Lower ball joint worn?

[vivioman]

I did a random check of my suspension components because I am getting a clunking sound at times in the driver front wheel area whenever I go over bumps/small stutter bumps on the road.

I found grease on the bottom of the right ball joint but the boot did not seem worn or torn. When I checked the passenger side ball joint, there was no grease at all.

Can I safely assume that the right lower ball joint is busted?

Cheers

[leasaunce]

not sure whats the problem is but, when did you change the suspension n shocks? 50,000km ago or less?

Cause when my shocks are about to die, it makes the clunking noise <_<

[vivioman]

Yeah I just put in a set of second hand low kms shocks as I am preparing to sell the car...

however this was only done around 3 weeks ago and the mech checked that the shocks were good befre install.

The grease on the ball joint is the only thing that is unusual around the suspension area.

[leasaunce]

hmm ask your mechanic to grease it up......but other than that I can't really help you much

[Rolla Boy]

Check the front swaybar bushes, may be worn or dry...

Also, in your model Camry, the strut hats can be noisy and will knock over bumps in the road surface...

[vivioman]

Yep, confirmed when my mech checked that the driver's side lower ball joint is busted. There was a small tear in the back of the rubber boot that the mech did not see until the wheel came off. But the grease was all over the bottom of the joint. My mech thought the sound came from the shock initially.

Will be getting it replaced next week.