Control Arm and Ball Joint

pman7373 · Post by **pman7373** » 18 May 2010, 09:09

Hi,

I was wondering how you can tell when the control arm or ball joint are starting to fail?

Also what is involved in fixing it yourself.

Thanks!

Post by **jblackburn** » 18 May 2010, 10:25

Most of the time, you can tell by floaty, loose steering that darts around in hard acceleration and it seems like your car can't stay in straight line.

If you want to check them, jack up your front wheels and try to shake the wheel up and down or side-to-side. There should be no play in any of your suspension components by hand.

They are not terribly hard to replace yourself - the hardest part is just getting the rusty bolts free. Keep in mind that after you change any suspension or steering component, you will need to have an alignment done.

pman7373 · Post by **pman7373** » 20 May 2010, 00:33

Thank you for the help! I am going to jack my car tomorrow. Hopefully they're fine!

Post by **polskamafia mjl** » 20 May 2010, 00:38

If you are upwards of 100K miles chances are they need to be replaced.