Slight play in a lower suspension ball joint?

VanMan2007

I had an advisory item on my last MOT: "Offside front suspension has slight play in a lower suspension ball joint (2.5.B.1a)

(I have a 1998 Mazda 6 Xedos.)

Can anyone tell me what this is and how much it is likely to cost to put right?

Thanks guys.

[Deleted User]

Sounds like you need a new wishbone as one of the joints is worn out. I hear you can usually replace the joint but it's just as cheap to put a whole new wishbone in.

I had the same advisory on my 206 last November. Not had it sorted yet though.

mikey72

£75 ish for the part, an hour or two fitting, so depending on labour £130 to £185.

mcjordi

its an advisory.. see if it crops up on your next mot.. if it fails get it repaired.. but circa £50 for the wishbone and about an hour labour to do it.. so less than £100 in my opinion ( it depends on labour rate..) £30 an hour round by me for independants..

s_b

What you have to remember with a ball-joint is it does a lot of work from holding the car to taking all lateral movements as the car turns,
now at one time a slight movement would have been an mot failure but these days it just gets an advisory.
Thing is once a ball-joint has play in it its finished and possibly dangerous as witnessed by another thread a week or so back where some pictures were posted where ball joints had pulled out.
If you imagine a ball and socket for the joint to wear water has had to penetrate and this causes corrosion, which causes the ball and socket to wear at an alarming rate,now once you take this ball off the car you will be amazed at the amount of play it has and will see its well finished.
So ball joint advisories should be changed for peace of mind
this anomaly should be changed next year when the new mot regulations come into force that will reinstate split ball joint rubbers as a fail anyway.
To finish, i see that the ball joints are available as a separate entity and are held in with the serrated edge and fitted from below,now i had a nasty experience with these some years back on a citroen ax where the ball joint pulled through, maybe to age of the arm i fitted it to ,maybe the joint was a copy ?,i don't know but Ive always since fitted arms from companies like fai for peace of mind.
For this reason i always recommend suspension life saving critical components should be purchased from a reputable long established traceable source retailer and only named products like as i say fai.
One further thought, i am reading in trade mags about copies of suspension components that are ally, but don't have enough magnesium added for strength,now this might be scare mongering to keep market place ,but no one wants a lower ball joint snapping as you come off a motorway

Just a few thoughts.........

Hammyman

mcjordi wrote: »

its an advisory.. see if it crops up on your next mot..

Its the one thing that holds the wheel hub in place at the bottom and if it fails you lose steering and suspension on that side and depending on what angle the strut decides to bend to, possibly the brakes as well. Not worth it for the sake of £100

This is what happens when a balljoint fails:

cyclonebri1

If it was an advisory klast year it is certainly FUBARED by now. Needs doing before the test;)

VanMan2007

Thanks guys. That's decided it then. It was an advisary in Feb MOT, but I don't want to take any chances as I do have long drives to London and Wales coming up in the not too distant future.

I'll go and see them tomorrow and get it booked in. I can get advice on my exhaust while I'm there (see Xedos exhaust thread).

Thanks again for your advice guys. Fantastic as always.
:T

mcjordi

if your anywhere near me i would do it for a few beer tokens..

VanMan2007

mcjordi wrote: »

if your anywhere near me i would do it for a few beer tokens..

Appreciate the offer mate. I'm in Notts tho!

mcjordi

ahh !!!!!! never mind