


Modified by honda3431 at 5:45 PM 4/24/2006

 

Unfortunately that's common with most aftermarket balljoints when you're dropped around 2." With such small dents/holes, you're not really killing the structural integrity. Just don't go cutting holes so the joints clear

The only way to really fix the problem is to raise the car with coilovers/new springs or to reinstall stock joints (you can get them from Pro Suspension instead of ordering all new arms from Honda) and deal with the camber.

 

Well, a friend of mine just opened my eyes as to why this can be bad. He said once the balljoints make their way through, the tires could start rubbing on something new and worse..that could pop them potentially. Or the ball joints could get torn up and break.

So, I kinda want to fix this with as little money as possible. I don't want to go cheap and pull a half-*** job, but if there is more than one route, I want the cheaper one. So my options are:
1. Return to stock balljoints and see how that does.
2. Spend some $$$ on some new suspension. But I love how low my car is.
3. ???

Anybody have any suggestions? or experiance with this problem? I am currently searching through the archived content to see what i can find... wish me luck.

 

thanks for posting this man, i have adjustable coilovers, and was about to get some spc ball joints and drop my car 2.5 inches or so with 225/45 r 17 drag radials. im wondering what kind of struts u have?? are they adjustable for different stiffness? caus i have kyb agx, so i guess i would have to turn them to all the way hard and make it a rough *** ride to drive this setup. if u have strait replacement springs and not coilovers, i guess u cant really just adjust ride height, i do bodywork and i would say either raise it back up, get coilovers which wouldnt cost u that much, remove the adjustable ball joints and sell them to me and just pay close attention to ur unevenly worn tires, or take a ball pien hammer and bang up on the wheel house so it doesnt hit. the only other thing it would rub is the fender, u can roll the egdes up on them to get a lil bit more clearance. thats all i got, but seriously thanks for the heads up, let me know what u end up doing

 

The rest of my suspension is stock... so getting coilovers will help? If I do that, Do I have to take off the balljoints? I don't know very much about suspension... sorry

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by honda3431 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The rest of my suspension is stock... so getting coilovers will help? If I do that, Do I have to take off the balljoints? I don't know very much about suspension... sorry </TD></TR></TABLE>

with the balljoints you have now, you need to raise the car in some way to stop the joints from hitting. Coilover sleeves will help only if you use them to raise the car. Make sense?

Before you had the joints installed, what were your camber specs? (do you still have the spec sheet from when you got the car aligned? that will have the specs). If they weren't too bad, you can probably go back to stock joints. Stock joints will run you about $150 shipped (for 4 joints) and you'll need someone to press them in for you.

Neuspeed Race springs are also awfully stiff for stock shocks. The shocks are probably sagging a little bit. New shocks would raise you up a hair and if they're firmer shocks like Koni or especially Bilstein, you'll be less likely to hit on bumps because they'll compress less. You can see that there are a few different ways to approach this problem really - balljoints, shocks, springs, or all 3.

I'd let it go until you can afford to get new shocks and possibly new front joints.

 

go back to stock camber arms would be my suggestion, i had aftermarket ones and they're all disappointing

 

I like my ingalls camber kits, the type that replace the factory anchor bolts in the uca.

 

Bigger, stiffer, or shimmed bumpstops.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by HxClude &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
Before you had the joints installed, what were your camber specs? (do you still have the spec sheet from when you got the car aligned? that will have the specs). If they weren't too bad, you can probably go back to stock joints. Stock joints will run you about $150 shipped (for 4 joints) and you'll need someone to press them in for you.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

Well, I keep everything for my car and I found the receipt for the alignment but Kauffman Tire failed to attatch the spec sheet. But I only got the allignment because of excessive inner tire wear.

So my options after some searching and a few suggestions....

1. Stock Balljoints (I think I may still have mine at my parents house)
2. New Bump Stops (I found somewhere in the archive from somewhere called Ground Control. Any other good places to get some quality ones that will help?)
3. Stiff aftermarket shocks (Bilstein, Koni)
4. Back to stock Springs (I wouldn't be very happy)
5. Coilovers (I know they will raise my car, but can I keep my nuespeed springs and still fix my camber with the balljoint?)

Any money I spend will have to be borrowed, so I have to keep that in mind. Bump Stops are cheap, but will they truley help and to what degree will they?
I am leaning towards some Bilstein shocks... Any idea how much this will help alone? What about the shocks AND bump stops?

Any more suggestions would be great. I would rather try to keep my car aligned. I wouldn't mind a ride that is stiff. Thanks for all the input so far

 

bump to first page

 

i suggest that you go back to your stock upper arm, and go back for a realignment, having them do as much with the camber as they can, but ZERO out your toe, as that is the true culprit behind your tire wear.. camber GOOD, toe BAD

 

the coilovers will replace ur springs, and have adjustment to raise and lower ur car, this would be cheaper then stock springs, i def wouldnt do that. kyb agx adjustable shocks are maybe 250, but when u put them to stiff, ur car will ride rough. did u buy the extreme camber kit? for adjustment of 3.0 degrees?? that one is made for cars that are really low, i dont know if the joints are different, but it shouldnt rub if it is made to be dropped really low. ground control coilovers are fairly cheap, search on ebay or something. good luck bro

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by bburtonsk8r2 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> did u buy the extreme camber kit? for adjustment of 3.0 degrees?? </TD></TR></TABLE>

Yes, I have the extreme camber kit...

Anyways, thought I would let everyone know what I ended up deciding to do. I wanted to keep my ride height... and I didn't want to spend too much money. So I decided that I am either getting Bilstein Sport shocks or maybe Koni's(haven't decided yellow or red yet... any thoughts?). And I am gunna put some nice size bump stops on there too. All this will be done in the matter of a few weeks. I just have to wait to get a little loan from my parents.