I started experiencing a weird problem recently. My car started to swerve to the right little by little along with the steering. I took the car to a local mechanic shop, the shop had state inspection too and seemed pretty legit.

The mechanic started off by lifting the car and examining the ball joint, he tried moving the tire around and it was fine, but he suspects its the ball joints. (my car has always been driven decently and only has 42k miles on it) The idiot then makes a little hole in both of the FRONT ball joints and puts WD40 in them. Drives the car again and the problem persists.

He then checks the front tires and it turns out one of the tires tread swelled and thats what was causing the car to steer to the right.

I know little about cars. I came home and I read everywhere that its a bad idea to put WD40 in ball joints. He even made a little hole in both of them which I read is bad for ball joints because it allows foreign particles to enter.

I don't know how to proceed from here onwards. What should I do? Do I have to purchase new ball joints or can I just ask him to block the holes and maybe grease? what are his liabilities?

Suggestions will greatly be appreciated.

 

Just tell the shop that you were not ok with them drilling holes into the balljoints and you would like them replaced, never seen a mechanic diag balljoints like that before...

 

If you want to change them:

CZP 350Z Front Knuckle Lower Control Arm Ball Joint w/ Seat

 

Do you think I should get the replaced, or will that little WD40 and the holes shouldnt have a huge effect or so, if I get the hole closed?

 

if you did not sign a paper saying it was ok for them to drill holes into them, they should replace them for free, if i did that i would be fired

 

I did not sign anything. I even asked the mechanic twice when leaving about the holes and he assured me theyre fine and wont harm anything.

Now you're a mechanic I assume, are the ball joints bad now? Or can they be sealed and are as functional as they were before?

 

I really don't know if the holes and WD40 will damage them.

 

i wouldn't put wd40 in balljoints, only grease. I would just tell the shop you would like them replaced and that you did not authorize them to drill into the balljoints. I dont know how big the holes are and where they were drilled, sometimes you can buy grease fittings and screw them into holes.
I would just tell the shop to replace them, even if the damage is minor.

 

Im sorry I may have not clarified. He pinched a hole in each with a flat head on the rubber boot that covers the ball joints and then inserted the WD40 through there.

 

ah, if the guy is a friend or you dont feel like complaining i wouldnt even bother but if he is some random dude i would have them replace the boots on the balljoints if thats all they damaged. Ive seen many people complain about stuff that our shop didnt damage and we replaced anyway

 

How did the tire's tread swell? Modern tires have belts (steel or high-strength fibers) in the tread to keep that from happening. Was the tire improperly repaired earlier?

It's just hard to imagine a scenario where the belt would fail on one side of the tire to allow difference in diameter to develop. I'd say it's more likely that the tread wore down unevenly because of poor alignment or modifications/damage to the suspension.

Can you post pictures of the bad tire AND the tire on the other side?

Ruining a ball joint to see if it's bad is just stupid. I wouldn't want someone like that to touch my car again.

 

You are probably fine, but I would change the boots out shortly.

 

Sorry that mechanic would be buying new ones and installing for free

 

not gonna kill the ball joints if its for a short time. I would get the mechanic to replace the boots and repack with grease. Easy cheap fix.

 

there are tons of Americans out of work. Smart, educated, critically-thinking Americans. Qualified engineers working at home depot. And yet still there are retard, bum**** mechanics out there..... someone help me understand.

 

Obama..........







Runs

 

LOLOL ^

 

 

Bama!

 

whobama?