Lower Ball Joints problem?

[V8JamesGT]

Well, a couple weeks ago I took my 05 Mustang GT into goodyear where my friend works to have them put on my new tires and get an alignment. Well he tells me he can't do the alignment because the lowe ball joints have too much play in them. So I went to the dealership yesterday and they say they are supposed to have some play in the lower ball joints. I've also heard the lower ball joints are supposed to be good for 100,000 miles and my car only has 39k miles. Who should I believe?

 

[SpartaPerformance]

Front end parts have 0 that's ZERO tolerance, that means no play whatsoever.

 

[V8JamesGT]

It just seems odd that the dealership would tell me its normal if my cars out of warranty and I would have to pay to get it fixed. I would think they would be wanting to make more money by doing the repair.

 

[Owner1]

In my area Goodyear dealers can't be trusted with anything other than changing tires, so I would not be concerned at all about what they think. The dealership mechanics are far better trained and if they say you don't have a problem with your ball joints, it is EXTREMELY unlikely that they wrong about something simple like that.

All suspension components must have some slack in them, or movement of the suspension would not be possible.

 

[travelers]

Ball joints will ware in time as you drive. There is a tolerance for the amount. The manual will have this.

 

[D.Hearne]

Well, a couple weeks ago I took my 05 Mustang GT into goodyear where my friend works to have them put on my new tires and get an alignment. Well he tells me he can't do the alignment because the lowe ball joints have too much play in them. So I went to the dealership yesterday and they say they are supposed to have some play in the lower ball joints. I've also heard the lower ball joints are supposed to be good for 100,000 miles and my car only has 39k miles. Who should I believe?

I've got the same problem with my 06 GT. 42K miles on it, took it into the dealer for an alignment and wa-la, they wanted $500 to replace the lower control arm to fix the loose ball joints. Something stinks in Ford-land. My 89 Ranger is 20 years old now, with probably close to 200K miles on it and the original ball joints are tight as new. Normal wear hell !! This is NOT normal wear.

 

[Rob72]

In Baltimore the dealer tech's are horrible. They live by learn as you go.

 

[walter]

None of your guys problems can be summoned up by severe clunking as you go over small bumps by any chance would they? I'm getting this out of the front end now and I replaced the insulators already...

 

[D.Hearne]

Mine's started wearing the inside of the front tires. No clunking that I recall. It's still on the original front tires (P-Zero's) They're holding up far better than the ball joints, that ought to be the other way around. 42K miles and they're only about half worn. Wish the back tires lasted that long