There is a small, and I mean small when he moves the wheel in and out at the 12 and 6 oclock position. Aside from that the car drives just fine. I only have 24k on the clock
The BMR arms may actually be cheaper since you could install them yourself. But I don't know how high of quality they are. The Steeda X5 ball joints are taller than stock, raising the wheel relative to the control arm, which has the overall effect of lowering the front of you car, take that into account.
Dan
Repair work is pretty slow right now since people don't want to spend any money on anything with the economy ... But, I'm sure your mechanic wouldn't do tell you something is wrong when it's fine, right?
From what I have heard, repair work hasn't slowed down much at all, people are choosing to fix their current cars instead of buying new ones. I don't think mechanics going out of their way to find problems is something new to the bad economy. It is amazing the things that some of them will find "wrong".
I just found that my ball joints are bad as well. My good friend looked at it whose a mechanic at Goodyear and said its a common problem with Fords. I was also trying to decide if I should go with OEM, Steeda joints, or the BMR lower A arms. I seen the BMRs for $400 for the pair, the Steeda X5s for $150 each, and I could not find OEM ball joints online. I also noticed on one website it said the steeda x5 ball joints require your car to have atleast 18" wheels... Can anyone confirm that because I'm still rollin on the stock 17"s.
From what I have heard, repair work hasn't slowed down much at all, people are choosing to fix their current cars instead of buying new ones. I don't think mechanics going out of their way to find problems is something new to the bad economy. It is amazing the things that some of them will find "wrong".
Yeah, all the news papers like to mention that deal about people holding onto their cars and repairing them. I dunno where these people are, because around here it's slow as hell and shops are closing left and right.
But despite that, none of the 3 shops I've worked at in the last year would sell you something you don't need. Most of the time when I'll sell a balljoint it is way worse than what the book says even. For example, a generally accepted spec (in books) is five thousanths of an inch of play means that a balljoint needs relplacement... That's next to nothing. I won't tell you you need one at that, but if I do tell you you need a balljoint, or anything else for that matter, you can rest assured that you do. Whether you want to fix it or not, I don't give a ****, as long as you know you need it. Not all mechanics are crooks. Less than you think, actually.
SPicer sells replacement ball joints for our cars (s197's) they list it as 05-09 ball joint kit, part number on the box says 5051322. I called spicer and they will not sell to the gewneral public, but they do make them and I believe are they are suppliers from what I have been reading. they are related to the brand family mcquay-norris family of chassis components. I believe they supply ford with some parts as well. so I paid $150 for both from my friend who bought 20 sets for his mustang club in Costa Rica.