Lower Ball joints
Lead Lap
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 445
Likes: 0
From: California
I got mine relpaced at a buck-40 (140k) miles. I purchased the bilstein coilovers as well. Problem is I'm still hearing a lot of "clicking" sounds comming from the front end. Can anyone tell me what the problem could be? I brought it to Lexus of Concord and to Wheelworks as well, but they told me they could not hear it?
Frustrated GS owner =/
Frustrated GS owner =/
Driver
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 167
Likes: 0
From: ga
Pole Position
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 239
Likes: 3
From: IE
The steering has a bit of play in it and one major clue is when I drive over a very rough suface slowly I can feel the rack moving up and down slightly!!!
I think the best thing to do is just jack her up and look at the bushings to see if they are still there!!!
I think the best thing to do is just jack her up and look at the bushings to see if they are still there!!!
Last edited by gs-ireland; Jan 20, 2007 at 02:32 AM.
The balljoints that your order now are supposedly the revised joints. Suppose they are stronger than the original. I hear more failures on 98-00 GS than 01+. Perhaps the 01+ have the updated joints.
I didn't do an alignment after putting in the balljoint. It's suppose to slightly affect camber only (more towards 0 than negative). In my case, it helped with camber since my car is lowered a bit. An alignment isn't necessary unless you touched the tie-rod(s).
I didn't do an alignment after putting in the balljoint. It's suppose to slightly affect camber only (more towards 0 than negative). In my case, it helped with camber since my car is lowered a bit. An alignment isn't necessary unless you touched the tie-rod(s).
Lead Lap
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 3,565
Likes: 48
From: Illinois
I don't know, Henry. Lexus told me the same thing after I replaced my lower ball joints. After 5,000 miles, I completely trashed a set of Turanza LS-Zs by riding on the inside shoulders of the tires. I suppose it might have had something to do with the fact that I also installed new OEM shocks at the time, but everyone told me that neither shocks nor ball joints will change the alignment. I can personally attest that in my case, it most definitely did. My tires had 7-8/32nds of tread with perfectly even wear. This was the final straw:
The balljoints that your order now are supposedly the revised joints. Suppose they are stronger than the original. I hear more failures on 98-00 GS than 01+. Perhaps the 01+ have the updated joints.
I didn't do an alignment after putting in the balljoint. It's suppose to slightly affect camber only (more towards 0 than negative). In my case, it helped with camber since my car is lowered a bit. An alignment isn't necessary unless you touched the tie-rod(s).
I didn't do an alignment after putting in the balljoint. It's suppose to slightly affect camber only (more towards 0 than negative). In my case, it helped with camber since my car is lowered a bit. An alignment isn't necessary unless you touched the tie-rod(s).
Yes my turning did become tighter, but it's not a dramatic difference because only one of my balljoint was bad, and it wasn't as bad as a lot of people's joint. I just decided to change it. It's a small price to pay for my safety 
Lead Lap
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 3,565
Likes: 48
From: Illinois
No, I don't think the new shocks raised the car up. If anything, I guess the new shocks forced the wheels downward and outward during normal driving conditions (if that's even possible, I really don't know). I was basically riding on the shoulders of all 4 tires and I didn't even know it. In hindsight, it must have been the shocks because the problem wasn't just limited to the front tires (although those showed more irregular wear than the rears). Anyway, lesson learned. If you futz with the suspension in any way, get an alignment. It's cheap insurance against burning up your tires, or worse, something bad happening.
Once you touch the spring and/or shock, your alignment will be out of spec. My guess is that the shocks did have a very small affect on the height of the car, which means your toe got knocked out of spec, therefore you saw inner wear on all four tires, but the front more since those wheels are the ones that steers the car.
My front tires were bald on the inside so i had to go to a shop to get them flipped around to wear out the outter portion instead. Can't get new tires because something is making my steering very loose so I'll be eating the new tires anyways. Gotta fix that before I do anything else
But the ball joint sure made me feel more confident in driving
My front tires were bald on the inside so i had to go to a shop to get them flipped around to wear out the outter portion instead. Can't get new tires because something is making my steering very loose so I'll be eating the new tires anyways. Gotta fix that before I do anything else
But the ball joint sure made me feel more confident in driving
Henry, you need Daizen front control arm bushing.......
Once you touch the spring and/or shock, your alignment will be out of spec. My guess is that the shocks did have a very small affect on the height of the car, which means your toe got knocked out of spec, therefore you saw inner wear on all four tires, but the front more since those wheels are the ones that steers the car.
My front tires were bald on the inside so i had to go to a shop to get them flipped around to wear out the outter portion instead. Can't get new tires because something is making my steering very loose so I'll be eating the new tires anyways. Gotta fix that before I do anything else
But the ball joint sure made me feel more confident in driving
My front tires were bald on the inside so i had to go to a shop to get them flipped around to wear out the outter portion instead. Can't get new tires because something is making my steering very loose so I'll be eating the new tires anyways. Gotta fix that before I do anything else
But the ball joint sure made me feel more confident in driving