Ball joints, 98 Civic
#1
Ball joints, 98 Civic
Long story short, I bought my 98 hatch off a kid about a month ago. The interior was dirty as hell and I had a voucher off dealfind for a free cleaning and oil change. When I picked up the car they said the ball joints were toast and needed to be replaced. They then tried to tell me it would take 4 hours labour to replace them which is crap, but when I had my friend (licensed mech) look at it, he said they were fine.
Now there seems to be a bit of a discrepancy as to whether the car should be free of load or under load when checking the ball joints.
Anyone know which is right?
Now there seems to be a bit of a discrepancy as to whether the car should be free of load or under load when checking the ball joints.
Anyone know which is right?
#5
The issue is that I have one shop telling me they are done (checked it free of load and want to charge me $600 to replace them) and one shop telling me there's nothing wrong with them at all (checked it under load and was going to do it for $170). Does it make a difference in terms of how you check it? Or was the first shop trying to make some quick money?
#8
I agree with the logic about a quick lube place with a coupon. Those places are so slimy. I would check my oil level if I was you. They use the cheapest, crappiest oil they can buy.
I've seen completely obliterated ball joints. As the name suggests, it's a ball in socket. The ball needs lube in the socket. If the lube has been dried up, or whatever, it will become very noisy and very loose and sloppy. I pulled one off of a pickup truck and it was like a wet noodle, when the replacement ball joint was stiff and secure. I could also pull the ball straight up and down about a half inch
If your steering and front end suspension is really sloppy, then you might want to give you ball joints a look. $600 is completely outrageous. $170 is reasonable. It's an easy job.
I've seen completely obliterated ball joints. As the name suggests, it's a ball in socket. The ball needs lube in the socket. If the lube has been dried up, or whatever, it will become very noisy and very loose and sloppy. I pulled one off of a pickup truck and it was like a wet noodle, when the replacement ball joint was stiff and secure. I could also pull the ball straight up and down about a half inch
If your steering and front end suspension is really sloppy, then you might want to give you ball joints a look. $600 is completely outrageous. $170 is reasonable. It's an easy job.
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Perrydise55
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06-13-2010 09:44 PM