GliTCH

Here's my problem.

I got the car and my dad's mechanic (whom I will never go to again) told me that the ball joints were popping and I needed new front lower control arms to get that taken care of.

So I replaced them months ago and I'm not sure if this was always the case but I hear popping still when I back out of the driveway. Do the rear lower arms have ball joints too that need to be replaced?

EDIT: I found a thread that says if the lower control arms weren't tightened enough then that could be what's causing the popping. Would that also cause vibration?

vipsoarer

it depends on the condition of the parts and how many miles you have on the car. it could be that the bolts need tightening but then again it could also be that other bushings are bad or like you asked the rears are on their way out. give us some background info on this since hearing a popping noise is fairly vague. ex. the popping noise is coming from the front/back (choose one or both), left/right (choose one or both) area under (insert when the noise happens) conditions. fill us in and we can help you out better

GliTCH

it sounds as though the popping is coming from the front left side.

i could be mistaken however because i remember before when i had an exhaust rattle i was under the impression that the noise was coming from the catalytics towards the center/front of the car when in fact it was the tips in the rear that were rattling.

brief history:

March/April of 2005:

- purchased car. immediately afterwards i had the classic power steering pump leaking on the alternator issue and i got both replaced.

- got the front left and front right lower control arms replaced on the advice of a mechanic who said the ball joint was going out (popping noise could be heard after backing the car and then immediately going forwards.

- got the wheels and tires replaced, and the car aligned (April 2005)

July 2005:

- brakes squealing like crazy. went to a discount shop who said i needed new pads and the rotors could be resurfaced. also pointed out that my brake fluid return hoses were worn out and was warned that the brakes could "stick". opted to get the pads and rotors but didnt replaced the hoses.

afterwards i could hear the brakes squeak. although the sound went away (somewhat) within a month. i took the car to another brake shop and they said the rotors shouldnt have been resurfaced because they are below discard. was advised to purchase new rotors but opted to keep driving on the crappy ones because the brakes, although not perfect im sure, were working pretty decent. (albeit an occasional squeak when rolling at 2 mph)

november 2005:

- got the car back after an oil change at the dealer and was advised to get new tires. tires looked fine and i didnt think too much of it, but the car was handling absolutely terrible. every bump could be felt, and the car would bounce up and down and sway around when driving at low speed. aggervating vibration at high speed (65 mph) which subsided when i went faster (80 mph +)

- went to a tire shop and asked to get the wheels balanced. when they took the wheels off i saw the insides of the tires (all 4) were completely chewed up and the tread was seperating from the wall of the tire. i had no idea the tires were this bad because i had only bought them less than 8 months ago and the outsides looked fine. the rears were particularly bad. so i immediately got 4 new tires and got the wheels balanced with them of course.


which brings us to now. the car handles a little better with the new tires but while rolling at slow speeds i could feel the car slightly bounce up and down, and it seems as though its happening in the front left side of the car. the popping noise occurs when i back out of my driveway while the front wheels are pointed towards the right. it is rarely heard under any other circumstance (such as backing out straight).

i had narrowed the problem down to 4 possibilities, and i think it might even be a combination of two of these.

1. front left wheel is bent, although it looks fine to me

2. caliper sticking to one of my four fu**ed up rotors

3. control arms were installed poorly, and one of them is either loose or the bushings on it have deteriorated.

4. car has improper alignment, which might have caused my tires to go bad so quick in the first place.

quite frankly, with the exception of the lexus dealer in sarasota which does outstanding work at very competitive prices, and one shop with smart kids that i trust thats 50 miles north of here, i dont trust anyone working on my car anymore. i dont know where to go to get the problem diagnosed.

any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. i cant afford to spend a lot more money on the car immediately so i fix problems in order of severity.

vipsoarer

i would say your are pretty correct in your statements of what might be wrong. if the control arm is loose and not torqued down you will get odd wear patterns. the alignment would be out because of the lack of control of the suspension when aligning. my best guess would be either 1 of two things.

1. the caliper is sticking, it happens fairly frequently with higher milage cars and would induce both a pop when making hard turns along with making the tires wear odd.

2. when they installed your control arms they torqued them into place when the wheels were at the bottom of the suspension travel and thus stressing the bushings which would make popping noise from the bushings composition like when they are worn.

if you have a jack and some simple tools you should be able to check these items yourself. you will be able to tell #2 by when you put the car on the ground from being lifted it will make squeel and pop when the suspension starts to take load. #1 will be able to be diagnosed by heat marks on the rotor, or if you remove the caliper you wont be able to compress the pistons easily at all.

good luck and keep us up to date

VQT

I believed the rear tires wear because of worn out front and rear control arm bushing. Each control arms has a ball joint to connect to the wheel hub. I just change all four control arms (front and rear). Will find out in a few months if my rear tires still wear out like your problem.
Don't know what you refer as the poping noise, my car doesn't do that but the rear tires do wear out quickly (less than 10K miles).