Lubing tire rod ends.
 

Has anyone lube their tire rod ends. Of course the ML does not come with a zerk fitting for lube. There are people who would tap their own zerk fitting into the part and there are people who use a needle adapter on their lube gun to puncher their boots to inject lube.

What is your thought on this. I would think taping a zerk fitting would involved drilling which will introduce contamination into the joint and pouncing a hold into the boot does not seem like a good idea to me.

What is your though on this.

I assume most of you just leave it as is. Do you have to replace your tire rod end? And if so when?

You make a little hole in the rubber boot and used the straw from a new WD-40 can and spray this in. After awhile this will mix with the grease, break it down, and get into the squeeking area. Are you sure the ball joints are squeeking? There are some many other things that make noise in the front axel of this car.

I've been checking my new parts for sufficient grease before fitting them. Whilst the clips and rubber boots are still young the chance of ripping them is slightly reduced - I have found insufficient grease and poor quality grease in many cases. I hope my extra efforts help to extend the life of the component.

WD40 is not the right lubricant for a tie rod ball joint. I wouldn't recommend it if increased longevity is your goal.

Liquid wrench white lithium grease is a good choice. It is thicker than WD40 and will adhere to the parts better and does not wash off. They have it in a spray can so it will be easy to stay inside the boot.

The OE MB star items have some really really heavy black grease in them and a nylon cup in which the ball rotates.

I practiced a couple of zerk fittings in my old busted W124 ball joints and the problem is that the bottom cap is sheet metal and is very thin - meaning no threads catch unless you have a tapered zerk fitting. Once in I did proceed to pump it till it flushed.

What I did learn is that it will be pretty much placebo if you push some grease in the boot only.

Agreed. Unless you can get the grease under the actual ball joint it is only a band aid.....and even then if you have some play in the ball joint you may as well just replace it.

NO NO NO NO NO. WD-40 is not a lubricant, it's a water displacer. It'll evaporate and leave you with a worse situation than before. WD-40 is not for lubricating.

I fitter a cattle needle to my grease gun,I inject grease into boots.Its a shame they don't use grease fittings as the earlier cars never had suspension problems