Ball joint options

[Eldavo]

I'm getting a scond opinion from my mechanic this weekend but am reasonably certain that my newly developed suspension clonk when going over bumps is a ball joint issue.

In my mind the options are:

New porsche part - potentially silly money but the parts manager I dealt with when I picked up my dme relay was keen for me to call him and that I might be suprised a how competitive they could be.

Hartech rebuilt arm - simple swap over of the part and a guarantee for circa £200

Rebuild kit - Rennbay, Porscheshop and KLA. Seems a smidgeon more labour but very competitive on cost. Car is a standard 2.7 lux driven spiritedly but not tracked. I know that there are some mixed opinions on rebuild kits but I would like to hear the opinions of those who have gone down this route as it does seem the favourable option at the moment.

Thanks, David.

 

[ChasR]

When I spoke to a recommended specialist who frequents on here now and again he suggested two ways:

First way is to get a lower arm from Hartech. They come with steel bushes as opposed to plastic bushes like the original arms did. As you say it comes out to around £200 after VAT, carriage costs etc.

Rennbay the specialist said was about the only rebuild kit that he would trust to install on his cars. When I checked it came to £160 IIRC for both balljoints delivered to here, hence working out to £80 a side. The only problem I can see is that if you are resticted on time this is may hinder you getting it replaced since you'll have to take the old one out and put the new one in (IIRC Rennbay do give a very good set of instructions mind you). There is also the problem of if your arm has been damaged too far but then I don't think even Hartech will refund you the surcharge in this case.

Porsche will want over £360 per lower arm, and from what I can gather, the Hartech items are considered to be a viable alternative compared to them.

If it were me, I would be looking at Rennbay's kit or Hartech's depending on how much time you have. I went for the Hartech option as I was quite busy at the time and I wanted to get the car driving again in a short space of time.

Who will be changing the arm? I found my lower arm to very straightforward to change. I did it in 2 hours with a couple of teabreaks in that time too (that was with a Hartech item). Certainly alot easier than the Peugeot 306 (wasn't hard but bits were quite fiddly). If you do decide to tackle the change yourself remember to make a reference of the castor mark from whre the eccentric bolt goes into the back. Some may argue it will need redoing though if you are changing your lower arms (castor mounts from Hartech come out at £38+vat+delivery a side and are the later and imprved 968 mounts).

Also if you are on 17" wheels, the Track balljoint kit from Rennbay (or Hartech's arm) and 968 Castor mounts will help alot with the handling, especially if the car suffers from tramlining.

 

[rav]

David - Im very keen on hearing what is recommended. My 1986 Turbo is with Steve Bull at the moment. He tells me that it needs a new Ball joint on one arm.

 

[Eldavo]

As the car is a weekend car, time offthe road isn't a bug problem. I'm leaning towards the Rennbay option as I would be able to do both sides for less than the cost of one Hartech arm. The thought of doing it myself appeals to me too. I am running the standard 15 inch teledials at the moment but would jump at the chance of some 17s in the near future. Will probably leavethe 968 castor mounts until I do change to 17s but would I still be ok with the regular ball joint kit or would I need the track one?

Finally, is the Porscheshop kit any good? It is pretty cost neutral to Rennbay but I would prefer a Uk supplier if possible and I could buy each kit as needed rather than 2 at once.

 

[ChasR]

I cannot comment on the Porscheshop kit but I can say that the specialist down south specifically singled out the Rennbay kits over the other kits. When I emailed Rennbay they said that in my position, I would be best off going for the track kit (I am on 17" wheels). As a number of people know, bigger wheels on '44s accelerate the wear on original wishbones with the plastic cups.

The track Rennbay items come with metal caps up top as opposed to the plastic items. Hartech items are built with metal items for this very reason.

 

[Big Dave]

Ive heard of a few people who have attempted this fix themselves,, ALL to no avail,, ie the supposed repair broke not long after the fix..
Ide recomend the Hartech units....
After all, when the joint fails it can be a big bill....Are you willing to risk it just to save a few ££...

 

[ChasR]

That is probably one reasone why the specialist (and a rather respected one at that) recommended the Rennbay units. I know Pete on here has used them with no issues.

However, with a new Hartech arm, it does come with front new bushes which will help your handling considering your car is on 20+ year old bushes?

 

[diabloam]

I had a knocking ball joint which failed an MOT, got rebuild kit from porscheshop and stuck that on, but it was knocking again within 1500 miles (3 months or so) so ended up getting hartech arm. Thats my experience anyway, other may differ, I am on 17" wheels and the roads up my way are pretty bad to be honest, although I did hope it would last longer than that, cheers.

 

[BlackMagic]

If you do go for the rebuild kit, make sure you go for one with Bronze bushes (ie the race kit). Comfort isn't compromised, but the result is a whole different world from the plastic ones and will last an age.

 

[Eldavo]

Thanks for all the replies everyone. Am going to check the arms and cross my fingers, you never know I might have the ones subject to a recall. Knowing my luck though I think the Hartech arms are the best bet. Is there going to be any problem with replacing one side and the bushing without doing the other? I know I will need the castor realigned afterwards but other than that is this a straightforward home job or should I be booking in with my mechanic?

 

[rav]

Apparently this jobs take twenty minutes. If the oter side ball joint is not worn, there is no harm in doing one side and ideally get the geometry looked at once you are done.

Porsche want £391.99 inc vat for the part. Porscheshop want £316.71 (with £100 exchange) and Porschapart are now offering the service.

My gut instinct is to go for the Hartech option. However, my wallet tells me that a part from a rear ended car may suffice road use.

 

[Big Dave]

ORIGINAL: Eldavo
Is there going to be any problem with replacing one side and the bushing without doing the other?

Just ask Pete Empson what happens when you only do one side.. He has first hand experience....

 

[Eldavo]

Well, took the option that wasn't even listed!

Bought a pair of used arms off ebay. Rang the guy up and had a good chat with him, he really knew his stuff and provided me with lots of info and emailed me docs, etc. He has rebuilt arms for others in the past with the kits but tellingly had replaced his own with new units. The arms I bought have 25k on them and passed an MOT 2 weeks ago with no advisories. I've also seen receipts for the arms and a copy of the MOT too via email. Going to have a crack at fitting them myself under the watchful eye of a mechanic friend of mine who has done this before.

As for the arms that I take off, I will inspect them and maybe clean them up with a view to rebuilding the ball joints in the future as spares or what have you.

 

[Peter Empson]

[] In my defence I thought three wheelers were going to be all the rage []

Mine failed presumably due to fatigue of the pin (age and wear, but also not helped by being lowered), there wasn't any play in the joint so it's not easy to detect. If in doubt, especially if used on track then it's a good idea to change the pair.

I've been very pleased with my geo correcting 19mm Rennbay kit, it was money really well spent.

 

[sawood12]

The Rennbay kit is very good and I think they do one for stock suspension i.e. non-geo correcting. I've seen a photo of a 944 that had a drivers side head on collision and had geo-correcting ones installed and the pin was bent but not broken and the A-Arm was sheared about 2 inches inboard of the ball joint. They look so so wrong when you see them on the car, but if they are strong enough to take that then they are strong enough to take any amount of braking force your braking system can throw at them. If you track alot it is sensible to replace the ball joints periodically as a matter of course anyway.

 

[Frenchy]

Wishbones.......recall ?

 

[Eldavo]

http://www.asarus.com/pratique/triangles.shtml