Ball-Joint & Caliper

[cp3]

Any point in getting one control arm to deal with a bad ball-joint or should I just bite the bullet and get both sides?

Also, anyone have any experience with rebuilding calipers? Have one leaking on the back where the parking brake attaches. Worth trying to rebuild for a spare (both cars are the same brakes) or just take it back for the core?

 

[artificialist]

Just rebuild the caliper. I have not seen any of my friends rebuild one by themselves successfully.

As for the new ball joints, I say yes, get both, otherwise the other side will fail soon after, and you will have to pay for a wheel alignment again. Also, is this for your Pontiac G5 or G6? The Pontiac G5 had failure prone control arm bushings, so replacing both makes even more sense.

 

[cp3]

The bad ball-joint is on the G6. I have the bushings for the G5, going to try that. $8 vs $130 for the control arm and I can replace the ball joints on the G5.

I'm confused about your caliper comment though.

 

[yonyon]

A brake caliper rebuild is usually a pretty easy thing if the caliper is a nice simple hydraulic unit. Calipers with parking brake functionality? I just kind of assume they're another story. I've seen so many reman units that leaked right out of the box (maybe a little more than half) that I've never put any real consideration into try to do do it myself. Instead, I just buy three reman calipers for each side and there's always been at least one good one out of the three. The leaky new ones go back as defective, the old ones are cores, and any the didn't get installed because I already found a non-leaker go back as new -- did not need part.

 

[cp3]

Wow, nice! I don't plan on buying three to get one but I guess you never know!

 

[cp3]

Just found my answer for the caliper. There is an integral seal in the parking brake mechanism that is non-replaceable. So back it goes.

 

[mechtech2]

I like doing things in pairs. Durometer [hardnes ] of bushings and rotational tightness of joints is best if the sides are matched.
If costs are #1 concern, of course replace only what needs it.
but if you can swing it, do both.
Rebuild calipers are pretty reliable.
I'd go with a rebuilt. Once again, is can be smart to do both sides.