When I got my tires switched onto my new rims today I found out my front right side ball joint in the control arm is no longer there, how safe is it to drive around like this. I've been hearing a sound for a while now just never knew it was that. Guy said 275 for the part, labor, and a alignment... I'm going to try and push off on this for as long as I can, hopefully a week or so.

 

Anyone with some input?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JdmEGHatch6 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">When I got my tires switched onto my new rims today I found out my front right side ball joint in the control arm is no longer there, how safe is it to drive around like this. I've been hearing a sound for a while now just never knew it was that. Guy said 275 for the part, labor, and a alignment... I'm going to try and push off on this for as long as I can, hopefully a week or so.</TD></TR></TABLE>

WTF?? Are you sure the ball joint is gone?? How is that possible? Your car will not go down the road w/o a ball joint.

 

I think he means the boot.. because if it was the ball joint itself you cant even drive it.

 

Hmmm like I said I don't really know much about this stuff just yet, but yea I guess it is the boot then. Is a whole new arm or what ever really needed, the dude at mavis said it was but I looked and it doesn't really look like anything but the little boot thing. Sorry I'm trying to explain my best but I'm not familiar with this stuff.

 

Also the only thing I ever notice while driving is when i come in my bumpy drive way or hit big holes it makes a hitting sound, nothing really loud but you can hear it, it really only happens in my drive way for the most part.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JdmEGHatch6 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Hmmm like I said I don't really know much about this stuff just yet, but yea I guess it is the boot then. Is a whole new arm or what ever really needed, the dude at mavis said it was but I looked and it doesn't really look like anything but the little boot thing. Sorry I'm trying to explain my best but I'm not familiar with this stuff.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Check out the image at this link:

http://www.hondaautomotivepart...UCKLE


#6 & #8 are the upper control arms (left and right). If you want to replace the upper ball joint with a new OEM one you have to get the whole upper arm. It's $106.76 from hondaautomotiveparts.com. You can find aftermaket ones online for a lot less. Or if you ever want to change your camber settings you can get adjustable ones.

 

Yea that is probably what it is, he said the whole thing was needed. 275 is right I guess, 50 alone is for the new alignment so i guess the rest is labor... this sucks.

 

um, what kind of "hitting sound" ? that might be another problem entirely, like your strut(s)

 

Nope def. not the struts, not that it would really matter since I have AGX's waiting to go in. Its def. the boot thing mentioned above.

 

to be safe - purchase a new ball joint - remove the knucle assembly from you car and have a shop press out your old ball joint and press in the new one.

 

im leaning towards the boot. my nut came off my lower balljoint once, and the control arms seperated and the front corner of my car hit the ground. u can get balljoints from hondaautomotive parts for like 30 something dollars, or go to autozone (or pep boys- is there pep boys in poughkeepsie??) for a few dollars cheaper. u can install your own lower balljoint- remove the locking clip and bang out the old one, then slip the new one down from the top of the lca, use a rubber mallot or something semi soft to hit it into place, then install the locking ring from the underside of the control arm. i did mine in my friends driveway in jersey last november, it tool like 45 minutes

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by blackeg &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">im leaning towards the boot. my nut came off my lower balljoint once, and the control arms seperated and the front corner of my car hit the ground. u can get balljoints from hondaautomotive parts for like 30 something dollars, or go to autozone (or pep boys- is there pep boys in poughkeepsie??) for a few dollars cheaper. u can install your own lower balljoint- remove the locking clip and bang out the old one, then slip the new one down from the top of the lca, use a rubber mallot or something semi soft to hit it into place, then install the locking ring from the underside of the control arm. i did mine in my friends driveway in jersey last november, it tool like 45 minutes</TD></TR></TABLE>

I think he's talking about an upper ball joint. If it's upper it has to be pressed out.

 

Hmmm... I really have no idea, I'm going to get someone to look at it Monday when I'm not busy working and I'll see what they say and then maybe you guys can help me out because at this point I'm pretty clueless. Thanks for trying though.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by nonsense &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I think he's talking about an upper ball joint. If it's upper it has to be pressed out. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Not for 6th gen Civics (and I thought it was the same for 5th gen). If you want replace the upper ball joint, you will be replacing the entire upper control arm that has the new ball joint 'pinned' into place.

The lower ball joint however does need to be pressed out and a new one pressed in.