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YACT: Ball Joint?

D

duragezic

Lifer
Well this is pretty lame. See my previous thread.

Anyway I got both CV boots replaced the accesory belts. The parts were $43 and the check wasn't cashed yet so I'm not sure of the labor. I'm sure I got screwed though. 🙁

And ya know what, first and only thing I notice from doing this is I'm going home after getting the car back and it seems to pull when I brake. Now the alignment has never been done so it's not perfectly aligned, but if anything if goes slightly to the right if I let go of the steering wheel (I need to keep a slight left angle to go straight). Yet when I brake, it definitely has some pull to the left. Which I don't really like having to deal with everytime I brake.

It never pulled to the left AT ALL before doing the CV boot replacement. Not that the boots have anything to do with it but being that they had to take off a bunch of stuff to slip the boots on... well who knows.

So we took it to a front-end/brake specialist and they quoted a Lower Right Ball Joint as well as a Right Sway Bar Link. I've had that SAME sway bar link replaced in 2002 or 2003 (I have the receipt still). Those people are pretty honest and said that the sway bar link isn't necessary to replace at the moment. They just said that the ball joint would need to be replaced (quoted me $60 for the part, $55 for labor, but I found the part for $33) and recommended an alignment.


Now what I really want to know is if the ball joint is really the reason why it pulls to the left while braking. And why the hell would it magically do this after getting the boots replaced. I've paid for so much BS over the years that had nothing to do with the actual car problem but when you don't know the stuff its hard to tell if its necessary or not.

So I was thinking of getting that ball joint replaced, and I guess that shop also said the front-right tire needed to be replaced. There must've been some drivetrain/front-end problem to cause it to wear so fast in 2 years (and the front-left is in good condition).

So ball joint + labor ~$100 I think, new tire + alignment + swap ~$120.

The car/brakes pulsate a bit when braking from highway speeds. That shop said it was simply rust on the rotors, but the pads were in great shape and from my records the rotors are about 7 years old. So he said theres nothing wrong about it but from what I've read the rust only happens when the car sits in the rain (happens to almost every car) but I seem to got that it would wear off, but this has been happening for a couple of months at least.
 
A bad ball joint can cause pulling.

To test for a bad ball joint, jack up the car and and grab the tire from the top and bottom and try to wiggle it. Any play is sign of a bad ball joint. You can also use a prybar and try to seperate the control arm from the knuckle near the joint to see if it moves.

Is the boot torn? Have you ever greased it?
 
Ball joint should not cause a pull.

If the CV boot was replaced, they had to remove connections and an alighnment should have been done afterwards.

Pulling when braking usually indicates a caliper is grabbing. They can be adjusted
 
Yeah.. the 2nd shop claims the RIGHT ball joint needs replacing, but the car always pulls to the left. That would seem to indicate the left caliper was grabbing too hard. Or the right one not enough maybe? Damn.. well my dad knows brakes a little maybe he could see if one of them wasn't put back on properly.


At least one of the boots was torn. There was grease leaking out but I don't think it was long enough to where the CV joint got any damage, just a precautionary measure to keep them clean (and if the boots were original, well 13 years is pretty long for rubber to put up with the elements and Michigan snow/salt). The new ones put on had grease come with in the box so I assume they did that all right.
 
Originally posted by: duragezic

The car/brakes pulsate a bit when braking from highway speeds.
Click to expand...

I would take a strong look at the rotors. When was the last time you rotated your tires? COuld be warping, whcih would cause pulling when the calipers engage.

 
The rotors are fine (a little rusty, but not grooved in or anything, my pads have always been replaced on time) according to the mechanic.


I found out I've never had my tires rotated or the front end aligned. The front passenger tire is easily the most worn tire. It is low on tread and there is a few minor spots of cracking. I'm not sure if I could get away with bringing one of the much better condition rear tires to the front or if I'd risk it blowing out.

In August '04 I got two new front tires and put the fronts to the back. So clearly I have some sort of suspension/front-end issue that wore the front passenger excessively. I mean the previous two front tires (one of which still resides on the rear, the other had to be replaced a few months ago due to nail) were 1.5-2yrs old, yet even that one that now has nearly 4 years on it (half of the time being on the front) is in better shape than my 2yr old front passenger.

I'm not sure if its lack of alignment or rotation that wore it that fast, or something like the ball joint. I need to fix the pull to left while braking as well as whatever is excessively wearing the front passenger tire. I'm not sure if they are related. I just don't wanna be replacing stuff for no good reason. Of course my parents would say they could use replacing anyway, but by that mentality I could drop many thousand replacing things that "could be" but not necessary. I've wasted enough money doing crap like that (like a whole new fuel pump when in fact it was the faulty brand-new distributor the whole time, god can't any mechanics diagnosis worth a damn??)
 
Alignment and/or ball joint will cause the abnormal wear.

With the CV Boot being replaced, an alignment is in order.

Get the ball joint replaced first though to aviod a second alignment being required.
 
The only time I ever had a car pull to one side was when the brakes needed to be adjusted. Those were all drum brakes. Nothing follows.
 
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