Question. How many miles on the cars with bad/failed ball joints?

I have my '93 in the shop right now to fix up the steering/suspension. We are replacing tie-rods (left, center, right), and control arm bushings. Ball joints are OK, per the shop. It has 130K miles. Symptoms were sloppy steering/wander on the highway, and a bit of a klunk in the drivers side front.
Shop says the struts are so-so, but at their prices I'll live with the OEM struts a while longer.

BTW, I do almost all my own work, but simply don't have time to deal with this now, and it cannot wait. I am simply shocked and astounded at the cost of having a top quality shop work on the car. It makes me realize why people simply buy a new Honda every 4 years.

- JimY

fyi on john's car, both ball joint boots were ripped and the noisy one was VERY dried out. Most of the ones I have seen the boots were ripped for a long time and ignored before they let loose.

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1980 500SE/AMG Euro
1981 500SEL Euro
1982 380SEL
1983 300TD
1983 500SEC/AMG Euro
1984 500SEC
1984 300TD Euro
1986 190E 2.3-16
1986 190E 2.3
1987 300D
1997 C36 AMG
2003 C320T 4matic

past: 1969 280SE 4.5 | 1978 240D | 1978 300D | 1981 300SD | 1981 300SD | 1982 300CD | 1983 300CD | 1983 300SD | 1983 380SEC | 1984 300D | 1984 300D | 1984 300TD | 1984 500SEL | 1984 300SD | 1985 300D | 1986 300E | 1986 560SEL | 1986 560SEL/Carat | 1987 560SEC | 1991 300D 2.5 | 2006 R350

hopefully the white lithium will hold it until Saturday
Quiet as a mouse right now but maybe just the calm before the storm. Good thing you took a look when you did.

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E30 B25
126.036
123.130 with 616-Frankenbenz (sold)
124.030-Greyhound (sold)
124.030-Schnauzer (sold)

DERP DERP

Got the car back, and it is schweet. Drives like a new car. Tracks straight down the road. There is no slop in the steering. No funny noises. And the lane divider dots no longer make the suspension crash and bump (snow country people, never mind).

Slight correction. The shop replaced the control arms with new. Why spend on labor to R&R the bushings when you can instead just buy an entire new arm with bushings and ball joint pre-installed.

- JimY

Yeah I thought that too, but me doing it myself didnt make it worth it

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1980 500SE/AMG Euro
1981 500SEL Euro
1982 380SEL
1983 300TD
1983 500SEC/AMG Euro
1984 500SEC
1984 300TD Euro
1986 190E 2.3-16
1986 190E 2.3
1987 300D
1997 C36 AMG
2003 C320T 4matic

past: 1969 280SE 4.5 | 1978 240D | 1978 300D | 1981 300SD | 1981 300SD | 1982 300CD | 1983 300CD | 1983 300SD | 1983 380SEC | 1984 300D | 1984 300D | 1984 300TD | 1984 500SEL | 1984 300SD | 1985 300D | 1986 300E | 1986 560SEL | 1986 560SEL/Carat | 1987 560SEC | 1991 300D 2.5 | 2006 R350

hi, understand repair shops replace the ball joints without removing control arms. When the control arm is removed you can use a hydraulic press but what is used with the control arm still in place. Advice much appreciated

Theres a smaller press used to install the ball joint in the car.

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1980 500SE/AMG Euro
1981 500SEL Euro
1982 380SEL
1983 300TD
1983 500SEC/AMG Euro
1984 500SEC
1984 300TD Euro
1986 190E 2.3-16
1986 190E 2.3
1987 300D
1997 C36 AMG
2003 C320T 4matic

past: 1969 280SE 4.5 | 1978 240D | 1978 300D | 1981 300SD | 1981 300SD | 1982 300CD | 1983 300CD | 1983 300SD | 1983 380SEC | 1984 300D | 1984 300D | 1984 300TD | 1984 500SEL | 1984 300SD | 1985 300D | 1986 300E | 1986 560SEL | 1986 560SEL/Carat | 1987 560SEC | 1991 300D 2.5 | 2006 R350

I have had a couple of cars (201 & 124) that had good boots on the ball joints, but would occasionally creak. I use the hypodermic-type fitting on my grease gun and inject some CV-joint grease, massage it in, and have smooth ball-joints again. This also has a noticable effect on ride quality over small bumps.

Oh, same method for mid-life CV joints.

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Gone to the dark side

- Jeff