I just had a local mechanic replace a lower ball joint in my '97 Civic DX HB and before doing the work he asked if I wanted the good ball joint with the lifetime warranty versus a cheapy ball joint....I told him I would go for the good one at an estimate of $50-55, and said I didn't want one of those cheapy ball joints for les than $20.
So I go and pick up my car and the bill was cheap, really cheap...1 hour labor and $15.00 for parts. Now I just walked a mile in the rain to go and pick my car up, so I am guessing that is why I didn't make an issue of the cheap *** ball joint because I was sloaked and cold. I suspect it is probably a "Parts Master" ball joint since that is what is sold at the nearest auto parts store. But my question is;
How long can I expect this crappy lower ball joint to last????

 

all the way to the scene of the crash.... Just kidding

Unles you have very bad roads or you drive it like a mad man it should be alright for quite some time... Maybe its just me but a lot of times with parts like that the expensive ones "appear" to be almost identical to the cheepies.... thats just my $0.02 tho...

 

When I got my ball joints replaced I also got the "cheap" ones. I personally don't think that any respectable shop would install ball joints that they know are going to fail soon. Ball joints failing can be very dangerous if they allow the wheel hub to separate from the lower control arm. I think they are just trying to make more money... many mechanics are paid on commission, so the more money you spend at the shop, the more money the individual mechanic makes.

 

Well hopefully it stays together for a year at least......for $15.00 I had to wonder if it was made out of steel or plastic!

 

It's steel. Made in China. Cheap, but it's just two chunks of metal. None of them last forever.
dc