ball joints

[katedrew]

My ball joint just broke when I was driving, my question is should it have been found out that it was braking if I had front end work done? What I had donje is they were supposed to replace the inner and outer tie rods,on 4/18/05, they said I need these things done, so on 6/14/05 I came in to have the work done, they replaced yhe idler arm due to bushings coming apart, they said that my inner and outer tie rods were fine. My question is shouldn't they have noticed that my ball joiunt was cracked or something? What I don't get is on 4/18/05 they inspected the inner and outer tie rods and said they need to be replaced, then on 6/14/05 they said that they were fine!!

[curtis73]

All you can inspect about ball joints is the grease fitting and the nut on the end. The business end of a ball joint is concealed completely.

Also, a ball joint breaking is almost never something you hear about. Ball joints get loose, but two huge symptoms typically show up first; 1) noise, and 2) rather extremely noticable handling characteristics. A ball joint breaking is either a sign of a very faulty joint, or incredibly excessive wear. In the case of the faulty joint, the blame lies with the manufacturer and if its under warranty you have something to go on. If its the second case, the blame lies with the driver for not keeping maintenance up to date on his/her vehicle. Ball joint wear can be tested with a pry bar, but a breaking ball joint is not something you can predict any more than you can predict a stone on your windshield.

Its unfortunate, but there is absolutely no way (except metallurgically examining a ball joint under an electron-microscope) to predict a broken ball joint. Its just not something you can test for.

The other unfortunate part of this is the subjectivity of whether or not your tie rods need to be replaced. When you take your car in for service and someone inspects the tie rod ends, the answer you get (politically correct or not) is based on several things. Service techs will "upsell" things when they can, but the extent to which they do that depends directly on the desperation they're willing to reach, and the gullibility of the customer. A financially stable honest tech will give you the straight dope. An unscrupulous tech who needs to make rent might try to sell you new tie rods.

[superchuckles]

you actually wouldn't need an electron microscope to check it..... the way they do it in planes is to x-ray it (yes, you can x-ray right thru aluminum, steel, even titanium - just takes an industrial inspection x-ray to do it) --- of course, you would have to have access to many millions of dollars worth of inspecion gear, & like he said, you almost never (ok, never) hear of them going bad unless it's a frighteningly sloppy worn out front end, that people 3 blocks away can hear coming down the road from the clunking and squeeling tires.

[MagicRat]

Originally Posted by curtis73

Ball joint wear can be tested with a pry bar, but a breaking ball joint is not something you can predict any more than you can predict a stone on your windshield.

.

When ball joints do get extremely worn out, they do 'break' by coming apart and allowing the wheel to flop all around the place. I have seen this happen about a dozen times.

(This is more common than the metal itself in the joint breaking, although that does happen, but extremely rarely. )

As Curtis and super say, this extreme wear comes with lots of warning in the form of excessive noise and deteriorated handling. However, there are millions of drivers out there who would not recognise these symptoms and rely on a mechanic.

A good mechanic should check ball joint wear. They are obviously inspecting the steering for worn components; it only takes a minute or so to inspect the ball joints. It is in the best interest for the mechanic to do so, (more work for him). However, IMO the mechanic has no legal obligation to inspect them, unless you are paying him to specifically inspect the suspension components.

[AlmostStock]

Many years ago (when I was young and less informed) I had a beater car that would pull to one side and had lots of front end play. I could feel the steering wheel "wobble" when it hit bumps. I should have known better than to keep driving it like this.

Finally one day when I hit a bump it started to wobble more than usual. Seconds later the drivers front wheel went into a full left turn. The tie rod had broke. I was going 50-55 and crossed the center line a little before I was able to steer it off to the right shoulder. After composing myself I vowed never to let that happen again. If your car pulls to one side or exhibits any play or wobble get it fixed. It's way better than crashing.