Ball Joint/Control Arm Front Passenger???

1451 Views 3 Replies 2 Participants Last post by CTSM, Apr 11, 2015

MrMcStacy

Discussion Starter · Apr 10, 2015

Hello,
A weird thing has been going on with my 07 for a couple weeks now, and I thought it was the wheel bearing.

On the ground, the front passenger tire has a bit of give when pulling back and forth on it, but it seems to be mostly if not all on the top part of the tire. I did recently replace one of the wheel studs and wasn't able to get it all the way, there was a few cm still showing on the other side. So I jacked it up, took off the rotor and pads and checked everything out. The bearing didn't seem to be the issue and I used an impact to pull the stud all the way through. Put the tire back on while jacked up and couldn't feel the same give as on the ground. It does make something a little metallic, mid to low tone every time its pushed and pulled on the ground, and it doesn't seem to make that sound on the front driver side. I also noticed that the control arm on the driver side looks quite a bit different than the passenger side, is that normal? It doesn't ride badly or make any noises or vibrations but it definitely is a bit worrying that the give is there, I'm just not sure what something that a control arm or joints cost (might be the upper ball joint, I think), and how someone goes about fixing it. I will get some pictures up later but I was just wondering if anyone could determine anything from this info. Thank you in advance.

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CTSM

· #2 · Apr 10, 2015

The main question to ask is what was stopping you from being able to get that stud all the way in?

Obviously the proper way to install a stud is to press it into the hub. On vehicle that can be accomplished with a stack of big washers and a wheel nut, you tighten the wheel nut and because of the washers being in the way in between the nut and the stud, the wheel nut as it's being torqued harder will pull the stud in, that's how I replaced studs on my CTS before.

Get that stud taken care off then go back to your wiggle test.

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MrMcStacy

Discussion Starter · #3 · Apr 10, 2015

Well I didn't have an impact at the time to pull it through, just basically a hammer and it had to be done quickly. Figured it'd be okay and it was, but I do think it was a small part of the problem. Fixed that yesterday and it seemed good after letting her down, but after backing out of the garage and checking again, it was the pretty much the same sort of give again.

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I tried finding pictures of the upper control arms for both sides on the front for it, but no luck. It would probably be pretty helpful if anybody had some. I'll have mine up within an hour

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CTSM

· #4 · Apr 11, 2015 (Edited)

MrMcStacy said:
Well I didn't have an impact at the time to pull it through, just basically a hammer and it had to be done quickly. Figured it'd be okay and it was, but I do think it was a small part of the problem. Fixed that yesterday and it seemed good after letting her down, but after backing out of the garage and checking again, it was the pretty much the same sort of give again.

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I tried finding pictures of the upper control arms for both sides on the front for it, but no luck. It would probably be pretty helpful if anybody had some. I'll have mine up within an hour

You don't need an impact to do that, a ratchet or breaker bar would do, you only need some metal bar to hold the hub from spinning then you ratchet on that nut till it pulls that stud in.

Front upper control arms are very similar with the exception of the position of the ball joint it differs from left to right that's why they are not the same:

Left front upper control arm:

Right front upper control arm:

Mevotech is the only company I know of that makes replacement front upper control arms.

If you are suspecting issues with your ball joints then remove the knuckle to control arm pinch bolt, lower the knuckle arm carefully.
Grab the ball joint stud by hand and see if it's loose as in it's easy to move with one hand.

Also it's worth to check your outer tie rod. At 90K miles my steering wasn't very nice, inspected my outer tie rods and though the boots were in good shape, the outer tie rod joint was very loose if moved by hand, so I got replacements installed them to the same exact length ( I took measurements of the original in order to avoid ruining the original alignment)

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