I have a great old Honda. Never had any issues with it. Just change the oil n whatnot and its good to go...


but I just bought some new tires, and was told the UPPER BALL JOINTS need replaced on the front of the vehicle..

(Im not much of a car guy) so I cant tell if the mechanic is trying to hose me.

The estimated cost for new ball joints is $300... they told me if I don't have them fixed, it will wear on my new tires and eventually break entirely ..



Any thoughts? THANKS!

 

300 bucks for the complete job? That's a good price for that job (at least where I live). The ball joints don't have that big of an impact on your alignment. They do allow for wobble and loose steering when worn, but struts and bushings make huge for your alignment.
How many miles are on the vehicle? Over 100k and it wouldn't hurt to have new ball joints installed.

 

If there is nothing wrong with the ball joints do not touch them.

it is very easy to tell if you have worn upper ball joints. Most times you may feel a slight jerk in the steering wheel during a turn or hear a clunk when going over a bump. You may also get a slight vibration in the steering wheel at highway speeds.

Also the upper ball joint can and will definitely cause tire wear if it is worn out. As it will cause a slight difference in camber angle. I don't know an alignment shop that will do an alignment on a car with worn ball joints or bushings for this very reason.

The easy way to see for yourself would be to have the mechanic put the car up on the hoist and have him show you the play in the ball joint. If they refuse to do that I wouldn't trust them.

if you want to look for yourself you will need to jack the front tire off the ground and support the car appropriately (jack stand, block of wood) With the tire off the ground grasp the tire in the 12 & 6 position (top and bottom) Then proceed to lightly push and pull the top and bottom alternately. If ether of the ball joints are worn you will have a noticeable in and out jerking movement in the wheel.

To check if it is lower or upper you will have to have someone look in behind the wheel and visually inspect each ball joint as you push and pull the tire. Considering that these joints are only supposed to spin in the socket and not move back and forth or up and down. It should be quite noticeable.

 

It's actually really easy to replace the upper control arms. You just need a Pittman tie-rod puller and a regular set of tools/sockets and just need a jack to remove the wheel and you can do each side in like an hour for someone that hasn't done them before.

You'll need a pick and a hammer to help remove the cotter pins as well.

 

thank you for the insight!

I have seen the ball joints with when the car was on a lift... there is a wobble in the joints if you jerk the tires with your arms

also, on the highway, the steering wheel does have a vibration

from your alls comments I do believe I need new ball joints

problem is, $300 is a LOT of money in my world. I have a tight budget.

I'll do what I can to save up and make it happen...

my next question would be.... what happens if I ignore this issue ??

('93 accord, 180k miles)

 

If they break it would be disastrous as you would probably lose control of steering on that side.

You can replace just the ball joint but it's not really cost effective. You would just want to replace the entire upper control arm. When they said the ball upper ball joints are bad they meant replacing the entire upper control arm.

 

From RockAuto you can pick up a pair of FUCA for $50-160 +shipping, Honda sells them for ~$150 each.

Find out what brand they were going to use before hand.

 

Stay away from Mevotech...all they make is junk.

 

I did my upper control arms on my 97 with moog. I compared them to the eom ones that were on the car since it was built and they were built so much better.