Topic: Camaro ball joint question.

Hello guys and gals long time no see.


A few years ago I peeled a ball joint on our (3rd Gen) Camaro, I was driving at the time, it was NOT fun.   IT also resulted in a crash. 

The joint in question only had two races on it, ever since then I have been paranoid about this happening again.

I replaced BOTH joints after that race with Moog Problem solver joints, and I even put a torque wrench to them to make sure it was as good as it could be.   Now 3 years and over a dozen races later, no issues, and the joints still seem nice and tight.  They pass the wiggle test fine.

Has anyone else had issues like this??  In Lemons or in any other type of road racing   should I replace the joints after so many races??  Or if they are not sloppy just grease and keep going?


Lemme know lemon heads!

Team Sucker Punch: Winner Class B Doing Time at Joliet 2023 Autobahn ,Winner Org Choice award Were the Elite Meet to Cheat 2015
Chevy Camaro (Tiger striped #38)  (1989-2017 RIP old friend)
Chevy Corvette 1984......and still racing!

Re: Camaro ball joint question.

That sounds like you got a bad one. Was it loose going into the event where it failed?

In my 4th gen Camaro the main problem I had was with wheel bearings. I could totally burn up both sides during a weekend at Road Atlanta. It got quite expensive.

Re: Camaro ball joint question.

TrackGeeks_Chris wrote:

That sounds like you got a bad one. Was it loose going into the event where it failed?

In my 4th gen Camaro the main problem I had was with wheel bearings. I could totally burn up both sides during a weekend at Road Atlanta. It got quite expensive.


No it wasn't loose, it PEELED the threads right off it.  So I THINK I got a crappy one, but I figured I would make sure I was not flirting with disaster.

The bearings in my 3rd Gen do just fine, never had an issue with them.  My buddies with the 4th gen cars have also complained about eating the wheel bearings, seems like an issue they just have!

Team Sucker Punch: Winner Class B Doing Time at Joliet 2023 Autobahn ,Winner Org Choice award Were the Elite Meet to Cheat 2015
Chevy Camaro (Tiger striped #38)  (1989-2017 RIP old friend)
Chevy Corvette 1984......and still racing!

Re: Camaro ball joint question.

We've found that good quality ball joints are very reliable on our 3rd gen. I think we've been running the last 5 years on ours with no signs of any problems.

With suspension parts and wheel bearings it's definitely a case of you get what you pay for. Auto parts are declining in quality across the board, so with critical parts like these it's not worth saving a couple of bucks.

Sorry For Party Racing! - 1985 Pontiac Firebird - Car #35

A race car exists only in two states: broken or in the process of becoming that way.

Re: Camaro ball joint question.

Get what you pay for. Our Gen III Trans Am handles great, we have had zero front end issues. I believe most of our front end stuff is Moog. If they pass the test you should be fine. Here's our heap last year at NJ.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJQT9Zo0_1E

"get up and get your grandma outta here"

Re: Camaro ball joint question.

Tiptoe the rat wrote:
TrackGeeks_Chris wrote:

That sounds like you got a bad one. Was it loose going into the event where it failed?

In my 4th gen Camaro the main problem I had was with wheel bearings. I could totally burn up both sides during a weekend at Road Atlanta. It got quite expensive.


No it wasn't loose, it PEELED the threads right off it.  So I THINK I got a crappy one, but I figured I would make sure I was not flirting with disaster.

The bearings in my 3rd Gen do just fine, never had an issue with them.  My buddies with the 4th gen cars have also complained about eating the wheel bearings, seems like an issue they just have!

Ah. Ok. I didn't fully understand the failure mode you were describing. Yea, you got a one that missed a heat treatment step.

Re: Camaro ball joint question.

Major dittos to getting what you pay for. Ball joints and wheel bearings are budget exempt, so we only throw on cheap parts store stuff if we have no other choice due to time constraints.

When it comes to wheel bearings, make sure you know exactly how those things are supposed to be installed and torqued on your car model. Depending on the design, there can be a very fine line between too loose and too tight.