Would bad upper ball joints prevent alignment?

[JDMcb7]

So I go to have my car aligned and the guy tells me he can't do it because my ball joints are bad. I searched around a bit and didn't find any information that says it would prohibit him from doing an alignment, so I'm not sure if he was being a tool or telling me the truth. I then casually asked him how much there were to replace and he quoted me $600. I told him he was out of his fucking mind and walked out. Anybody care to reduce my ignorance on this topic? Hell I don't even know what a ball joint looks like. :thumbsdow

[yofmatt]

Im in the same exact position. 8 different shops wouldn't do alignment for a lowered car, and the place that i finally talked into letting me do it, I didn't clear the machine's ramp. So I bought tires that were 5mm thicker, and that gave me enough clearance. But when the car was up there, the guy told me the ball joints were bad, and they need replacing. He said he couldn't do the alignment without new ball joints. My car still has horrible toe-out & camber.

I'm gonna try to find a DIY on replacing the whole control arm, w/ the joint. Thats how they're sold usually. I'll let u know what I come up with

[mayberry]

okay kids.....are we talking about upper or lower balljoints. because theyre fairly inexpensive and can be replaced urself with a little guidance. And yes, bad ball joints will affect ur alignment...enough where a shop cant do it right.

[accordaffair]

I'm in a similiar situation. My car was pulling to one side, and seemed in need of an alignment. The shop boys told me it is perfectly aligned, but needs a new control arm. I was told it was wearing the tires unevenly. He replaced the front tires, and it no longer pulled. It's about 5k miles later, and the pulling seems to be creeping up on me again. I have been screeching these tires a good bit. I don't know if it's fact or fiction. I know people will say anything, so I don't know either way.

[yofmatt]

If it's the upper one, you gotta replace the whole arm; not too big of a deal.



First get the 2 smaller bottom bolts off. Then do the upper.
I found it easier to remove the 2 large nuts to the control arm inside the engine bay. I forgot what size they were, but I used a basic adjustable wrench and it worked fine. There's 1 10mm bolt that holds on the fuse box in place, and the rest clips off from behind. Once the fuse box is off, unscrew the second one and take the arm w/ the ball joint out. That's my understanding.

[accordaffair]

I believe he said mine was the upper.

[laz]

I also have to replace my upper and lower one on one side. Where is a good place to buy them from? Is it better to get them on line, or from an auto parts stores or the dealership?

Thanks,

X

[trboaccord]

You can buy them online from ebay, and a bunch of other places. Or you can do what i did and buy them from the dealer. Yes i know from the dealer there are quite expensive(they weren't for me because i work for a company that sells honda, so i get 5% over cost). Personally i would go with the oem peices just because you know that they are of the highest quality, but if money is an issue to you, then you could get some of the knock-offs from ebay, but i really dont know how good they are.

[Maple50175]

I can get Upper Control Arms the whole thing for 110$ with a warrenty... If you need them JDM let me know and we can work something out. I have them on my car and there great!

[JDMcb7]

I can get Upper Control Arms the whole thing for 110$ with a warrenty... If you need them JDM let me know and we can work something out. I have them on my car and there great!

I am going to have another shop look at it, and see if the first shop was bullshitting me or not. If I need to replace them, I'll defiantely hit you up. Thanks for all the info guys!

[alb_accord]

uper contral ur its $55 brand new on e bay. lower ball joint are $32 a piece on auto zone pep boys staruss etc.
the uper control arm its easy to change.
the lower ball joint not so easy. but u can do it. just need the right tools.
u need a ball joint puller to get the wheel assambly off the lower arm. sompe people have done it by just hitting it with a hammper some others used the puller.
just replace them and u good to go.
now finding a shop that does the aligment on a lowered car. now that is a different story.

[tjr5150]

in all realality balljoint will not effect your cars alignment if there bad then there bad but shops can still align your car...
the balljoints do not effect toe and camber...
if you have bad toe and camber get a better camberkit...

[CB9]

in all realality balljoint will not effect your cars alignment if there bad then there bad but shops can still align your car...
the balljoints do not effect toe and camber...
if you have bad toe and camber get a better camberkit...

Um, no.

If you have excessive play in a front suspension pivot point that controls the position of the wheel (ie. either the upper or lower ball joint), you can't make an effective alignment because there's too much movement to do anything accurate. A blown-out tie rod end will also make it impossible to align a car for the same reason. Alignments are pretty small adjustments - 1/4 of a degree is significant.

Any of you who have ever worked at a bike shop, it's like trying to true a rim on a wheel where the hub has lots of play in it - it's not possible to really do anything other than waste your time.

JDMcb7, all you have to do to see if your joints are indeed worn out is jack the car up, remove the front wheel and check for play.