Scarring on balljoint? Normal or ?

i am removing my spindles for some baer brakes. my control arm balljoint boot came off. it is a weird design. it has 3 beaded spots around the base, i guess the spindle presses the boot against these to seal? there is no lip that it rode on, nor a retaining ring.

anyways, the front of my balljoint has a scar across it. it resembles a rainbow shape. it is smooth as if someone drew it on. the back has more of a straight scar going across it. nothing on the sides (sides being to the front and rear of car, scars are on the passenger/driver side of the balljoint).

are markings like this normal? the balljoint is tight, no slop, no play. i know the control arms are pretty old i think. there is grease on them still. i have been having some unexplained noises while driving from the front/rear. perhaps this is linked, but i kinda doubt it. the noise i hear is a faint squeaking almost like something is rubbing. it is typically inconsistant.

anyways, what do ya think? i can take pics if necessary.

here is a picture of the balljoint. i just got my drivers side spindle off, no scars at all so the question now is, should this be immidiately replaced? in 10k miles? how do you scale this?

i got a kick ass picture of it, almost shows the depth even.. gotta love canon camera's.

View attachment 229345

StangGT1995 said:

That looks like a crack from the picture. IMO, replacement is probably the best option, if for no other reason than peace of mind. Abnormally worn suspension components that support the entire suspension cause me stress that I don't much care for.

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it is not cracked. i went over it closely though.

there is a the scar on 3 sides of the balljoint. i guess ill just order new control arms then.

yeah. probably just going to order whole new arms. they appear to be qa1's. they are like 180 shipped through summit. im just pissed i have to put the car down another 3 days.