[wanab5150]

As far as the ball joints go I just installed a Poly windshield from Cobra Valley and I talked to him about the issue. He stated the ball joints cure the last little bit of turning ease and slight shimmy.......very slight. I asked specifically if I should swap out mine for his and he said NOT YET. Get the balance or whatever issue you have going on fixed then if you want the best FEEL, change them out. He said they're not a cure all...just an improvement. Also the fact that for 30K miles it was flawless then the next day with new tires it went to crap...that's not ball joints.

More on the Poly windshield from Cobra Valley in a post this week. I do have to say that I did not think I would be this happy with the clarity as I assumed it would be different than glass. I WAS WRONG! It's amazing!

OK.... So far today I removed the shocks and manipulated the A-arm up and down without a load feeling for any grit or stiffness. NADA! Smooth as glass. I also put the wheels and shocks back on and checked the ball joints for smoothness the old fashioned way with a long steel bar under the tire lifting up. No play on the joint and no gritty feel or stiction. None of that grabby sensation you read about some people having.

With my dial indicator I checked runout on 4 different places on every hub..... The brake caliper hub, outer stud flange edge, outer stud flange end, and the outside edge of the studs while rotating the assembly. One stud was out .015 from the others. I re-torqued it (and maybe hit it with a hammer in the process) but it's within .005 now. All four wheel stud flanges were within .008 at the worst. I am surprised they would be that close. Additionally, I put the dial on the tire bead and spun the tire and it was absolutely perfect on all four tires. I couldn't measure it because the dial would hit bumps on the bead but visually on the pointer I couldn't see ANY movement. So the wheels and tires are spinning round and true at least on the sidewall and the only out of round seems to be in the middle of the tire. But at this point no one seems to have a "to much" out of round spec. Not my dealer...America's Tire... or even Nitto when I called them.


Tomorrow I'm going to spin up fronts and rear on the car and see if I get a vibration.....I'm running out of ideas.