thirteensecondgt

i think one of the 2 is going out in my car....whenever i turn the wheels i feel a like popping noise and u can kinda hear a popping noise...i just wanna get it fixed b/c all it does is worry me.....any ideas of what it would be?

four-sixer

hmm. My ball joints were replaced but I took it to Belle Tire and they said that it'd prolly need new tie rods. I haven't really driven it more than 1 mile lol but I might have the same problem if the Bell Tire guy was right.
Sorry i can't help but I heard tie rods were cheap to fix =\

monkeydude3

ok probably the popping is your strut tower mount. Those usually cause that noise. Although a bad ball joint will also cause that noise, because the factory ones are sealed and you cannot grease them. See if you can replicate that noise with the car sitting still, and have someone place their hand on the ball joints and then on the strut tower mounts. We found a squeaky ball joint like this at work on a blazer, one tech bounced the truck while I had my hand on the ball joint, sure enough the squeak = vibration on that bad one.

Usually ball joints start making noise and then get loose, and then you get bad alignment. Generally they only break if you slam some kind of bump with maximum force causing it to snap... they will also break if you leave them loose for years and years until they wear away...

Now if you had bad tie rods, you would feel a steering wheel shake at speeds above 25-35mph, and you will also have a loose feeling steering wheel with probably some kind of allignment issue.

Hope I helped some!


George

Lucidus

If you lift the car so that the tire comes off the ground, is there alot of play from side to side in the wheel? Like, if you grab both sides of the tire, can you shimmy it from side to side?

monkeydude3

+1

another good test

thirteensecondgt

where can i get ball joints and tie rods? i wanna get fixed asap!

JHonor

I have the exact same sound in my car and have been trying to get it fixed to no avail. I can tell you, the sound in my car is not coming from the strut mounts; it's coming from a lower place; either the tie rod end or the balljoints. The thing is, I just had Steeda X2 balljoints put on a couple thousand miles ago, so I don't understand why that might be it. But my sound only happens sometimes, and it is worse when it is warmer outside. It's cold in DC today and it drove 100% normal today.

sransari

I had this problem, because I was a n00b and didn't inject grease properly when I put in my X2 ball joints. I just fixed it last night actually, by re-greasing the ball joint using a good grease gun that I borrowed from a friend.

blstoff

to check for worn ball joints do what Lucidus said . but instead of side to side for tie-rods , grab the top & bottom & push w/ one hand & pull w/ the other , back & forth . if there is any play , replace . lift one side of the car at a time . GL

vanquish

yeah do these checks before going out buying stuff. To check the ball joints and get a better idea, jack the front end up and put a pry bar under the front tire and apply force up and see if there's excessive play in the joints. And do what everyone else is saying for checking the tie rod ends. Make sure you find if it is the inner or outer tie rod end.