Mot failed suspension advise.

94burns · 9 Oct 2020 at 21:37

My car failed on the below.

Nearside Front Suspension arm ball joint excessively worn wishbone (5.3.4 (a) (i))
Offside Front Suspension arm ball joint excessively worn wishbone (5.3.4 (a) (i))

Is this referring to the track control arm, the ball joint or something else?

thanks

Django x2 · 9 Oct 2020 at 21:46

Your lower wishbone (TCA) attached to the hub assembly with a ball joint, is excessively worn on both sides. Depending on the car, these can be replaced independently of the control arm.

94burns · 9 Oct 2020 at 22:03

Django x2 said:
Your lower wishbone (TCA) attached to the hub assembly with a ball joint, is excessively worn on both sides. Depending on the car, these can be replaced independently of the control arm.

thanks for the reply.

I have a fiesta mk6, looks like the lower ball joint can be replaced independently .

LOWER BALL JOINT - Ball Joint - Suspension Parts - Steering & Suspension - Car Parts 424FO0490 (gsfcarparts.com)

Will probably give this ago myself was quoted £300.

Gaygle · 10 Oct 2020 at 17:51

94burns said:
thanks for the reply.

I have a fiesta mk6, looks like the lower ball joint can be replaced independently .

LOWER BALL JOINT - Ball Joint - Suspension Parts - Steering & Suspension - Car Parts 424FO0490 (gsfcarparts.com)

Will probably give this ago myself was quoted £300.

Your sure it's a Mk6? If so, that's not the right ball joint. The one for the Mk6 bolts on with 3 bolts. Just be aware, some/most(?) Fords have the ball joints riveted from factory instead of bolted (working on Fords is a horrible experience) so they can be a bit of a pain to remove if you haven't got the right tools. The replacements will have bolts though so once they're off, they're a piece of ****.

A pair of ball joints will be about £30 delivered for quality parts (TRW, Lemforder, Delphi Lockheed etc). Labour will be about 2 hours for both sides so...£90. £120 fitted. £300+ is nuts.

94burns · 10 Oct 2020 at 18:04

Gaygle said:
Your sure it's a Mk6? If so, that's not the right ball joint. The one for the Mk6 bolts on with 3 bolts. Just be aware, some/most(?) Fords have the ball joints riveted from factory instead of bolted (working on Fords is a horrible experience) so they can be a bit of a pain to remove if you haven't got the right tools. The replacements will have bolts though so once they're off, they're a piece of ****.

A pair of ball joints will be about £30 delivered for quality parts (TRW, Lemforder, Delphi Lockheed etc). Labour will be about 2 hours for both sides so...£90. £120 fitted. £300+ is nuts.

Its a 2010 plate, maybe its a MK7?

Anyway I ended up replacing both wishbones (TCA) this afternoon. Found that both the ball joints on the old ones were very loose and had a lot of play up and down.

Hopefully this was this issue and will pass the retest.

What do you mean by nuts?

m4rkw7 · 22 Oct 2020 at 16:31

He means £300+ is expensive

B@Th*nG · 22 Oct 2020 at 18:46

Just ask somewhere else to do the work, it's not worth your hassle and you'll probably get it done for half the price

koooowweeee · 22 Oct 2020 at 20:06

Could you not hear them knocking?

Lopéz · 23 Oct 2020 at 12:09

Worn ball joints are not always clearly audible.

Temujin · 23 Oct 2020 at 13:13

Realistically does that even matter, it was brought up during an mot for replacement.

Cyber-Mav · 23 Oct 2020 at 13:31

If your doing it yourself like i did on my mk3 fiesta its cheaper and far easier to just swap the wishbone for new ones. That way you get new bushes and balljoints.
Keep your old wishbones incase you want to go polybush in the future.

Mk3 wishbones cost 15 quid a side for moog brand. Cant complain.

BUDFORCE · 24 Oct 2020 at 16:03

This is a common thing (well I'm guessing) on a MK7 Fiesta anyway. The Mrs is already on maybe her third set now, 88k miles and 11 years old. Saying that though we live in the fens and the roads around here are crap.

I think a garage up the road charged about £90 a side.
- for the whole wishbone that is.