the autozone press does not work as is, you need to grind the bottom space piece to clear the bulge in the control arm. It also is known to spread apart if used on highly rusted ball joints. To make use of that you need to make a special spacer piece on a lathe and a grinder. Even then the C press is known to spread apart making it useless.

In my press Im using a very thin pipe socket that just clears the ball joint at 1/8 inch and sits flush on the boss - The other pipe socket rests on the thicker joint collar and everything is held very tight and square between the plates.

The first joint I did was rusted solid - so I loaded up the press really tight and hit the top plate hard with a hammer, it broke the rust bond and then the joint easily pressed out in 5 minutes of cranking.

and this costs almost nothing when compared to a shop and has way less swear potential or injury risk as compared to the C shaped clamp

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2012 BMW X5 (Beef + Granite suspension model)

1995 E300D - The original humming machine (consumed by Flood 2017)
2000 E320 - The evolution (consumed by flood 2017)