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What Is The Purpose Of The Ball Joints?

Ball Joints are the pivot between the wheels and the suspension of your vechicle. In some cars they are used as the settings to make wheel alignments. In all vechicles they support their weight on the tires.

Like most suspension parts, they compare very well with a good referee in sports...if they are working properly, you don't notice them! Steering, Suspension, and Brakes are thge most important parts in any automobile when it comes to safety concerns. Your Ball Joints play a critical role in the safe operation of your steering and suspension.

What Is A Ball Joint?

A ball joint is a steel bearing stud and socket enclosed in a steel casing. The bearing stud is tapered and threaded. It fits into a tapered hole in the steering knuckle. A protective encasing prevents dirt from getting into the joint assembly.

Vehicles with a conventional suspension system will use two ball joints per wheel. They are simply called the upper and lower joints. The exception to this rule are the cars with MacPherson Strut Suspension Systems. They still use a lower ball joint. The difference however is that they use an upper strut bearing instead of an upper ball joint.

Suggested Maintenance Schedule

All of your Suspension Parts should be checked every oil change or at the very least, once a year. We recommend that you insist on an annual wheel alignment at a trusted service station in your area.

The most common symptoms associated with worn ball joints are wandering, uneven tire wear, and erratic steering. If you have experienced any of these symptoms while driving,you can do a preliminary diagnosis yourself.

• Safely jack up one of the wheels on your car.
• Firmly grab the tire in your hands in the 6 and 12 o'clock positions.
• Push and pull, in and out, toward and away from the car.
• If you notice that you are able to move the wheel rather easily with this motion, you had better get your car serviced immediately.

The Consequences Of Neglect

We've established that your suspension and steering systems need regular maintenance programs. The reasons are quite simple. Your car parts, no matter how good they are, will not work properly forever. The cost of replacing suspension, steering, and brake parts is rarely high. The cost of neglecting them can be deadly.

If Wheel Bearings, Tie Rod Ends, Ball Joints, or Brake Parts fail, the consequences are unpredictable. If one of these parts is excessively worn the result can be the loss of a wheel while the vechicle is in motion! Obviously, if this were to occur at high speeds, the end result would not be pretty.

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