Nel86

AAARRRGGGHH (charlie brown style)

I sure feel bad for my 04 Mach 1
An annoying tick driving me nuts that no one can track down the source to
A bad break job done by yours truly lol

and now a separated ball joint.

Let me just say i do not abuse my car, I love it. theres a reason why i wasted money on a car cover, that was stolen and drive it around like a grandmother.


Got to driving down the highway the other night, and suddenly my wheel pulls sharply to the left nearly sending me into the wall. Luckily it seems like the suspension took most of the damage.

So heres my idea as i will once again attempt to do this myself, as i am poor and not enough to pay a professional. At the same time I kind of enjoy learning to do new things, and i sure gots lots to learn!

I've decided its time to upgrade since my replacement parts from RedMcombs Ford comes out to $1578, ouch.

I'm thinking
Steeda x2 Ball Joint
Tokico or KYB Shocks not to picky just need to buy ones that will last
Steeda lowering Sport Springs 1"-1.25" drop (possibly bundled with shocks)
Bumpsteer kit (dont know if i need it or not, or if the ball joint makes up for it)
Camber plates, (old ones are no good)

Now who knows where i can get these items cheap *** hell as i don't have much money in the first place. I hate to sound like a beggar but between moving, paying for classes and all the new deposits this month im running on life support, and now the lack of a vehicle. Luckily I live down the road from work.

JRad405

You should check your tie rods and other parts of your suspension since you hit a wall and your wheel did come out of the ball joint. It may not just be a strut and spring that was damaged. You may not need a bumpsteer kit if you're only going that low, so you could cut a few dollars off there.

While I have no experience with this some other forum members on a different forum said they have not had good luck with the Steeda X2 ball joints. They commented that they had premature wear on them and needed to be replaced after a few thousand miles. A stock replacement from Rockauto maybe be the best and cheapest route.

Sometimes corral or other forums and craigslist have guys selling lowering springs and struts and shocks cheap as well. Don't take this personally, if you are low on cash, if you can't find cheap lowering springs, you may just want to hold off on it. Use it for what's really important. I'm paying my own way through school right now too and I know it's no fun looking at your car's ride height but hey things could be worse. Just my .02 cents.

Nel86

Very true, trying to use it as an excuse at the same time.

now the dealership said i need new camber plates, should i go ahead and get aftermarket ones or no? i figured they dont cost much more then stock ones just dont know which ones i should get

Syracuse315

I've only heard good things about these, and I plan on getting them myself:

http://www.americanmuscle.com/maximu...tes-94-04.html

0440thgt

Sorry about your misfortunes.

You say the suspension took most of the impact, did it mess your car's body up any?

Good luck getting her back on the road!

Nel86

Oh no the body is fine, I ALMOST hit the wall. I took a bad bump hitting a really bad pot hole a month or so ago. i guess that bump on the highway did it in.

Nel86

So I spent quite a bit of time tracking down some parts. Trying to get them cheap, hopefully there not cheap parts. Went ahead and ordered the following parts for these prices. then atempting to install them all myself.

Tokico HP Shocks and Struts
$299

Steeda Camber plates
$160

Some generic Ball joints..Went cheap.. I think im going to regret it
$60

Nel86

no springs as of yet, not sure if its worth it or not.