Miata lower ball joint replacement - but which one? (question about safety vs. cost)

Hi all,

I need to replace the front lower ball joints on my 1991 Miata. The rubber boots are torn and the grease has all spilled out. I've heard of some cases in which cheap aftermarket Miata lower ball joints have failed, causing the hub/spindle to completely separate from the lower ball joint. Obviously I want to avoid this, so I called the dealer to get the price for an OEM one and was quoted $82.07 each, plus tax!

This seems outrageously high. I noticed that Rockauto has them ranging from $20 to $67, but I want to avoid buying one that might separate.

Anyone have any fist hand experience for guidance?

I dont have much fist hand experience at all.

However, I would suggest moog if possible. I have not heard anything bad about them and the quality of the parts "appears" much nicer than some of the cheap brands.

x2 Moog. When I ordered some from Rockauto recently it was cheapest to buy and ship them from their UK location.

OEM.

I've gotten over using aftermarket parts for the price savings. Plus, now I've spent enough with the local dealer they automatically give me the 25% wholesale discount.

Step 1: Get a Mazda Motorsports account
Step 2: Buy cheap OEM parts
Step 3: ??????
Step 4: Profit!

Exactly. The OE ones have proven themselves to last 23 years. Why try to save $50? That's like $2/year.

Front lowers are $47 each through Mazda Motorsports.

BTW, if the joint is still tight and not all floppy, you can just replace the boots and grease.

Moog is usually the best, also usually greasable.

Avoid the cheap ones. When I had my street/track Miata, I had two get loose on me after the first track day! Went with OEM and never had a problem again.

Thanks for all the feedback. Looks like I'll suck it up and go for the OEM one.

I used moog on mine after a quite bad failure of whatever was on my 90 at the time. Also check the uppers and the tie rod ends while your in there. I did moog lower and tie rod ends and about 3k miles and they are holding up just fine. I do agree with oem though would have done it that way if money allowed.

My new problem is a very worn upper but apparently to get to that one the whole control arm needs to be replaced..

ouchx100 wrote: My new problem is a very worn upper but apparently to get to that one the whole control arm needs to be replaced..

V8roadsters makes a press in upper ball joint for much less than new arms. I have them in my Miata.

This is very timely for me. I had a lower ball joint fail at Nelson Ledges on Saturday with no warning. After doing a little research I found that the cheapest normal place to get something good was from Arlington Mazda (Rosenthal). Mazdaspeed was about $10 less if you have access to that. With shipping it was about $60 for the OE part.

OEM only. The aftermarket ones live very short lives.

MOOG makes a press in replacement for the miata upper ball joint. IMO press it in and throw 2 tack welds on it.

Another vote for MOOG

Kenny_McCormic wrote: Moog is usually the best, also usually greasable.

Greasable is, IMO, a downside. Greasable ball joints are usually not low-friction joints, and they hurt steering feel and will wear out a lot faster.

Leafy wrote: OEM only. The aftermarket ones live very short lives. MOOG makes a press in replacement for the miata upper ball joint. IMO press it in and throw 2 tack welds on it.

Got a part number for that?

Keith Tanner wrote:

Leafy wrote: OEM only. The aftermarket ones live very short lives. MOOG makes a press in replacement for the miata upper ball joint. IMO press it in and throw 2 tack welds on it.

Got a part number for that?

I forget. Just post a thread complaining about it on miata.net and like 4 guys will be like nuh ah it totally exists heres the part number.

Keith Tanner wrote:

Leafy wrote: OEM only. The aftermarket ones live very short lives. MOOG makes a press in replacement for the miata upper ball joint. IMO press it in and throw 2 tack welds on it.

Got a part number for that?

http://www.moogproblemsolver.com/_pdf_en1/MOOG_PS_Bulletin_214002_K500210_EN.pdf

Sweet. That solves a problem.

And before that came out. Werent some people using the 99 civic lower ball joint or something like that, it was close enough that it worked, the threads were just longer or something.