I did an upper on my 98 civic last summer. The reason Honda
charges so much for the upper balljoint is that they always
replace the whole upper control arm, on my civic that is $200
per side. There is almost no labour involved. The balljoints definitely
do wear after a while, you don't need your upper balljoints
popping out of the sockets, plus the alignment would never
be perfect if they are shifting all over the place. When
a balljoint is lifting and clicking in its socket, its time to
replace it.

By the way, I didn't end up going to Honda for that repair, I found
the upper balljoint without the control arm at NAPA for $40,
and popped the old one out of the existing control arm, then
took the control arm to a shop down the street and had the new balljoint
pressed
in for $20.

This method is a little risky cuz you can bend
the control arm, its very thin steel or aluminum, but I watched them do it
at the shop, and
compared it to the one on the other side before pressing
that one in, and it was perfect. No alignment probs.

Saved me almost $300, so I'm happy... and no probs to date.

t

 

I did an upper on my 98 civic last summer. The reason Honda
charges so much for the upper balljoint is that they always
replace the whole upper control arm, on my civic that is $200
per side. There is almost no labour involved. The balljoints definitely
do wear after a while, you don't need your upper balljoints
popping out of the sockets, plus the alignment would never
be perfect if they are shifting all over the place. When
a balljoint is lifting and clicking in its socket, its time to
replace it.

By the way, I didn't end up going to Honda for that repair, I found
the upper balljoint without the control arm at NAPA for $40,
and popped the old one out of the existing control arm, then
took the control arm to a shop down the street and had the new balljoint
pressed
in for $20.

This method is a little risky cuz you can bend
the control arm, its very thin steel or aluminum, but I watched them do it
at the shop, and
compared it to the one on the other side before pressing
that one in, and it was perfect. No alignment probs.

Saved me almost $300, so I'm happy... and no probs to date.

t

 

I am at 250 K km and my ball joints are OK on Accord 91, in North Alberta


"scapa" <scapa@mts.net> wrote in message
news:LWGAd.6795$Ka6.49154@news1.mts.net...
> Hi all, took my 2001 Accord four cylinder in to have the transmission oil
> changed at 96,000km as per drivers manual, dealer told me that I needed
> lower ball joints replaced. I live in Winnipeg, Canada and it gets cold
but
> most of my driving is on decent roads and I have good tires. Should'nt
they
> last longer than that and has anyone heard of a recall for faulty ball
> joints ?
> Thanks for any info.
>
>

 

I am at 250 K km and my ball joints are OK on Accord 91, in North Alberta


"scapa" <scapa@mts.net> wrote in message
news:LWGAd.6795$Ka6.49154@news1.mts.net...
> Hi all, took my 2001 Accord four cylinder in to have the transmission oil
> changed at 96,000km as per drivers manual, dealer told me that I needed
> lower ball joints replaced. I live in Winnipeg, Canada and it gets cold
but
> most of my driving is on decent roads and I have good tires. Should'nt
they
> last longer than that and has anyone heard of a recall for faulty ball
> joints ?
> Thanks for any info.
>
>