If your vehicle is near the 100,000-mile mark, you may have started to notice it showing some wear and tear. It may make the occasional funny noise or not give as smooth of a ride as it once did. But as your car reaches this milestone, one of the things you may want to keep an eye out for is a ball joint wear and tear.

Worn-out ball joints can cause a variety of different symptoms, and you don’t want to ignore any of them. Read on to learn more about your ball joints and how you can tell it’s getting to be time to replace them.

The Basics of Your Front Suspension System

Before we dive into the signs that indicate you may have worn-out ball joints, let’s talk some about the basics of your front-end suspension system. To give you a smooth ride down the road, each of your wheels needs to be able to move independently of each other. However, they also need to work together to steer your car and support the body’s weight, which is where your suspension system comes in.

Today, most vehicles have a suspension system with upper and/or lower control arms that extend out from the base of your car to your wheel hub, where your tire attaches. These control arms help to support your wheel hub while still allowing it to turn with your steering system and move with bumps and changes in the road. At the end of each control, arms are your ball joints, which connect your wheel hub to the suspension system.

What Are Ball Joints?

As their name suggests, ball joints use a ball inside an enclosed case to connect your wheel hub to the control arms of your suspension system. Much like with your knees and shoulders, this joint allows your wheels to move in a variety of different directions, including turning left and right to steer. These joints also allow your wheel hub to move up and down on the control arms’ ends as you hit bumps in the road.

However, because the ball is completely encased, you don’t sacrifice any stability or strength that you need to hold your wheels on your car. These ball joints can move around as much as needed without significant wear or stress. But like any other part of your car, over time, your ball joints will start to wear out.

How Do They Get Worn Out?

When ball joints first get installed on a car, the balls move smoothly in their casings, lubricated to keep everything running well. The case is tight, the system is clean, and the ball joint system is solidly enclosed so no dirt gets in and no oil gets out. But roads are rough, dirty places, and over time, that system starts to break down.

As you drive more, dirt and grit can get into your ball joints and start to wear out the joint’s internal parts. Seals may dry out and crack, allowing oil to leak out and leaving your ball joints unlubricated. And the whole system may loosen up, causing more play than you really want in your suspension and steering.

How Long Do They Last?

Ball joints are designed to be very durable, which is important since they’re such a critical part of your suspension system. Because they’re designed as a sealed system and made with strong materials, they can last a very long time. However, in almost all cases, they will not last for the entire lifespan of your vehicle, especially if you drive on a lot of bumpy or winding roads.

In general, you can expect your ball joints to last somewhere between 70,000 and 150,000 miles. If you live in a more rural area with more bumps and turns on the roads, you’ll likely land somewhere closer to the 70,000 range. If you do a lot of city and highway driving, with plenty of smooth, well-maintained roads and straight lines, you might get 150,000 miles or more out of your ball joints.

Clunking Noises

One of the most common signs that there’s something wrong with your ball joints is you’ll start noticing a clunking noise. This may seem to come from one corner of your car or be centred around the front of the car as your suspension starts to wear out. You may notice this noise in particular when you go over a bump in the road or around a corner.

When the sound first begins, it may only be a faint clunk that you notice from time to time. But as your ball joints continue to wear out, this noise may become more pronounced and consistent. This noise is caused by your ball joints getting loose and actually moving back and forth in their sockets as the car goes over bumps.

Squeaking Noises

You might also begin to notice that your car makes some other unusual noises as your ball joints wear out. In addition to the clunking of the balls moving in the joints, you might also start to notice a squeaking noise. Like the clunking, you’ll likely hear this when you’re going around curves in the road or over bumps.

Squeaking noise may indicate that your ball joints have gotten dirt, grime, or other debris inside of them. While a rubber gasket seals the joints, this gasket can start to break down over time. This allows road dirt and dust to make their way into your ball joints, causing them to seize up and creating that squeaking noise.

Grinding Noises

Worn-out ball joints may also start to make a grinding noise while you’re going down the road. Cars can make a variety of grinding noises, and it can be difficult to tell which ones may be coming from your ball joints, which may have other causes. A grinding noise that happens when your car is turning or going over a hump, rather than stopping or starting, may indicate ball joint wear.

