Quote:
Originally Posted by clarkz712
if the ball joint has enough play to change caster or camber it will probably shake the steering wheel and would be easy to find on your oil change inspection. its not just the worn ball joint its telling people to just change them if the steering wont return straight. op has edited the original post to reflect that fact
if a quick inspection is done with every oil change this would be caught before it got to the point of not returning to center. thats the reson why shops charge more than most people want to pay for oil change because they are doing more than just changing the oil and filter
when i drive down the road and see someones steering wheel shaking or a tire bouncing around i will change my speed to get away from that neglectful person. they dont make the cars i drive anymore and i dont want anything to happen to them
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The way my ball joint failed is that it completely separated. It was a process as the ball portion slowly began to come out of the socket. When that happens the ball joint is actually stiff so there will be no play. When my steering wasn't returning to center I checked my front components and found nothing out of the ordinary. The only other symptom was that when I was braking the car would pull towards the passenger side (the failed side). So I originally thought a stuck caliper, but that didn't make sense as to why the steering was not centering after a turn. Also, the ball joint never exhibited any of the typical warning signs like the loud groaning and popping while making a slow turn. Yes, I did edit my post because I made a mistake by assuming that anytime steering is not returning to center has to be the ball joint, just like you are making the mistake by assuming that all ball joints will fail in the same manner: by having play, shaking steering wheel while driving, etc. I had none of those symptoms that you mentioned and aside from the not returning to center, my car never wandered to either side while driving.