2012 Mazda 3: Ball joints again?

[johnmyster]

Time to throw more parts at the beater. It got front wheel bearings and ball joints last fall. The ball joints were an add-on because the boots were torn or tore in the process of front-end takedown. (Fun story, it ended not being the bearings. It was cupped tires.)

Now the CV shafts are spitting from the outer boots. My car seems to be an odd single-year combo (2012 skyactiv 2.0 six-speed auto) so no boot kit available and I haven't been able to solve the problem with fresh bands on the outers. So it's going to get shafts.

And there is a horrible popping from the front end, both sides it seems that has developed since the prior work. Mostly when turning the wheel (but not every time) and very rarely over a bump. I can feel lateral movement between the knuckle and lower arm when my wife turns the wheel. The popping developed slowly since doing the prior work but was not initially evident.

Were my new ball joints duds? Sankei 555? Are they likely dead in only 2k miles, or are they popping and moving within the control arms (press in style)? Do ball joints pop or am I going to wind up doing lower control arms and/or strut mounts?

Doing ball joints again is going to be a pain, but I'm there anyway for CV shafts. Doing lower arms is going to be a bigger pain. 95k on vehicle.

Bitog crystal ball experts unite. This car's biggest problem seems to be the person working on it.

J

Thread 'Mazda 3 2012 Front Wheel Bearings'

Oct 15, 2025

Well, I couldn't take the noise in the beater commuter anymore. Pulled knuckles yesterday, first batch of parts arriving today. It's my first experience with press-in bearings.

Factory bearings are definitely noisy and have play at 93k miles. Car has had minimal salt exposure but rotor removal, lower ball joint separation, and knuckle/strut separation were tasks I was not prepared for. I will be buying a bigger hammer. Bad design for Mazda to make the ID of the rotor hat a close fit to the OD of the hub flange - any rust in the rotor hat locks the rotor onto the flange.

Timken...

• johnmyster
• Replies: 13
• Forum: Mechanical/Maintenance Forum

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[The_Eric]

Are you sure that it's not the strut bearing plates? Without hearing it, it seems pretty unlikely that the ball joints would 1) fail that soon and 2) make a popping noise.

 

[johnmyster]

Are you sure that it's not the strut bearing plates? Without hearing it, it seems pretty unlikely that the ball joints would 1) fail that soon and 2) make a popping noise.

I 100% haven't ruled strut mounts/bearings out. Strange thing is that it doesn't pop with every stroke of the wheel. It would make sense if they were not happy because I had to be pretty abusive with a hammer to get the knuckles out of the car.

Sachs is another $30 a side and...I'm practically there anyway.

And that I can discern lateral play in at least one of the ball joints.

 

[RedSpider]

My son's 2017 has had three ball joint failures in 160k miles, twice on the driver side, once on the passenger. All factory parts from the local dealer, no aftermarket. And now about a week ago he told me he's hearing a knocking sound again while going over rough roads, same sound as the previous two times. Soon to be a fourth replacement? Cant whine too loudly, other than an idler pulley and one wheel bearing its the only thing we've had to repair in almost 10 years and 160,000 miles, but jeepers creepers. What's with the ball joints? I had to replace three on his 2012 Mazda2 before 150k miles as well.