ball joint boot repair - worth it?

[Tomm]

Just thinking... I have a broken ball joint boot on my lower front. You can buy a repair kit for $16 which includes two boots, so you get to keep one for future needs as well (fits lower front and aft).

did anyone do this, and is it worth it? if the boot is broken, then isn't the balljoint likely to be already worn out from lack of grease?

new boot or new control arm ($65)?

[walky_talky20]

Unless the arm is basically brand new, this probably isn't worth it. just throw some grease on it to help keep the dirt out and run it until it dies. It will die soon enough no matter what you do. No need to do extra work, IMO.

[99blueb5]

yeah i would honestly say just run it till it starts making noise or has excessive play in it, then get a new control arm

[Tomm]

cool, thanks.

[A4edwin]

i replaced mine and have had no problem with it since it's been replaced. 16 bucks for a boot kit or 100 bucks for a replacement axle.

[dowsett6]

i replaced mine and have had no problem with it since it's been replaced. 16 bucks for a boot kit or 100 bucks for a replacement axle.

They aren't talking about the cv boot.

and I would say just swap the boot for occasions where you ruin the boot removing it with pickle forks, yet the ball joint is still good.

[powersmokin]

pm sent

[034Motorsport]

Unless the arm is basically brand new, this probably isn't worth it. just throw some grease on it to help keep the dirt out and run it until it dies. It will die soon enough no matter what you do. No need to do extra work, IMO.

What he said.

[Tomm]

So, i ordered a new one, along with a wheel bearing that i also need for the same wheel. have heard some "clunck" sonds from there so i figure it's worth trying to see if that will go away with a new arm. $120 for both parts including shipping is pretty good (blauparts).

thanks for you guys' imput. Since i have no way of knowing how long the boot has been torn like that, it seems i should go with the new control arm argument. Like someone said, if i had torn it myself and knew that it hadn't been in use ungreased for a length of time a boot would be worth it.