elgreco

hey guys me again with another question
the other day as i was watching my baby driving away with my wife behind the wheel, i heard some grinding / squicking noise when she turnd the wheel to pull of the curb .
the next day i raised the car on the lift and traced the noise to the lower ball joint.
now for the milion dollar question, do i go with steel, or Aluminum ball joints?
thanks in advance

longleader

Steel, all ball joints changed to steel in late 1983 or around that time.

MikeinBloomfield

Steel! Porsche changed them to steel for a reason. Don't do a search on 'aluminum ball joints' unless you want to be scared.

elgreco

cool thanks guys i just got the order in from worldpac and they are steel anyway
thanks again

Dave928S

Do yourself a favour and deal with the vendors who support us here, stock 928 parts new and used, and find/develop alternatives when new parts are NLA or can be improved. You'll find that you'll get free advice that is 928 specific, good service, the right parts, and the price will be as good or better than you can get anywhere else.

fbarnhill

No question about it. Go with steel. I had an aluminum one break once. It will never happen again. I have a good used set of steel ones if you are intrested. 100.00 for both including excentrics. You pay shipping. One of them needs a boot but the joints are excellent. I tore the boot removing it.

Thanks and good luck,

elgreco

i always do get my parts from the people that support the site( xpipe, porken chips interior lights moldings) but with the ball joints i coulnt wait for delivery i had to have them in the same day

depami

I'll take those off your hands if they'll fit my '82. It still has aluminum.

fbarnhill

Sold and shipped. Thanks Denny.

Podguy

If any one wants to maintain the classic integrity of the OB I have a couple of good aluminum ball joints.

What engineer ever thought this was a good idea.

SteveG

You are aware it was a safety/recall situation, right?

MikeinBloomfield

They were not recalled. The change was made, and dealers were sent a notice detailing how to upgrade. But Porsche never said, "come in and change your ball joints and we'll pay for them."

I willing to give Porsche the benefit of the doubt, and say that it wasn't that much of a safety issue. The other, more cynical, way to look at it is that Porsche just didn't see a good cost/benefit ratio in having a recall.

I changed mine though.

SteveG

OK, no recall. Did it not say there was possibility of catastrophic failure or was that invented here?

depami

They showed up today. Thanks Frank.

brutus

The aluminum ball joint carrier when badly worn and neglected (torn boot) can allow the steel ball to pop out of the socket. When it does the wheel is only retained by the upper ball joint and it flops over gets pushed back against the firewall when braking. Maybe 99 % of the time this happens when you make a very tight low speed turn like into a parking space or a U turn . At low speed very little happens. But no recall there were not as many lawyers back then