lower ball joints on 96 Grand Prix

[tenzan]

I took my 96 Grand Prix into Tires Plus on December 19th for a leak and while they had the vehicle they told me the lower front right ball joints needed to be replaced. Given the age of my car I try to take care of any problem that comes up so I okayed them to replace them.

Tonight (December 28) while I was making a turn going about 5 to 10 mph my entire wheel and the tire rod compeletly fell off. I was about to enter on a freeway and was relieved it didn't happen a minute later when I would have been doing 60 or 70 mph but I'm not exactly thrilled this happened when my safety was on the line and I had never experienced any problems prior to these people replacing the ball joint.

I guess what I'm asking is, beside taking the car back tomorrow and demanding they fix it, how can I be sure this is done properly so I don't get killed because of there neglect.

Also is this a common problem on the Grand Prix or with mechanics?

Should I be aware of anything else before I show up at the shop tomorrow?

I'm still in disbelief so any other information you can provide that you think I'm missing I'd really appreciate.

Thank you.

[doctorhrdware]

One you should do to cya is take pictures. Also always ask for the old parts up front that way you know that the parts were replaced.

[tblake]

Ha, yeah, My car needs a new bushing on the driversside lower controll arm towards the front. Plan on buying two new lower control arms. This will replace all 4 lower controll arm bushings on the front and also the ball joints. Unfortunatly its too late for you to go that rout.

Its unfortunate shops like that do shotty jobs. They either replaced your ball joint with a cheapo or they didnt torque it correctly and replace the lock pin.