So a few days ago, my outer tie rod snapped in my Maro, so I had it towed to the shop so they can replace them all, now they tell me I also need upper ball joints. I'm not made of money so told them to just do the rods for now and i'll worry about the ball joints later. Should I be worried about these ball joints? ? Cause at first, I got my brakes done and they told me to change my rods asap, told them I'll come back on friday cuz I figured it'll hold on for a few more days, they snapped 2 days later, should've listened to them in the beginning. Now it's going to be same with these ball joints; should i let it pass for a bit or should i really get them replaced asap? ?

 

Did he tell you much play was in it? I take it you did not get the car re-aligned after the tie rod? Your going to need that ball joint fixed before the car can be aligned. You should not drive it any real distance without an alignment you can screw up your tires pretty quicly.

 

If the upper joint is bad, there is a good possibility that the lower joint is also bad (unless it has been replaced) as the lower joint carries most of the load.

A few days ago you asked what would happen if a tie rod broke, now you know. Lucky it didn't happen going around a turn. If a ball joint breaks the wheel can lay out flat on the ground and damage you and the car, especially if driving "like a *****" as you stated.

 

...Don't forget the "Crash and Burn" part too.

 

Yea they told me they can't realign it until I fix the upper ball joints and it sucks cause I have to drive 30-45 minutes on the highway. I don't drive like a *****, I always go speed limit but just sometimes punch it on empty lots. And no I didn't forget the "crash and burn" part lol, that actually stuck in my head. You think I can hold two more weeks or do this now? Note: I'll be officially broke if I do this.

 

At 30-40 miles a day It will most like cost you 2 tires to wait.

 

How many miles on the car? Must be a TON if the upper balljoints are shot. I pulled the whole front suspension apart on my 94 when I pulled the engine and all that stuff was easily accessible.
The upper and lower balljoints were original and in good condition. The bushings in the upper and lower control arms were shot though. Falling apart shot. I did end up replacing the lower balljoints because I had the LCAs sandblasted and painted. Why go to all that trouble, have the car aligned, and then need balljoints in a year. No thanks.
If you look at the parts pdf for the 4th generation cars you'll see that LCA bushings and balljoints aren't serviced -- you're supposed to buy the whole control arm assembly.
I bought new bushings and lower balljoints at Rockauto (Moog brand). The bushings weren't too hard to replace. The lower balljoints were unbelievably hard, though, and I almost gave up. My press couldn't handle it so I took the LCAs to a machine shop and they did it. 25 tons to press those balljoints in and they still didn't look right to me. Crazy. If I had to do it over I WOULD buy the new LCAs with bushings and balljoints already installed.
As for the upper control arms, GM doesn't even sell a plain version. You have to buy the whole thing with the bracket that sits on top of the strut. No thanks. I didn't replace the upper balljoints because 1) I had already spent 3X what I expected on the car and I hadn't started the engine yet 2) the upper balljoints aren't too awful to replace on-car. I figure I'll do them at 150k miles if the car makes it that long.
How nice that GM doesn't include grease fittings on the balljoints :-/

 

I'm going to get the upper ball joints on friday morning. The shop that's going to do it doesn't do wheel alignments cuz they don't have the machine so I would have to take it to a different shop. So in two days I will get new upper ball joints and planning for the wheel alignment for a couple of more weeks, you think that's ok? ? Will I still ruin my tires or the car if I wait for the alignment just alil longer but get the joints done in two days? ? ?

 

The alignment is what will save your tires. The new tie rod will screw up your toe and that is what eats up tires fast. The upper ball joint will screw up you camber (how much your tire tilts). This will cause some odd wear over time and cause the car to handle funny.

I use to do alignment and we had customers in your situation. We used to have a saying "Set toe and let it go" meaning it didn't matter if there was a loose ball joint just set it on the rack and get it so it did not eat tires. With out the setting of toe you are rolling the dice. Your tires might not get ruined.

After I rebuild a cars suspension at home I use string to set toe to get it close so I can drive it to the shop. You could ask the shop if they can set toe using a string. If you want I can explain it to you.

 

I've used a threaded rod (cut down to the correct length to fit between the tires) with a threaded coupler (about 1" long) on the end. Adjust toe till it was slightly tight in front, and it got it damn close, close enough to not chew the tires for the short term. I used to race go karts, and we used the high tech method of putting an x on the top of the tires and checked it with a tape measure, measuring the x's at the front, then rotating the tires and measuring at the back.