Bhj0887

I went to take the 944 in for an alignment and wheel balancing today and they said they couldn't do the job due to the ball joints being bad. He said he could move the front wheels in and out. I wasn't there and I didn't see it, I also usually don't mess with suspensions either. But since this car is mainly about suspension I'm going to teach myself with your help.

1. How do I know if the ball joint is worn. There is no tears or cracks in the boot. I'm going to check for myself if the wheels actually do move in and out. I need to know the symptoms of worn ball joints.

2. I've heard that these are not replaceable and a new/rebuilt control arm is necassary. Is this true and where can I get them for as little as possible. I'm not looking for performance. I have to get the car running, moving, operating and handling perfectly before I start making modifications to anything.

3. How hard is it to replace the control arms, are there any special tools needed to do the job.

4. I've also heard that it is possible for me rebuild the arms myself? Umm...I don't know about this but if it's possible it's worth a try.

5. They also took a look at the brakes while it was on the lift, they say the rear brakes are binding and I need new calipers. Where can I find some good inexpensive calipers? When I bled the brakes yesterday they were not binding so there may be hope...any suggestions?

That's all I can remember now but I'm sure there will be more.

F18Rep

Not sure of your car's year but I think you're in luck, rebuild kits are available and reasonable. This has changed in just the last year or two. Hopefully, you haven't already damaged your alloy arms beyond repair.
I have a rundown on rebuilding the alloy arms and some info on swapping to the older style steel arms (not recommended but possible). Check my website... ArnnWorx.com

Bruce

Tom R.

i bought the SSI ball joints for 180 and was very happy with them. the car felt amazing with the SSIs and koni yellows. Rennbay, a renlist sponsor also sells a ball joint kit for about half, and there are good reviews on the board. nobody compared the two.

this assumes you car is an 87 or later.

Travis - sflraver

85.5 or later.. before that you have steel arms. Ball joint kits are for aluminum arms only.
In any case you are in luck because early steel arms are just as inexpensive to rebuild as the late ones now.

Tom R.

whoops mixed up conrol arms with wheel offset. 85.5 it is.

Bhj0887

I have an 87, I'll look into rennbays kits. So let me just go over this before I buy. 85.1 and earlier had steel arms, 85.5 and later had alloys. The 85.5+ are the easiest to rebuild. On a scale from 1-10 how hard is it to rebuild?

83na944

When they said your calipers are binding, I assume they mean that the floating frame does not slide over the mounting frame when the brakes are applied. If that is the case, you can probably just remove the calipers, clean them well, and grease the sliding surfaces.

If they mean that the caliper piston is binding in the cylinder, then you'll need to replace the seals.

Either way, you can probably just fix the calipers you have rather than buy new calipers. The shop probably won't rebuild them because its not worth their time. But you can do it in a few hours for about $20 a side, IIRC.

Travis - sflraver

If you visit the site at www.rennbay.com and take a look in the tutorials section, we have a complete rebuild tutorial. It has a few pictures but the text is in depth. It takes about 1 hour per arm when you do your first set.

Bhj0887

When they said the brakes were binding they said the pads were tocuching, which to me seems like a warped rotor not anything to do with the caliper.

I'm going to buy a kit from rennbay and try to rebuild the arms myself, at least I'm going to save a couple hundred dollars.

97xray

Well, some amount of contact between the pads and the rotor is OK, right? Perhaps an expert can correct me if I'm wrong, but the pads should rest just at the surface of the rotor, which assists in wet-condition braking. I always thought that was odd as well, but I have new rotors and pads and have self-refurbished my calipers (just cleaned and greased) and they still float right at the surface - as in - I can't get a sheet of paper between the pad and rotor... even after driving.
I thought that was normal.

Bhj0887

Then I'm assuming your rear wheels don't spin freely? My front wheels spin by hand and will keep spinning after I let it go. The rears will spin but do not keep spinning. Sorry, I can't think of the right words to put in now, it's too early.

IceShark

Jake, yes that clearance is normal. If you wash your car and rims and let it sit for a few days you will hear a clunk when you first move as the rust line breaks between the rotor and pads.

BHJ, your rears wheels are not going to spin as freely as the fronts since you are also spinning the half shafts as well as some gears in the transaxel. You have a lot more items turning in the back.

Bhj0887

Thats what I told them. I said it was rear wheel drive. They just ignored me and wanted me to spend $1k dollars on part then another 500 on labor.

Dave

$1500 for a couple hundred bucks worth of calipers and an hours labor!?! I hope you told them what they could do with it on your way out of there!
The Rennbay kit is easy (if you have the right tools), it can probably be done in an hour per side without even taking the control arms off the car.

Bhj0887

Damn right I walked out. I laughed at him too when he wanted $680 for each arm and $200 a caliper. I asked him if he was getting it at the dealer and he said no "it's aftermarket". I'm going get the alignment at strauss along with balancing, or since you live around here, you know any good places?