Abnormal stress on upper ball joint?

[gsxonthebeach]

About a month after I purchased my car, my driver front upper ball joint went out on me. Makes a terrible noise, btw. That was roughly 6 months ago. Two months after my first upper ball joint went out, my passenger side upper ball joint went out, and I needed to replace the passenger front lower control arm as well. So it's been about 4 months since then, and to my surprise, that familiar noise came from my front driver side wheel well again. For the first couple days that it happened, it would only make the screech noise when I went over a speed bump, or on rough pavement, but now it screeches whenever I turn the wheel. I pulled the car into my garage and jacked it up, turned the wheel and there was no noise (since the wheel was off the ground), and I sprayed wd40 on the ball joint to see if it was the culprit. Sure enough, no noise. Is there some reason I need another new ball joint? In other words, is there a part ( that needs to be replaced) that is putting too much stress on my ball joint? I am really really tired of that noise coming back every other month.

 

[gsxonthebeach]

Update: It is NOT the upper ball joint, like I thought. I think it may be the lower ball joint, as it is definitely coming from the lower driver control arm. I am researching this now, but I just wanted to clear that up.

 

[gsxonthebeach]

Its not the ball joint on the compression arm, but the ball joint on the straight arm next to it (the lower control arm?). I guess I answered this question myself. We'll see.

 

[bmoha2]

please do a search under those words. Tons and tons of threads

 

[gsxonthebeach]

please do a search under those words. Tons and tons of threads

not nearly tons and tons. One helped me, http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/art...14096-replacing-torn-ball-joint-boots-2g.html . Although, you can't buy lower ball joints, so I believe i'll have to replace the whole lower arm.

 

[bmoha2]

they replace the entire lower control arm including the ball joint

 

[gsxonthebeach]

they replace the entire lower control arm including the ball joint

Yes, I did a search with the term you provided and ran across that thread. Unfortunately for me, that service was done already at 40,000 miles. Any idea how difficult replacing a lateral control arm is?

 

[bmoha2]

I had my passenger side control arm/balljoint replaced thru the recall twice. The driver's side was replaced once as well. Bare in mind that of you have a ball joint that is failing it does but undue stress on your other ball joints and can cause premature failure. I had to replace both the compression control arm/ball joints out of pocket. Recall doesn't cover that. The good news is that my Talon is 13 years old and sitting on practically all new suspension components. Everything is nice and tight like new. I replaced the compression control arms myself. It's not hard. The lateral control arms are fairly easy to replace as well. I also replaced all four wheel bearings and both my front sway bar links.

 

[gsxonthebeach]

I had my passenger side control arm/balljoint replaced thru the recall twice. The driver's side was replaced once as well. Bare in mind that of you have a ball joint that is failing it does but undue stress on your other ball joints and can cause premature failure. I had to replace both the compression control arm/ball joints out of pocket. Recall doesn't cover that. The good news is that my Talon is 13 years old and sitting on practically all new suspension components. Everything is nice and tight like new. I replaced the compression control arms myself. It's not hard. The lateral control arms are fairly easy to replace as well. I also replaced all four wheel bearings and both my front sway bar links.

Well that is good to hear, but it will be for future reference, as I went to the dealer and purchased a lateral control arm off of them. It was only 50 dollars, and the ball joint is included (im ecstatic about that). Hopefully I can follow in your footsteps and replace my whole suspension system, as hearing metal on metal whenever you turn the wheel is a very embarrassing situation! Just for kicks, how much did all the parts cost you for your set up, and did you do it all at once?

 

[talon_swift7834]

$478.44 is what i spent recently. Replacing both lower control arms, lateral arms, and new tie rod ends. JNZ Tuning..that price included shipping.

 

[bmoha2]

I was pretty much buying a new suspension component every paycheck there for a while. The only thing that isn't new is my upper control arm and balljoints. They are still tight and I haven't had any problems with them. The Talon drives like a new car. Plus I have four new rotors on it, four new wheel bearings, four new brake calipers, SS brake lines on all four corners and new brake pads. She rides tight.

 

[PieEyedPiper]

http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/han...ished-replacing-all-6-control-arms-front.html

Here's my story of replacing control arms.
Actually, I'm going to update that as well.

 

[gsxonthebeach]

I was pretty much buying a new suspension component every paycheck there for a while. The only thing that isn't new is my upper control arm and balljoints. They are still tight and I haven't had any problems with them. The Talon drives like a new car. Plus I have four new rotors on it, four new wheel bearings, four new brake calipers, SS brake lines on all four corners and new brake pads. She rides tight.

I remember when my passenger lca went, I replaced the upper ball joint like I thought, and the noise didn't go away. I was so fed up with it, that I just took it in. A lateral control arm and it installed came to about, you guessed it, $600.00. So I feel you when you say a part a paycheck, only this part sent me in the negatives and I was broke for two weeks. Which has mysteriously been a normal feeling ever since I bought this car. Thanks for the input and the key words to search for, I shall report back when I install this part. Oh, and since I'm on a roll, I just got lifter tick last week. You know what they said in Fight Club about how the stuff you end up owning, ends up owning you?

 

[bmoha2]

that's why my Talan's name is Christine