heard of bad control arms?

[eppyhonda]

What's up all. I went to get an alignent the other week after putting on my camber kit and sh*t hit the fan. I finally find a place that can get a lowered car on the rack and they say the ball joints have too much play in them and hence it can't be aligned right. They say to fix it I gotta get new control arms and tie rod ends on each front side. Then they can align it. With labor this is like $750, way too much for a freakin alignment. Does this sound probable to anyone. Has anyone every had to replace these parts on their cars. They told me it was typical wear and tear on a honda with 120,000 miles. I thought maybe they are just out to get money. This place also doesn't use the computerised alignment like some places so i thought maybe that was it. I am in dire need of some helpful feed back. MY car has been outta alignment way too long and i need it fixed so any feedback asap would be much appreaciated. Thanks guys.

PS Any one know of any places near Lexington KY that align lowered cars? Hit me back.

[jdmaccordbo!916]

i myself have never heared of this...(having to replace the tie rods an such) my cars been lowered for four five now an i have only gotten the alignment done to it... the only thing suspention wise that have done t it is the camber kit with the shocks an springs... i have yet t replace the balljoints doto too much play or whatever they are telligyu !! hum that is weired cause i never heard that one before, but changing the ball joints is a good idea though...

[SBBrian1]

I have a 94 Honda Accord w/ a 2.5 inch drop and I have had to replace 1 of my tie rod ends, and I have 101,000 miles. I'm not sure if I was due to normal usage or my sorry a$$ parallel parking skills but it happen to be the tie rod end on the passenger side. The way I found out I needed the tie rod end to be replace was when I bought new rims.
The person that mounted my new rims showed me how you can tell if you need the tie rods. He had my car up on a lift and shook my tire from left to right as if it was turning and there was a little give, you could feel the rim and tire move as if the rim was loose. The tie rod is the linkage between the power steering rack and the disk brake which pushes and pulls you tire left and right. The part should not cost you more than $25 - $30 if you order it from you local auto parts like pep boys of kragen. As far as installation it seems pretty easy to install yourself if you have the tools, but I let my mechanic friend do it for me for free as a trade for fixing his computer since he does it all day. The trick to replacing that part yourself is to remember how many times you unscrewed the part more or less since it affects your alignment. for example if it took you 9 turns of you wrench to remove it, turn you wrench 9 times to put it back on then you've got a week or so to take it in to get aligned.
As far as the control arm the only thing I can think that can affect that is a major front end collision.
And to tell if the ball joint is bad you’re going to look for grease where you see a joint that looks like a ball near the top of your tire where the rod from behind your front disk brake meets the upper A arm looking thing.
From what I seen on my car think the ball joint is filled grease. Since the diver side is a little greasy and passenger side is dry but nobody has ever mentioned that I should or need to replace it.

[TOP END MS]

SBBrian said it pretty good. If you shake the tire & theres a little play its usually a worn joint. They usually get worn from torn boots that release the grease from the joint.

As far as the control arm joints, I'm pretty sure you can get just the joint and have it machine pressed in. And if your bushings are beat, you can get a set of PROTHANE.