Anyone know what this is that's leaking? Been trying to find what it is but have no idea. I've had people tell me it's a CV boot but I thought that's only for front wheel drive cars or all wheel drive cars. Pretty sure it should be replaced as soon as possible so it doesn't get dirt inside there.

 

Generally oil/grease on the inside of a wheel is bearing failure! There's a way to check it...Search! Only other possibility would be leaking caliper, wipe it down then check your reservoir s/b low...Gary

 

Thank you Gary!

 

Lower control arm ball joint. It has grease inside and the boot\cover is damaged. Your car does have cv axles in the rear because the drive wheels have independent suspension. It would also have them in the front if it was AWD.

 

Was looking at the suspension forum, see what it takes to replace but just don't know which one to buy. Autozone has some for about $40 it looks like. any specific brand you guys reccomend? Or just doesn't matter since they'll go out again eventually.

 

Ball joints typically have a life expectancy of 70-100k+ miles, no particular brand I'd recommend as even the lower quality ones will get you 50-75k+. You will want to take a look at the FSM for your particular year/body for instructions on removal, ball joints are basically the same removal process on Every. Single. Vehicle. so if you've ever done it before on anything it's literally the same.

http://www.nicoclub.com/archives/inf...e-manuals.html

FSU is the section you're looking for, you will need a ball joint puller to remove the ball joint from the steering knuckle, to remove the stud from the lower control arm I typically just give it a few good whacks with a hammer on the side of the lower control arm, if it won't budge you can get another puller that will hook the underside of the control arm and press the stud down.

Make sure you remove the snap ring from the ball joint before trying to press it out... if it's covered in road crap wash and scrub the whole steering knuckle so you can see everything, you are losing the grease out of the boot so it's probably all crapped up.

Verify the snap ring is FULLY SEATED into the groove on the bottom of the ball joint after installation, you should be able to grab it with the snap ring pliars and spin it completely around inside the groove, if it looks like it's not completely seated then you might not have driven the ball joint completely into the steering knuckle.

DONT LOSE THE BIG CONE WASHER that goes over the stud, you will re-use this part, a new one doesn't come with the new ball joint! When you separate the lower control arm make sure you pull that cone washer out and set it aside it might be stuck in the LCA.

 

You can do it in your garage. Rent the ball joint press from AutoZone. I did both on my in a few hours. I bought mine from RockAuto.

 

Thanks for the tips guys

 

Just got mine from Z1 Motorsports and these come with the cone washers. Should be getting them installed in the next two weeks. I trust Z1 more than the EBay options.