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My 2003 Miata is making some clunk from passenger side over small bumps and all so I put up on jackstands to find out that the ball joints are completely torn and they don't look like they will hold on much longer. Passenger side seems to be worse than driver's side.
Please let me know if you've got 1 or 2 NB UCAs with good BJs laying around you won't mind parting with.
Thanks.
Pretty common for the boots to be torn (they need to be frequently inspected and replaced). Are you saying just the boots are torn, or do you actually have play in the ball joint?
Also, if you have ABS, the left and right sides are different part numbers.
$114/ea on Mazdacomp w/ abs, $107 w/o. $47/ea for lower ball joints.
Buy these lowers Moog K9908 Ball Joint
And these V8 Roadsters adjustable/rebuildable front upper control arm ball joints
don't think ABS matters on them but could be wrong.
If you care about scca classing be wary of the above (but those are all good parts).
I think he's already modded to STR just by putting decent suspension on it, so nobody is going to worry about an underprepped NB in STR with those parts. Actually, I think you can change one of the a-arms anyway.
LOL scca....
I got one $60. You need the upper or lower, less than 30k miles before the swap.
Pic on CL http://dallas.craigslist.org/sdf/pts/4318161884.html
Thanks for all the great information guys. It seems like used ones are pretty common for $60 a piece and those V8 roadster ones are tempting but from all the reading I've done on miata.net, it seems like it's just better to replace the whole thing with a new one since the whole thing is good for around 2 years if your track/autox your car.
Is anyone still on their original UCA with over 200K miles that tracks/autox their car?
If you get your info from Miata.net.... your going to have a bad time. V8R joints are good forever. FM/949 run them on there race cars so they have been tested.
Agree with jeff-man. The control arms themselves aren't generally bad, just the ball joint. Unless the arm is bent or has tons of play on the long bolt, there is no need to replace them unless you are going with oem.
Have 213K on my original uppers, but the boots have been replaced and repacked with grease several times.