In essence, this grinding noise is another form of the clunking sound we discussed earlier. Your ball joints may have become loose in their sockets and maybe moving around and bumping against the surrounding material. As you turn, the ball can grind against the inside of the joint, causing the sound you’re hearing.

Sloppy Steering

While strange noises may be some of the first indicators that your ball joints are going bad, they certainly won’t be the last. Your ball joints are an integral part of how your steering system connects to your wheels. So when your ball joints start to wear out, you may also start to notice an impact on how it feels to steer your car.

When your ball joints are in good shape, your steering should feel tight, responding immediately to small adjustments in the wheel. But as you get more play in those ball joints, your steering may get a little sloppy. You may be able to move the steering wheel back and forth more and more before your wheels respond as your ball joints break down.

Stiff Steering

On the flip side, you may also notice your steering getting stiffer as your ball joints wear out. You may have a harder time turning the steering wheel, or you may not be able to get as much turn radius as you once did in your car. Tight curves may become difficult or impossible, and you may have a hard time getting into parking spots straight.

While it may seem counterintuitive that worn-out ball joints can cause both sloppy and stiff steering, it depends on what’s breaking down your ball joints. If you’ve got dirt and debris clogging up your ball joint sockets, the balls may not have as much room to turn freely. This can cause them to seize up, which is why you don’t have as much freedom in steering as you used to.

Vibration in the Steering Wheel

Aside from difficulty with your steering, you may also start to notice some other unusual movement in your vehicle’s steering as your ball joints break down. In particular, you may start to feel some vibration in your steering wheel. You’ll know there’s a problem if you feel vibration when you’re driving down a straight, level road when there should be nothing that would make it vibrate.

As your ball joints get worse, so will this vibrating feeling in your steering wheel. In fact, it may start to extend to the rest of the car, making your car feel like it’s about to shake into pieces. Because your ball joints are worn out, they’ve started to vibrate in their sockets, and that vibration can translate to the entire rest of your vehicle.

Vehicle Drifting

You might also start to notice as your ball joints worsen that you may have a hard time keeping your vehicle in a straight line. Like the grinding noise, this is a symptom that can have a variety of different causes. If your car drifts left or right when you’re riding down a straight, smooth road, the problem may be with your tires or alignment.

However, if your car starts to drift left or right as it goes over bumps, it could be an indication that your ball joints are going bad. Because the ball joints are loose in their sockets and your steering is loose, your car may not stay on a fixed course as easily. You may have to compensate more for it, which may also take more movement since your steering is loose.

Uneven Tire Wear

If you think your ball joints may be starting to get past your prime, it’s a good idea to take a look at your tires. It may not come as a surprise that all the extra movement happening in your steering and suspension can put extra wear and tear on your tires. In fact, there are some specific uneven wear patterns that may tell you the symptoms you’re seeing are coming from your ball joints.

If your front tires show more wear on the insides or outsides, it could indicate that you have a problem with your ball joints. You may also notice tire cupping, bands of uneven wear that run across the width of your tire and are the result of your ball joints moving up and down in their sockets. However, if your tires are worn on both the inside and outside rims, it could mean they’re underinflated.

Wear Indicators

One of the simplest ways to determine if your ball joints are worn out is to check your wear indicators. If you have a newer car, you may not have wear indicators on your ball joints. But if you have an older model, there may be a grease fitting or pin that doubles as a wear indicator for your ball joint.

These pins stick out from the ball joint and wear down at the same rate as the joint itself. If you check your wear indicators and they’re still sticking out from the ball joint, your symptoms may be coming from another source. But if the indicator is flush with the ball joint or not visible at all, it’s time to get thee to a mechanic.

Get Your Ball Joints Replaced

Your ball joints are one of the most critical systems in your suspension, and keeping them in good shape is incredibly important. If you notice any of the noises, vibrations, or steering issues we’ve discussed here, it may be a sign that you’re due for a ball joint replacement. Make an appointment with a mechanic immediately; ball joint repairs are not something you want to put off for too long.

If you’d like to keep your dream car in great shape, check out the rest of our site at Viking Motors. We offer new and used cars, as well as service and parts for your ride. Check out our special deals today, and start keeping your dream car in better shape.