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Car Wobbles At Low Speeds... Lower Ball Joint Issue?


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Hey all,

I'm new to the forum... searched through about 60 pages before I decided to register and post. Anyway, I have a '93 GS300 and recently, when accelerating from 0 to approx 25 mph, the front of the car wobbles. There is no wobble/shaking in the steering wheel, just the front of the car. Also, the wobbling stops after approx the 25 mph mark. I know the lower ball joint was a problem for this car (i.e. recall) but does this sound like it might be the issue? If yes, does this symptom detail a "stage" of the issue (i.e. is it okay to drive or am i risking death on the highway?)

Thanks for any help or ideas you might have!!!

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as far as lower ball joints, dont risk it... i would replace them asap. my lower ball joint snapped on the front right side on the highway. its scary as hell and can most def. kill you. lower ball joints are pretty cheap and very easy to replace on your own. its like 3 bolts holding them in on each side. the upper ball joints are the expensive ones. you gotta get the control arm with the ball joint in it. i dont think that toyota made the ball joints alone... or if anyone knows where i can find the upper ball joints by themselves, pm me. and chadius, if you need more help, just send me a message...

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if you do end up changing the ball joints out yourself, be careful with the abs sensor wires and the sensor itself. if the wire snaps at all, it will kick off the three famous lights. ABS, VSC, and VSC OFF. the sensor is expensive as hell. 180 for the part itself.

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as far as lower ball joints, dont risk it... i would replace them asap. my lower ball joint snapped on the front right side on the highway. its scary as hell and can most def. kill you. lower ball joints are pretty cheap and very easy to replace on your own. its like 3 bolts holding them in on each side. the upper ball joints are the expensive ones. you gotta get the control arm with the ball joint in it. i dont think that toyota made the ball joints alone... or if anyone knows where i can find the upper ball joints by themselves, pm me. and chadius, if you need more help, just send me a message...

Thanks for the reply! So, yeah... I've heard the same thing about having to buy the control arm with the ball joint. I've got a buddy who's a great mechanic but the downside to that is he's always busy. So, I guess I'm just trying to get an idea of what's wrong before I have to buy the part/s. I was thinking it might be the lower ball joint as the recall/issue I mentioned but from what I've read, the front-end wobbling doesn't seem to be a likely symptom of that. Not going to risk death on the highway regardless but would love to have some idea of what's going on :)

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if you do end up changing the ball joints out yourself, be careful with the abs sensor wires and the sensor itself. if the wire snaps at all, it will kick off the three famous lights. ABS, VSC, and VSC OFF. the sensor is expensive as hell. 180 for the part itself.

Thanks for the heads up. I'm going to let my mechanic buddy do the replacement... I'm not much of a gearhead :)

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for ball joints, you don't really have to be a gear head to replace them, but if your buddy is giving you a great deal on the labor, go for it. professional over first time replacement is always more recommended. Im trying to find the upper ball joints by themselves without the control arm. I guess Lexus really knew how to make good money on the parts. I see a lot of the GS's whose ball joints are gonna bust soon and a lot of the owners neglect it. Mostly happens because you see a lot of the owners put huge rims on it. Just tears them apart even more. Personally, I wouldn't put anything bigger then 18s on my GS. I guess as soon as I figure out where the ball joints are sold separately, I will let you know. Its a big money saver. So far the cheapest price is on EBAY and the control arm+ball joint is going for 280 with a nuy it now. I guess its still better then going to the dealership to pay their price:/ hope i could help you out. Let me know if you need anymore help. And the sound you are getting from your car could be a few different things. It could be that your tire is bad to where it has a lump. But my guess from experience its the ball joint. The prices you should look for the parts

Lower Ball Joints= around 40 dollars a side

Upper Ball Joint+Control Arm=280 O_o

Upper ball Joint alone= Mystery to this day.haha

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for ball joints, you don't really have to be a gear head to replace them, but if your buddy is giving you a great deal on the labor, go for it. professional over first time replacement is always more recommended. Im trying to find the upper ball joints by themselves without the control arm. I guess Lexus really knew how to make good money on the parts. I see a lot of the GS's whose ball joints are gonna bust soon and a lot of the owners neglect it. Mostly happens because you see a lot of the owners put huge rims on it. Just tears them apart even more. Personally, I wouldn't put anything bigger then 18s on my GS. I guess as soon as I figure out where the ball joints are sold separately, I will let you know. Its a big money saver. So far the cheapest price is on EBAY and the control arm+ball joint is going for 280 with a nuy it now. I guess its still better then going to the dealership to pay their price:/ hope i could help you out. Let me know if you need anymore help. And the sound you are getting from your car could be a few different things. It could be that your tire is bad to where it has a lump. But my guess from experience its the ball joint. The prices you should look for the parts

Lower Ball Joints= around 40 dollars a side

Upper Ball Joint+Control Arm=280 O_o

Upper ball Joint alone= Mystery to this day.haha

Hey, thanks for the feedback!

Yeah, I do enjoy taking on projects but when it comes to fixing my car, I leave that to the pros... I don't trust my handy-work at 90mph ;)

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just replaced my upper control arm as well. seems that my shock has blown out as well when my lower ball joint snapped. when you have the ball joints replaced, have your tech check all the shocks as well. they tend to go out after time. that could be the case as well.

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  • 2 weeks later...

for ball joints, you don't really have to be a gear head to replace them, but if your buddy is giving you a great deal on the labor, go for it. professional over first time replacement is always more recommended. Im trying to find the upper ball joints by themselves without the control arm. I guess Lexus really knew how to make good money on the parts. I see a lot of the GS's whose ball joints are gonna bust soon and a lot of the owners neglect it. Mostly happens because you see a lot of the owners put huge rims on it. Just tears them apart even more. Personally, I wouldn't put anything bigger then 18s on my GS. I guess as soon as I figure out where the ball joints are sold separately, I will let you know. Its a big money saver. So far the cheapest price is on EBAY and the control arm+ball joint is going for 280 with a nuy it now. I guess its still better then going to the dealership to pay their price:/ hope i could help you out. Let me know if you need anymore help. And the sound you are getting from your car could be a few different things. It could be that your tire is bad to where it has a lump. But my guess from experience its the ball joint. The prices you should look for the parts

Lower Ball Joints= around 40 dollars a side

Upper Ball Joint+Control Arm=280 O_o

Upper ball Joint alone= Mystery to this day.haha

I just bought new lower ball joints and the lowest I could find on the web was about $62/each. I don't know where you got them for $40!

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  • 11 months later...

Car has been wobbling all over the place. Dealer says about $450 for lower ball joints, $900 for control arm bushings. I have no ability to do the work on my own. Anyone have good ideas at getting a better price (tri-state area)?

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You might consider actually checking the ball joints for play, or having an alignment shop check them. They may not be the problem at all, or maybe they are. But the thing to do is diagnose the problem rather than throw parts at it.

A good alignment shop will also check the tires for "hops" and run-out, which can also cause the symptoms you describe.

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