wow thats awful... how many miles do you have on that car ? :\

trying to clarify something here: i have had my bearings snap before. different gs. starting to hear the same creaking sounds again. if i am completely replacing all my ball joints would
i do:
front ball joints-2
rear ball joints-2
tie rods
outer tie ends
inner tie ends

can someone confirm the quantity of each i should get?

Mine looked like the picture on the first page but at 75mph. Sounded like a gun going off then a lot of smoke and a wild ride. I was with my GF going towards Chicago on I90.
2000 GS300, no mods at all
135,000Miles
I replaced both ball joints and also the top fork/ball joint on the pas. side (figured getting torn back at 75mph isn't good on it).
Should have joined the forum a week ago...

>>>http://www.horsepowerfreaks.com/perf...r_Control_Arms
Called up the dude at HP freaks and they said if you order now they'll sell those for $750 shipped. I went with the stock since I neeeeded a car but its a deal for both. Not sure if that helps anyone doing all the replacements.

ok boss...this thread is about ball joints, not control arms....

^^^ My lower right ball joint did fail employee. I replaced the upper control arm too for safety.

i saw a gs on freeway that broke ball joint during holiday. lots of car were traveling and saw a gs that was right in front of me lose control due to this happen i saw the wheel poping out and his whole family was in the car. that would be sux for holiday trip.

I have had some noises for some time now that are getting worse. Seems over smallish bumps/potholes/stutter bumps where the wheels are going up and down a lot the whole front has clunks and sounds like it is just coming apart.

I took it to a good front end shop and after a test drive, they said the lower control arm (bushings) looked to be the culprit, and that the ball joints looked good. The lower control arm is that "S" shaped casting w/ 2 mounts up front, and a larger bushing mount at the back on the body through a stud, tied in by the lower frame bracing across the car. Well I replaced the lower control arms (not much $ and literally 20 minutes/ea to do) and hoped that was it, as the bushings inside the arms did look torn and ripped; some improvement, but the clunking sounds are still there...

After reading all this I will just have to replace the ball joints. My car is stock suspension and never lowered, and only has 56k!

Update:
As I was about to change out the balljoints, I continued to rack my brain as to the noise. Car in the air, last resort..I used my hand to see if there was any looseness anywhere... and found hitting the sway bar link made a bit of a clunk. Traced it up to the frame and sure enough, the sway bar mount to the frame, where there are 4 bolts, 2 were visually loose and the others 2 were just snug!! so this was the source of the clunking! The mount was rocking. I torqued all 4 plus the pass side ones down per spec and the sounds are gone. I really had a hard time believing the ball joints were the issue at 56k.. but did not want to take any chances thanks to the notes here.. so I have the ball joint parts now and when I get up in some more miles or any other symptoms denoted in this thread appear I will be ready. I have an extra set of lower control arms w/ just 56k on them though!

Did tightening the sway bar link get rid of the noise? I had my front stabilizer bar(which I believe is the same as the sway bar) tightened as outlined in TSB SU003-02 as the tech said it was pretty loose, and it seemed to cure most of the clunking/squeeking sound from the front suspension for a little while but it has come right back, you can't hear it that well during warmer temps in the summer but when it gets cold like right now you can really hear it which is a terrible annoying rattling clunking squeeking sound when going over speed bumps and other bumps in the road. They wanted to perform the TSB SU004-02 which I think involved replacing a shock piece but I was like I do not want to spend a bunch of money trying to diagnose a noise. I have sprayed some WD40 on the bolts underneath which sometimes works okay. I will look under the car again and try tightening these front stablizer/sway bar bolts if they are loose. Do you have a picture of the bolts that were loose and that you tightened?

I just ordered the ball joints from Carson. Now I have to replace the upper control arm, which is not that cheap at all. From reading this entire post I noticed a couple of individuals had to replaced their upper control arm too...would this cause from the ball joints being bad?

Also, did anyone tried these upper control arm yet? (even though this post is for ball joints for some of us the control arm were effected)
http://www.l-tunedparts.com/product/?id=3016

Thanks in advance,

Mark

i hate to be the one to break it to you BUT that link, those are made for the rear suspension....the ball joints/upper control arms your replacing are for the FRONT suspension and they wont work......least not for what your trying to do. we actually were having a discussion bout these control arms yesterday though, guess that's why u brought them up?

these are what you want.....FRONT CONTROL ARMS
http://www.l-tunedparts.com/product/?id=3011

YOU DONT WANT THESE....AS THEY REAR CONTROL ARMS
http://www.l-tunedparts.com/product/?id=3016

Thanks bud... I posted the wrong url... will rectify the link when i get home...if it makes a difference.

just leave it as it is so i dont like crazy lol

Where did you guys order the lower ball joints from? Looking to replace mine very soon

Carson Toyota ordered mine last week...CL members gets free shipping on order over a $100 See post.