how can i tell if the ball joint went bad. Will the car make a rattle sound like somethings loose in the front by the tire ? i swear the cars fine when parked i can shake the crud out of it and no noise, i drive at 10mph and shes rattlin like a SOB.

 

Jack the car up under the frame, or pinch weld, basically anywhere other than the control arm, until the suspected tire is like two inches or so off the ground. Take a long pry-bar or metal pipe and put it under the tire and pull up on it a few times, and see if the tire moves. Also place hands at the 12 and 6 positions on the tire and and push and pull on the top and bottom. if the tire and wheel and all move up and down and all sloppy and whatnot, then its a bad ball joint. Good luck

 

Just sell the car :

 

CLOSE... but not quite. Any slop in the tire when your pushing and pulling could be a result from a incorrect load on the bearing, or a bad bearing. Won't really tell you much about the ball joint.

And when your doing the prybar, either have someone pry the tire upand down, or watch the ball joint. At the top and bottom should be a plate with a grease zerk... if yours have them. If that plate moves any while the tire is pried upon, the joint is bad.

 

Actually, not to be or sound like a huge a-hole, but that is the actual test that one would use to diagnose a ball joint problem. You are right, however, about it being better to have someone look at the ball joint while prying on the tire, but I assumed that he would be by himself, which is possible to do.

And yes it could be a bad bearing that one could feel with this test, but if the test is done and the wheel assembly moves exessively then it would be the ball joint, cause if it were the bearing was allowing the wheel to move that much then it would be horrible to drive, and one would most definitely know.

 

thanks guys, org to the rescue again. and i will be sellin her http://www.nissanfanatic.com/maxima4sale

however a truck kicked up a rock at the windshield and sent a crack thru it, so i have to fix this noise and the windshield b4 i sell her

 

so what are you getting now? newer maxima?

 

jack up your max, put it on jackstands, have someone shake the wheel while you staring at the joint. if it coming apart, then it's bad... change it.

 

Can a ball joint fail catastrophically letting your wheel fall off?