Front Ball Joints

curtie94 · Mar 15, 2013

Hey im looking to buy a 1999 VW Passat that needs front ball joints and a cv joint. The guy said he was driving and when the ball joint failed it pulled out the cv joint.

My question is, how many front ball joints are there. Are there 2 uppers and 1 lower on each side or only 1 upper and 1 lower on each side?

He is only asking 350 for the car, it has 150,000 miles and is an automatic.

2kpassat1.8t · Mar 15, 2013

If the ball joint is bad, you need to replace the whole arm. Bushings you can press out and press new ones in, but not the ball joints. There are two upper and two lower arms.

curtie94 · Mar 16, 2013

Alright. Do I need to replace all 4 control arms. Or do 2 arms =1 ball joint

sirwired · Mar 16, 2013

Each of the four arms has a single joint. fcpgroton.com has an excellent deal on a full CA kit. Might as well do the ball joints while you are at it. And get your new axle from raxles.com; much better than any other axle you'll be able to find.

$350 sounds like a really good deal, assuming it doesn't have any other major issues.

curtie94 · Mar 16, 2013

The only other thing was that he said the cat was going to need to be change.

I work at a parts store and fcpgroton seems to have better deals then I can get. So I was looking at the site and for the whole kit that has new bolts, upper and lower arms, tie rod ends, and sway bar links it is $220. And just buying upper arms and lower arms it was $170. How often do the sway bar links need to be changed, are they a common fault?

Where is a place I could get a cheap converter, I can geta universal converter from my work for 90, but it almost looks like it don't have o2 sensor holes.

curtie94 · Mar 16, 2013

What do you think about JCWhitney control arms. They also have a kit for $200, it says it is made by replacement.

Replacement Control Arm Kit - JCWhitney

VAGguy · Mar 16, 2013

No. Cheapest I would ever recommend would be FCPEuro

curtie94 · Mar 17, 2013

Does anyone know who makes FCP brand parts? I asked them and they said its a company in China that makes them to FCP Specs. But he wouldn't give up the name of the company.

And how is uro parts, are they good or not? I've read online and it seems like some of there stuff is good while others are bad.

snoopy82481 · Mar 17, 2013

I just replaced mine yesterday using the fcp parts. the only think I didn't like was the supplied nuts and bolts. They were a little on the cheep side, but if you have a tap and die set you should be able to clean them up and they will be just fine. But install was really easy, same with when I did the half shafts about a year ago. if there is nothing else wrong with the car, 350 isn't bad. I would go for it, and for about 500 bucks you could be up and running with a really nice running car. As long as you don't forget to maintain it, it will run well for you.

curtie94 · Mar 18, 2013

Ya the only thing is it needs a cv shaft but I can get one for 40 bucks and it may need a catalytic converter. Ill let you guys know if I buy it. My uncle was going to go check it out for me since it is about 3 hours away from me.

2kpassat1.8t · Mar 18, 2013

I'd stay away from uro, the rubber that they use is not the best quality.

curtie94 · Mar 25, 2013

well i bought the car. now all i need to do is buy some control arms. So what are some cheaper brands you guys would recommend. I know FCP but are there any others. maybe off amazon or ebay. I bought the car for 350 so i dont want to put too much money into it.

it also needs a cv shaft, a MAF sensor, it is running rough, it barely wanted to start, i tapped the maf sensor and it cleared up and ran great for a few minutes. It was throwing 3 codes. Cylinder 2 Misfire, Ignition switch, and a p0422, catalyst efficiency.

I know suspension is important , but im a poor college kid and just need a car.

I'll be doing the work myself.

2kpassat1.8t · Mar 25, 2013

You can put cheap CA's, just don't expect them to last, especially if you're driving on bumpy roads. You'll be putting money in a '99 Passat, regardless if you pay $350 or $2k for it.

curtie94 · Mar 25, 2013

i ordered fcp control arms, and also an ignition control module off ebay. We checked the codes and one was for the igntion control module and another for cyl 2 miss. there was also a cat code. p0422. I think after i fix the misfire im going to run some catclean through it and hope it passes emissions.

Front Ball Joints

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