tiger4life

iTrader: (16)

Yall better listen to this guy. I put Moog balljoints on my car in December of 2014. They were Japan made 555 versions. Last August I replaced them since I was putting in new Megan control arms and Sage RCA's. Nothing was wrong with them and they only had 14000 miles on them so I threw them in the attic as spares. I just had a metallic clink and pop/thump develop last week on the driver side front wheel. I immediately thought the worst, balljoints..... But they were 8 months old and had 1500 miles on them, no way they were bad. I tightened every single bolt on the front end to spec (brace included). Noise still there. Took off the caliper to make sure it wasn't the pad shifting. Noise still there. Finally bit the bullet and pulled the balljoint. The thing was literally frozen in place. I couldn't move it by hand, I had to put my body weight against it to get the balljoint to move. Sure enough, the new balljoint was from Indonesia. The boot was good and I'm pretty sure I greased it when I first installed it. I never had a problem with Moog balljoints before, but I have no confidence in the quality now if it's not from Japan. Put the old ones back in and no noise. Looks like I'll be ordering OEM balljoints from now on.

accrdpusha

I put some moogs in mine and it feels great.

sbagdon

This is just one of those parts that I bit the bullet, and paid oem (and/or would have paid oem-quality). Just some things aren't worth the drama... others include water pump, timing belt parts such as idlers and pulleys, etc. For something as infamous as the lower balljoints, $65/per, for (2), seems like a small price to pay.

KTGS300

Where do you find the OEM for $65/per?

natman

If the OEM joints are so good, then why are so many wearing out prematurely?

sbagdon

eBay... search for "98 lexus gs400 lower ball joint oem". They're up to about $75+shipping, so they've gone up a bit. Yet even double then Moog, there's just a short list of items that should be genuine Lexus.

engin_ear

iTrader: (1)

Everyone here seemed to comment on Moog - the original question was regarding Mevotech.

I just installed Mevotech lower ball joints. They are very well made. They claim the metallurgy is higher-quality steel.
I have no long-term data yet, but the install went well.
I also used Mevotech inner tie rods and stabilizer bar links. All are well-made.

tmf2004

iTrader: (15)

that's good to know.. I was actually looking at there upper and lower control arms awhile ago. They seem well made IMO.

shwalker07

I have the Mevotech upper control arms installed on my GS for about 5k miles so far. They seem nicely made and feel like a quality replacement part but time will tell how they hold up.

Esar

Hey all, I just want to revive this thread and see what those with the Mevotech are experiencing thus far. I'm leaning towards going OEM as quality control on the Moog's seem spotty and if OEM LBJ last till 90k-100k miles, I'm cool with that. Also, my understanding is that Sankei makes the Japan LBJ's for Moog - why not buy Sankei LBJ's? They're a little more expensive than Moog, $54, but you know you're getting the Japanese made part?