Who has ever gotten their Upper Ball Joint(s) replaced?

[Rainacide]

Damn, I did not expect to look at this thread and see an arguement. To help clear things up, I'm getting alignment because of my front and I got the specs on it. But when they were going to do my alignment at (Firestone) they were talking about the ball joint/control arms and so on.

Sorry guys!

[DBMaster]

I hope I didn't come across too strongly here. I am on a budget these days so I wouldn't get an alignment after replacing these particular parts, in fact I just replaced my rear UCA's a few months ago. The ones I bought were actually clearance from Rock Auto and branded TRW, not Moog. Though, they are stamped as the 555 brand the Honda uses as OEM and they say "Made in Japan." They were only about $40 each.

I AM a believer in alignment as well. I get my alignment checked and adjusted every two years when I buy a new set of tires. As the car gets older, the alignment is a little less stable even though I have replaced just about every bushing and part there is to replace.

[Dr_Snooz]

I AM a believer in alignment as well. I get my alignment checked and adjusted every two years when I buy a new set of tires.

Either you're buying the wrong tires, or you're putting a heck of a lot of miles on the car...

[Rainacide]

I just recently bought my hatch about 4 months ago, it has 296XXX on the body, all original suspension setup with VERY bad maintenance :/

[Dr_Snooz]

That doesn't sound good. Poke your head under there and make sure nothing is getting ready to come apart. You don't want a catastrophic failure at highway speed.

[Rainacide]

Yeah mos def!

I diagnosed a few things already right when I first bought the car, but I love the 3G so much I'm willing to fix all this shit :P

But for sure the suspension is shot, hella dangerous as is.

[lostforawhile]

replace the upper control arms, lower control arm bushings, lower ball joints, wheel bearings, sway bar bushings,tie rod ends and overhaul the brakes, as far as pressing the bearings and lower ball joints, if you can't do it, pull the parts and take them to someone who can, it's always cheaper to bring in the parts vs they take them off. summit racing carries a lot of those parts in moog, and they are reasonable, one thing to note, moog says the lower ball joints will go in without taking off the boots, but the boot is in the way, the boot has to come off first. it can be tricky to do without damage. thats just the front suspension

[mykwikcoupe]

I thought it would be an isolated incident. After the deer accident, I went in to les schwabs to have an inspection. I went in to see if the accident caused any damage or if its just alignment problems. They wanted to charge me $800 for the upper, lower ball joints front and rear. Thats like $150 in parts. Maybe a few hours worth of work but thats like robbery. Crazy expensive

[Dr_Snooz]

replace the upper control arms, lower control arm bushings, lower ball joints, wheel bearings, sway bar bushings,tie rod ends and overhaul the brakes, as far as pressing the bearings and lower ball joints, if you can't do it, pull the parts and take them to someone who can, it's always cheaper to bring in the parts vs they take them off. summit racing carries a lot of those parts in moog, and they are reasonable, one thing to note, moog says the lower ball joints will go in without taking off the boots, but the boot is in the way, the boot has to come off first. it can be tricky to do without damage. thats just the front suspension

Times are hard. There's no need to go changing any more than is necessary right now. Change any joints that are wiggly wobbly. If they move easily by hand, they are wiggly wobbly. Any joints that are leaking goo are the next ones to be replaced. Cracked rubber bushings would be next, followed by cracked boots that aren't leaking goo. Pretty much if the rubber looks happy, leave it be.

[Rainacide]

These companies try to milk hella money out of people when really their fixes are more than half of the price they ask for!

[lostforawhile]

Times are hard. There's no need to go changing any more than is necessary right now. Change any joints that are wiggly wobbly. If they move easily by hand, they are wiggly wobbly. Any joints that are leaking goo are the next ones to be replaced. Cracked rubber bushings would be next, followed by cracked boots that aren't leaking goo. Pretty much if the rubber looks happy, leave it be.

I suggested that because everything is original on his car, and he said everything was poorly maintained. There's a good chance with that many miles,everything is shot.

[Rainacide]

yeah it is,

you get what you buy you know :P

[DBMaster]

Either you're buying the wrong tires, or you're putting a heck of a lot of miles on the car...

I do put a lot of miles on the car and I do a lot of stop and go driving w/aggressive cornering. I get only about 30-40K miles out of a set of H-rated tires. The best I EVER did was with the Michelin MXV's that came from the factory on the car and those lasted 45K. I can't prove this, but I think concrete roads may be harder on tires than asphalt. It's just a "feeling."

[Dr_Snooz]

I do put a lot of miles on the car and I do a lot of stop and go driving w/aggressive cornering. I get only about 30-40K miles out of a set of H-rated tires. The best I EVER did was with the Michelin MXV's that came from the factory on the car and those lasted 45K. I can't prove this, but I think concrete roads may be harder on tires than asphalt. It's just a "feeling."

You should be getting 100k with Michelins. They're the best tires on earth. Are you actually wearing through all the tread or changing when you see weather cracks, etc?

[stat1K]

which michelins, i've seen some michelins only last 20-30 on my mom's element. perfect alignment.

[DBMaster]

I did OK with the Michelin Pilots when they used to make them in the 195/60/14 size, but they still only lasted about 35-40K. I replaced them when I get to the wear indicators. I compromise a bit on the air pressure and keep them at 30 psi and check them twice a month. I have run anywhere from the factory recommended 26 psi to the maximum of 44 on one set. None of that seems to make much difference in wear, but it does change the ride. My car has always had some negative camber in the front (as most Hondas seem to have) so as long as I keep them rotated regularly I get to the point where the inside edges on one side or the other are gone at the same time as the tread. My driving style probably has something to do with it.

[lostforawhile]

as far as critical parts on this suspension, replace the tie rod ends and lower ball joints in the front, the reason I said wheel bearings, is when the wishbone is out of the car, and the ball joints are pressed out, it's easy to press in new wheel bearings. A couple of people here have had catatrophic lower ball joint failure, and it's not worth putting in cheap ones, call summit about the moog if you can't find them local. they aren't that much more then cheap ones.

[cubert]

You should be getting 100k with Michelins.

[Dr_Snooz]

Trip out right? My brother got over 100k on his pickup running Michelins and I thought it was really something. Then I started reading reviews on the web here and there and there are a lot of people getting 100k out of their Michelins. The real selling point for me is that they are pretty much no hassle. I've had tires that lose balance after 1,000 miles. I've had tires that make my torque converter stop locking up, that reduce my MPGs, that deafen me and make me think suspension parts are failing. Michelins never do any of that. When I got the Bimmer, it had a very old and abused set of Michelins on it. They had been run into so many curbs that the letters on the sidewalls were gone. There was a gash in one of the sidewalls. Nevertheless, at 100+ they were glass smooth and quiet. The stupid Pirellis on it now wobble so badly that I'm afraid to take the car over 90. I get them spin balanced and after one block, they are wobbling again. Don't buy anything but Michelins.

[mykwikcoupe]

not really the same but I would say bridgestones are just as nice or nicer then michelins. Anything les schwabs carries is a cheap tire and shouldnt be used. Order from tirerack.com

[wh1skea]

Les Schwab....Thank God we don't have any of those down here in the South. I remember my mom getting ripped by them over a set of tires back when we lived in Tri-Cities.....and that was over 15 years ago.

[DBMaster]

I have a set of BF Goodrich Touring T/A's that I put on in February. They went from being super quiet to being as noisy as the rest in about 10K miles. I also should have replaced the front strut bushings when I replaced the struts because now that it's "cold" (relative for Texas) the tops of the struts are making noises like an old metal bed frame.