Ball joint making noises

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The upper ball joint on the driver side of my 92 accord is making grinding noises whenever i turn the wheel or go over bumps. I tried to grease it with my grease gun and needle attachment but I noticed the boot is starting to break apart and the grease I pump in pops out of all the cracks in the rubber. Can you get a new boot for the BJ or is it just worth it to replace the whole thing. Also the noise could it be something else other than the BJ because I'm not 100% sure if it is that or maybe the bearing in the top of the strut? any ideas?

Thanks
 
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might be easier to get a new upper control arm assembly. ive done both on those year accords and i can say that changing out the whole upper is significantly faster and easier.
 
Hondas such as yours don't have a true Macpherson strut, so there are no ball bearings between the upper part of the strut and the car body. However, the rubber insulator between the 2 can fail.

A failed Ball joint seems more likely

I have seen many Honda go for years with a torn off ball joint boot without making noise, so that would mean that you need ball joints.

Also, take a good look at the bushings between the control arms and the car body. If you notice cracking or splitting, odds are they are the cause of the noise.

In either case, many suspension part manufacturers sell and entire new control arm, so there is no need to press out the ball joint and bushing from the old one.
 
This will be the second time I have replaced this particular ball joint in the last 4 years, I usually get the cheapo ones this particular one is made in India so I wasn't expecting super quality but done in 2 years, pathetic I have an old Ford which is still running on 8 yrs old BJ's!, no more cheapo parts. Anybody know of any decent brands over the counter out where I live?
 
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Originally Posted By: Mr_Accord
This will be the second time I have replaced this particular ball joint in the last 4 years, I usually get the cheapo ones this particular one is made in India so I wasn't expecting super quality but done in 2 years, pathetic I have an old Ford which is still running on 8 yrs old BJ's!, no more cheapo parts. Anybody know of any decent brands over the counter out where I live?

I see factory Honda ball joints go for so long that I would buy a dealer part if I was going to keep the car a long time.

Moog makes extremely good suspension parts, that may also be a good idea. They almost always have Zerk fittings to enable greasing. I'm not sure what auto parts chains are in Quebec. However, it seemed the majority of auto parts chains in the USA sold Moog parts.
 
Originally Posted By: Mr_Accord
we have moog out here never tried them, we also have monroe

I have never seen Monroe suspension parts except for shocks, springs, struts, and strut mounts.

I never saw a ball joint made by them.... Interesting.

I never got to use a Beck/Arnley suspension part, but it sounds good to me, quite often a Beck/Arnley part is an OE part at a lower price.
 
Is this common on the Accord platform? I have a popping/creaking when I turn the wheel the first time or two and then it goes away. It's scary because I've already had a lower balljoint failure in which the wheel practically came off (mechanic's fault, not the car) and I really don't want that to happen again.
 
its common. they made the upper control arms easy to replace while making the front rotors next to impossible unless you have the proper tool.
 
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Is this common on the Accord platform? I have a popping/creaking when I turn the wheel the first time or two and then it goes away. It's scary because I've already had a lower balljoint failure in which the wheel practically came off (mechanic's fault, not the car) and I really don't want that to happen again.


I don't know but it happen frequently on my accord I hear sounds every few months in which i grease them again and it goes away but I did have a lower ball joint snap on me while i was driving and the whole front end of the driver side just dropped and almost ruined my tire, scary thing was i was heading onto the highway, who knows what would have happened if i was going fast and the tire practically came off the car.
 
Originally Posted By: Mr_Accord
Quote:
Is this common on the Accord platform? I have a popping/creaking when I turn the wheel the first time or two and then it goes away. It's scary because I've already had a lower balljoint failure in which the wheel practically came off (mechanic's fault, not the car) and I really don't want that to happen again.


I don't know but it happen frequently on my accord I hear sounds every few months in which i grease them again and it goes away but I did have a lower ball joint snap on me while i was driving and the whole front end of the driver side just dropped and almost ruined my tire, scary thing was i was heading onto the highway, who knows what would have happened if i was going fast and the tire practically came off the car.


Same thing with mine only I had just gotten off the busy highway and was going maybe 20mph around a curve. I had to wait 2 days before I could talk to the mechanic without doing something stupid. My girlfriend was with me and thought someone had hit us from behind when it dropped to the ground.
 
Replace the arm with something decent, Honda OEM is generally made in Japan or USA (meaning decent quality). Taking chances with parts made by 10 year olds in sweatshops is a roll of the dice.

Either way, make sure to correctly torque the ball joint nut. As far as I'm concerned, all suspension bolts/nuts need to be considered as torque critical.
 
Originally Posted By: BuickGN
Is this common on the Accord platform? I have a popping/creaking when I turn the wheel the first time or two and then it goes away. It's scary because I've already had a lower balljoint failure in which the wheel practically came off (mechanic's fault, not the car) and I really don't want that to happen again.

I also see failing inner tie rod ends do that on many Hondas.
 
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I also see failing inner tie rod ends do that on many Hondas.


I will check that. Every where I look Moog is the prefered brand for top notch ball joints but man are they expensive, an auto parts store near me has the one i need with the control arm at 225$ (ouch) That is a bit too much for a 17 year old car. How are Beck/Arnley I got them price at 71$ with a control arm or another one made by mevotech?
 
Originally Posted By: artificialist
Originally Posted By: BuickGN
Is this common on the Accord platform? I have a popping/creaking when I turn the wheel the first time or two and then it goes away. It's scary because I've already had a lower balljoint failure in which the wheel practically came off (mechanic's fault, not the car) and I really don't want that to happen again.

I also see failing inner tie rod ends do that on many Hondas.


That's interesting because it did start a week after I had one of the tie rod ends replaced after the balljoint incident. Of course there were a few things replaced but I'll check that out.
 
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