Ball Joint Failure is no Fun at all

[bento]

I was driving my car on saturday nite when i hit a pot hole and assumed that i had bent a rim or blown out a tire or something along those lines (san francisco streets can be pretty rugged in sections). Upon getting the car to the side of the road in an exceptionally lucky fashion, i get out of the car to see the left front wheel nearly perpendicular to the car itself and resting as if it had a ton of negative camber. turns out that the ball joint sheared at the top and allowed the whole wheel assembly to go free. when the weight of the front end was allowed to hang, the front fender sat down on the tire itself and created a situation where the rim wouldn't even be able to turn. no fun. ironic part is that i ordered ball joints and figured it was time to change them out in the interest in preventative medicine on my 165K 88 Carrera.

is this a common failure on higher mileage cars?

i would just like to advocate for a moment that if you have a belief that something on your suspension or brakes needs to be attended to, please do it. i wish i had, particularly becasue i actively auto-x and DE the car and can't even imagine what would have happened had the failure occurred at speed (i was only going 30 mph at the time).

just thought i would share,

david

[GeorgeK]

How long have you had these beautiful 17 inch rims?
GeorgeK

[bento]

fikses have been on the car for the last year and change. currently running the 17x7.5 and 17x9 with a 205 in the front and a 255 in the rear. a little bit of fender roll was already done by the previous owner.

db

[Lucky]

David,

Did you have any advance warning? I.e., any noises which indicated wear in the front suspension. If so, can you describe the noises for the rest of us!

Thanks.

Your car looks great, by the way. Those Fiskes are a very good looking update to an already beautiful car.

[bento]

no real advance warning before it actually gave way, although a bit earlier in the evening i felt my alignment working its way off of center. again, i attributed it to the fickle nature of dealing with 17 inch rims on city streets (i've been hardened by a bent rear and a blown tire). then, when it gave way, it did so in a dramatic fashion akin to a tire blowout. i guess that the best advice is that if you have a car with a decent amount of mileage on it, to do a complete review of bushings, ball joints, shocks, etc. and if you arent' qualified to do it, it should be farmed out. an engine failure at speed means that you can't drive home, a suspension failure at speed means that you might not drive again. not trying to bring scare tactics to the table, i just hope that no one shares my experience. like i said before, i suspected that it was time and even had made an order at shox.com for new bilsteins, i guess i was just a bit too late. our cars are increadibly well engineered, but 15 years of wear and tear is undeniable.

plus, no one likes to see this:

db