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Your car’s suspension and steering systems have a lot of parts that work together to keep the car composed on the road and point it in the direction you intend. Control arms, ball joints, tie rods, struts, shocks, and a host of other pieces are all interconnected and engineered for maximum stability and control. How can you tell the difference between some of these components, and what do they do? Let's start with ball joints and tie rods.
Ball joints are pivot points in your car suspension that connect the steering knuckles to control arms that attach to the vehicle subframe. They allow the wheel to rotate to turn the vehicle, and they're able to do this because they are constructed of a steel ball within a socket, providing a range of rotational motion in many directions.
You will usually find ball joints in the control arms of the suspension, and their range of motion allows the wheels to maintain a flat aspect to the road, preserving traction, improving handling, and resulting in enhanced safety for you and your passengers. In cars with multiple control arms in the suspension, there can be several ball joints, since each control arm may have a ball joint connecting it to the wheel carrier, hub, or spindle. You’ll also find small ball joints at the ends of the sway bar links on most vehicles.
Because of the forces exerted on ball joints, including the weight of the vehicle, steering forces, acceleration impulses, and breaking impacts, they do eventually wear out over time.
Worn-out ball joints can cause clunking noises, steering issues, uneven tire wear, and poor handling or compromised safety, so it’s important to check them at regular maintenance intervals and replace them if they are failing.
Tie rods are part of the steering system, connecting the steering rack or center link with the wheel carrier hub and transmitting steering forces from your steering system to the wheels. Typically, you’ll find an inner tie rod and an outer tie rod on vehicles, with the inner tie rod connecting to the steering rack and the outer tie rod continuing to the wheel carrier.
Your vehicle's outer tie rod will usually be threaded on the side closest to the engine and will have a small ball joint that attaches it to the wheel carrier. The threading allows mechanics to adjust the length of the tie rod when setting the vehicle's alignment, so if the wheel needs to move outwards, the mechanic will unscrew the tie rod a turn or two, pushing the wheel outward and adjusting the "toe". The wheel side has a small ball joint, so the tie rod can move freely even when the wheel is turning or moving up and down.
The small ball joint on the wheel side of the tie rod receives a lot of punishment since it is responsible for transmitting steering inputs to the wheels and anytime there's a pothole, high-speed corner, or any other impact, it ends up sustaining some trauma. The small ball joint is where tie rods tend to fail, so there can be some confusion between ball joints and tie rods since the failure part on a tie rod is usually a ball joint.
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Diagnosing a bad ball joint or tie rod is a combination of listening, feeling, and looking at some of the parts on your front end. Here are a few symptoms of failing ball joints or tie rods that you can be aware of so that you can make an accurate diagnosis:
Once you’ve noticed these symptoms, you’ll want to do a visual and mechanical inspection of your suspension to determine if your ball joints or tie rods are the culprits. Use these steps to complete that assessment:
If you replace ball joints, tie rods, or other suspension pieces, it is a good idea to get a wheel alignment completed since the new parts may change the geometry of the wheels. And whether you need a new ball joint, tie rod, or any other steering or suspension part, find it right here at JEGS.