Balls

[Bryan Williams]

Just had the mot done on the 2010 Fiesta.
Needed two front springs.
Got them done, £140, also had advisories on split ball joint rubbers.
Had a quote from an online 'fix my motor' type site for £250.
This is what they said in the quote..
Thank you for the opportunity to quote for the work on your Fiesta We would only replace the suspension arms, as opposed to just ball joints, as the extra labour involved in removing the arms to fit the joints, and the fact the bushes in the arm are the same age, so likely to require replacing in the near future, it makes it uneconomical. Therefore the price quoted is to supply and fit both front lower arms (inc bushes and ball joints), and this also includes the wheel alignment resetting, as this would require adjusting once the steering and suspension has been reassembled.

I can see thier point, just wondering how hard ball joints are on this vehicle, I've done bottom ones on my t4 van which were easy..

Whether it's worth doing myself or just paying and if this is a good price.. It's the only quote in so far.
Cheers.

 

[Brad93]

Just had the mot done on the 2010 Fiesta.
Needed two front springs.
Got them done, £140, also had advisories on split ball joint rubbers.
Had a quote from an online 'fix my motor' type site for £250.
This is what they said in the quote..
Thank you for the opportunity to quote for the work on your Fiesta We would only replace the suspension arms, as opposed to just ball joints, as the extra labour involved in removing the arms to fit the joints, and the fact the bushes in the arm are the same age, so likely to require replacing in the near future, it makes it uneconomical. Therefore the price quoted is to supply and fit both front lower arms (inc bushes and ball joints), and this also includes the wheel alignment resetting, as this would require adjusting once the steering and suspension has been reassembled.

I can see thier point, just wondering how hard ball joints are on this vehicle, I've done bottom ones on my t4 van which were easy..

Whether it's worth doing myself or just paying and if this is a good price.. It's the only quote in so far.
Cheers.

Lower arm ball joints are normally riveted/stud fitting so you grind it off and then bolt the new ones on. Tracking should be done anyway as the new ball joints are never identical to the old ones.

 

[andy_v]

any good to ya

 

[hotponyshoes]

Decent brand arms are about £80 each.
The ball joints are about £20 each.

If paying a garage to do it then have the arms done.
If doing it yourself changing the arms is only going to add 10mins onto the job at most so depends what you value your time at.

Also depends how convenient and costly having the tracking done is..

 

[brightspark]

a ball joint on the end of the lower arm shouldn't affect your tracking

 

[Tigman]

Get a quote for the parts they will be using , then you can see how much their labour is costing , and you still have to have alignment done , seems a reasonable price to me !

 

[Hitch]

If they're bolt on ones they're easy enough...if they're press fit ones then it's a little more involved.

You wouldn't need to remove the arm to fit a bolt on one surely...
Never had tracking done if it's a lower ball joint... that should be a fixed distance.

 

[doubleboost]

a ball joint on the end of the lower arm shouldn't affect your tracking

It will they always do
Just a 1/16 difference in the joint will effect the tracking

 

[doubleboost]

Decent brand arms are about £80 each.
The ball joints are about £20 each.

If paying a garage to do it then have the arms done.
If doing it yourself changing the arms is only going to add 10mins onto the job at most so depends what you value your time at.

Also depends how convenient and costly having the tracking done is..

We never just fit joints now just complete arms they are that cheap
Unless they are bolt on joints VW etc

 

[Bryan Williams]

any good to ya

Yeah, in the clip he said he had the mark 6 ball joints sent by mistake which are bolt on, his mark 7 is push fit.
Mines a mark 6 so bolt on, a bit easier. Cheers

 

[Ashley Burton]

As above, Fit new arms & be done with it!

 

[hotponyshoes]

If you can do the job yourself and you are not doing loads of miles cheap arms are less than £50 for a pair.
Personally, I would fit something decent and hope to get another 10yrs out of them but if it's not a keeper or you are on a budget they will do the job.

It also means you can give the old arms a bit of love with the lump hammer to get the ball joints out!

 

[pedrobedro]

It's only an advisory for split rubbers, just split the joint and fit new rubber boots for under £10.

 

[Bryan Williams]

If you can do the job yourself and you are not doing loads of miles cheap arms are less than £50 for a pair.
Personally, I would fit something decent and hope to get another 10yrs out of them but if it's not a keeper or you are on a budget they will do the job.

It also means you can give the old arms a bit of love with the lump hammer to get the ball joints out!

Yep, going to be hanging on to it,it's only done 50000,nice and clean, bought it off my sons best mate before he moved to USA, owner before, little old lady..

Cambelt being done couple of weeks..couple of all weather tyres on tomorrow, sorted little runaround for a couple of grand.. Sobering thought that at 61,this could be my last car.. I usually keep them till they drop from under me like my women..

 

[Barlidge]

On the galaxy it wasn't the ball joints that were difficult but the bushes were a pain so for cheap aftermarkets and DIY then complete arms were a no brainer.

 

[Johnny Crossan]

Tracking will need to be done as arm has to be removed as lower ball joint is pressed in. Easy job to be honest.

 

[Turbo]

It's only an advisory for split rubbers, just split the joint and fit new rubber boots for under £10.

What he said! Unless the boot has been split for ages letting in dirt/water I would just replace the boots. I just did the ones on my van, only took a few minutes as I had the ball joint already split to refurbish the drive shafts.

 

[frank horton]

plenty of different style of boots n covers....easy to do tho.......
if u go replacing the arms look at eBay Germany often on the UK site.....
they sell complete arm sus kits at around 2/3rds of the UK price
and the parts will def be made in Europe.....
in Germany they are not allowed by law to fit carp parts....
I used to buy comp kits from there.....
containing upper and lower b/joints, track rod ends and the outter b/joint for the steering rack....
this was norm cheaper than just buying the b/joint seperately....
that way the client got lit everything new.....
the roads were v/rough where I lived in FR......

 

[daedalusminos]

Yeah, in the clip he said he had the mark 6 ball joints sent by mistake which are bolt on, his mark 7 is push fit.
Mines a mark 6 so bolt on, a bit easier. Cheers

There's your first problem, he states his is an '09 plate Mk7, push fit. You're saying yours is a '10 plate mk6 bolt on - time to get under the car and have a look me thinks.

 

[RWD3M]

a ball joint on the end of the lower arm shouldn't affect your tracking

You're right it shouldn't. But it very likely will!