[sc-fi_wasabi]

Hi, I have a 92 4dr Acura legend, everything is stock, even the wheels.
Recently I've been hearing a scraping sound from the front left as i take rt turns. I took the wheel off and it is the castle nut and bolt for the lower ball joint that is scraping againts the inner wheel. Usually that bolt is 0.5 inches or so away from the inner wheel. Mine looks like it's 0.25 inches away when the tire is straight. Any idea why it has gotten lower or what's out of spec in the suspension. I havn't done anything new to it or gotten it aligned in the past month. It just started a few days ago. Everything looks nice and tight. Could the gap between the steering nuckle and lower control arm increase that much all of a sudden... is my lower ball joint growing.
ANyways, i can't figure it out, help would be appreciated. Merry Christmas.

 

[Rumnarv]

Take it to a place that does alignments. They will find out what is wrong. Smothing is worn for sure...

 

[sc-fi_wasabi]

Took it to the alignment ppl

Well, i took it to the ppl who do my alignments.. Firestone in Boling Brook Illinois.
So heres the retard advice i got... 1. Oh , the rock or whatever that was scraping the inseide of the wheel is gone now. 2. yah, we still hear the scraping sound, it must be the bearings wearing out, and somehow it happens only when you take rt turns. 3. Well, just to find out whats wrong we must take apart the whole suspension assembly and hub... and they can't quote me a cost now. 4. The ball joints still seem tight and like they are working well.

So i go home. it's still scraping. I can see metal shavings on the ball joint nut. I juack up the car and take the wheel off. The distance between the left steering knuckle and control arm is about 3 mm greater than the same distance on the right. I can see the nut practically touching the wheel when I lower the jack (i.e.load the suspension with the cars weight). I guess it could be a worn bearing with a couple mm of play, or i guess it could be a worn lower ball joint that lengthens when loaded. I don't know, any guesses?

 

[1_Hot_Legend_LS]

Your balljoint is seperated and the only thing keeping it from pulling apart is that fact that it hits the wheel before it can pull out of the socket. I bet if you had even 1/2 inch larger wheels that thing would just pop right out. I had this problem on my Beretta and then one day this happened:

The whole car flipped on a hard left turn when the joint finally seperated. So please get that balljoint replaced before you hurt yourself or the Legend!

 

[sc-fi_wasabi]

is the ball joint really bad

Do you have any idea why the mechanic would say that the ball joint was in good condition and tight if it is out of the socket. I've tried puching down on the lower contorl arm too while the i had a jack under the hub to visualize some separation, but I can't see any separation. And it looks fine when the wheel s are straight, it's just when it's turned right that it lowers. But thanks for scaring the shiznit out of me, so I get this done right away.

 

[Legend93]

You balljoint is gone. Replace it ASAP. I had the same scraping sound happened to me and it turned out to be the a broken balljoint.

 

[rome405]

Stay the F&%K away from FIRESTONE. Thay will rape you. I got them in court right now. They Gave me an ailighnment even though my ball joint was busted. The ball joint was visibly hanging out of the socket and they didnt even tell me. It ended up costing me the entire front suspension. Those guys are bad news.

 

[sc-fi_wasabi]

repair quote

I got a call from the guy at Firestone. Before they told me they need to disassemble the hub and knuckle to figure out the problem. Today they told me they want to change the wheel bearing. The guy says it must be a worn out bearing that is allowing the wheel to shift upwards letting the ball joint nut scrape the wheel. I dont hear any hum from the bearing, nor do i get any play on the wheel, at 12 and 6 or 3 and 9 'o clock motion.
$380 ttl. says the part is 170$ (B.s. the even the Acura stealership charges 90 for it), and the press use is 47$, rest is labor. Theses guys suck. Anyone know a good independent mechanic in the Southwestern suburbs of Chicago?