I need help, kids! I’ve been shopping my 1992 GS-R around to various mechanics for two weeks now, trying to determine what horrible malady plagues my front suspension. I bought this car with completely destroyed front springs and replaced them with Progress Competition coilovers, then replaced the mangled driveshaft. One year later, I’m happy with the coilovers but haven’t installed camber plates, which I think I need (my dad, who works on this car with me, says they’re unnecessary.) Now the car makes a sharp clicking noise when taking right turns, especially at low speeds. Three shops all have different opinions- CV joints ($200, waited on that), halfshafts ($400, replaced this morning) and now, the mechanic who replaced the halfshafts says I need front ball joints- $1200 or “the wheels will fall off”! My poor, beleagured GS-R only cost me $3000 in the first place and my dear parents (who insure the car, front me money for repairs, and most importantly hold the title) are ready to play my least favorite game, Let’s Dump the Junker- the fate of my 93 LS. Suspension work is not my forte and as a 17-year-old girl I think I’m rather prone to being taken by mechanics.
Anyone with tips or similar problems? How about a blowed-up Teg with a nice set of front ball joints?
I’m sorry I only have Canadian values for these items; obviously in US dollars it will be less:
2x Upper control arm (including upper balljoints) from Acura $120 each = $240
2x Lower balljoints (from Acura or aftermarket) ~ $75 each = $150
For a professional mechanic, it should take maybe 3 hours to replace all balljoints. Even at $70/hr that’s only $210.
total: $610 CAD
As for the clicking, I would agree that it’s the CV joints. Just get some rebuilt front axles and you’ll be set. They’re not that hard to change either.
It turns out that the price was more like $600… they factored in the new halfshafts and an air conditioner pulley into the $1200 price, but it’s typical of my parental unit to run around like chickens with their heads cut off, “Oh dear, the sky is falling, Allison’s cars is a beater, etc etc.” making one piece of the repair out to be a grand plus. The upshot of the conversation is that my parents somehow decided to sell one of their cars and lease a BMW 3 Series. I don’t know how they got from broken Teg to new BMW, but at least they’re distracted.
Anyway, the car is back and the halfshafts took care of the click and made the steering seem a lot more responsive. I can’t even enjoy it since I’m waiting for one of the wheels to fall off.
Aftermarket ball joints sound like a great plan. Where do you get an item like that?
You guys rock, as usual.
Somewhat dubious “master” of the English language,
ALLISON
You should be able to get balljoints at pretty much any parts store such as Autozone or something. Keep in mind that typically the cheapest ones have a 1 year warranty while some have a lifetime warranty.
Also, you can’t buy aftermarket upper balljoints; you have to get the whole upper arm from Acura, or you can buy aftermarket upper arms that would also allow you to adjust your camber, but I can’t remember who makes those. I went with Acura since they seemed to be cheapest out of upper control arm options – that’s a pretty rare occurence.
Look in the Sponsors forum for the post about an Official Honda/Acura dealer for G2IC and email Vern about getting the parts you need. He should be able to give you an excellent price.
find out if both the upper and lower ball joints are bad or just the lower.
Lower ball joints cost $60 cdn and an hours labor to put them in. They only take maybe 1/2 an hour each but the place i went has set rates for ball joints etc. their labor was $40 Cdn per hour.
so for the lower I paid $200 Cdn which works out to about ummmm $150 US
For the Uppers… if you need them… buy some used Upper control arms from a salvage yard if possible. I believe i paid $50 Cdn for mine.
Find out first exactly what needs to be replaced so that if they uppers do need replacing too, they can do it at the same time as the lowers.
oh and FYI the place i went to specializes in Honda/Acura so it wassnt some discount garage.
wow, im jealous that you found a gsr in this here chicagoland area for 3k$$$ :drool: :drool: :drool: and what kind of place was it, that this mechanic quoted you such high prices? i remember getting a labor quote of around 100$ for balljoint installation, sans balljonts.
you just need to shop around! or make some local integra drivers do some wrenching for you!
And just so I’m not OT: Your car will not accept “camber plates.” Those are for MacPhereson strut cars, not your unequal-length-double-wishbone (sort of)-kick-ass-shouldnt-be-on-a-shit-box suspension.
wow thats some price… the halfshaft usually dont go bad unless you hit something and its bent. as for the cv joints, just go make a couple of u-turns with a buddy in the car and have them listen to there side while you listen to yours. which ever side is clicking then that side is bad. usually when you make a right and it clicks its the left side thats bad. blah blah. ball joints hmm… cant quite explain how you can check but if you had the front lifted up and use a pry bar or something to budge against the joint you should see some play if its bad or just try to move the wheel up and down.
