My car is currently in the shop for an accident I had a few weeks ago. In the accident the control arm and tie rods were bent and are being replaced.

The collision shop called me today and said that they noticed the ball joint was bad too. I am not having them fix it because before the accident I did not feel any symptom's of a ball joint going. If its gotten worse now I'll fight with the insurance company, but that's a different thread.

How can I tell that a ball joint is going bad? Visually? I've had them go on other cars, and the stearing wheel always started shaking bad at high speeds. This hasn't happened with my car, yet.

How much work is involved in replacing the ball joints? What would the cost be to the home mechanic?

Thanks for any advice!

 

The shop probably took the ball joint off and found it "flopping" around the ball. If you wait until the joint causes vibrations on the highway, they are REALLY bad. I would have them do it becuase even if you do it yourself later on, you will probably have to have the alignment done again. I suppose you could just use some white paint to mark how far the joint was screwed in. That will get the aligment close but there's no way to really verify without putting it up on the machine again to check the specs.

 

There is some pieces that don't fit right in this jigsaw puzzle. You said the control arms are being replaced. The Haynes repair manual (page 10-9) says ...
1995 and later models
On these models the balljoint is an integral part of the control arm.

If you are getting new control arms, you are getting new ball joints with them, at no extra cost.

 

Yeah, I read that too, but I am not sure what it means. It sounds to me like they are recomending that you replace the Control Arm if its warn.

I'm not sure that it comes with the control arm. The Haynes manual is kinda vague, and unfortunatly I don't have another manual.

 

I don't believe Haynes is vague. Haynes says integral. That means they are all one piece.

I have a '99 Maxima factory service manual. It contains instructions for removing the control arm from the vehicle. It makes no mention of separating the ball joint from the control arm. This implies that they are all one piece. Incidentally, the Nissan name for control arm is Transverse Link.

 

Well, I just got my car back today.

Daniel, you were right, the ball joint is replaced when the control are is replaced.

There was a misunderstanding between the suspension shop and the body shop (who I spoke to). The ball joint the suspension shop was refering to was the passenger side, while the body shop told me drivers side.

So, I have a new drivers side ball joint and need a passenger side one.