Best ball joints for XF?

[Nigel]

Guys. whats the best brand/place to buy ball joints (lowers in particular) for the XF?

Would rather not do them too often.

Nigel

[rusty 351]

i used cheapo roadsafes from bursons, seem to be doing there job

[BIGCAV]

best brand is TRW, they were the OEM supllier from waht i ahve worked out

[Nigel]

OK - but aside from ford where can I get TRW Ball joints????

[BIGCAV]

i havent started to look yet as im not going to redo my front end for a few weeks yet

i was going to send them an email asking who tehre australian distributors were, maybe you could do that now instead

let us know how you go

[Panko]

hey mate, i have just completely rebuilt the front end of my car, i got all my ball joints from R&E Auto Spares, they stock Wasp components. they seem pretty good quality, they have grease nipples to pack them out, which they suggest topping up every 40,000kms or something.
i would suggest doing top and bottom, not just the lower, cos if they are in the condition mine were in, not having an rubber to hold any grease in around the ball joint any more, i would be doing top and bottom.

[Nigel]

I just picked up OEM ones - advice from many stores was there is only 2 manufacturers, then they pack them into different branded boxes. Boxes all look same... except PBR. Long story.

Anyway - I looked for ones without grease nipples. Read a while back that the ones with grease nipples have them because the tolerances arent good enough to keep the grease in - most modern cars do not have nipples. When I did my DX 25 years ago Nipples were compulsory for life!.

Only got lowers bvecause thats what I need to get through rego. Once the car is past Rego and getting its upgrade I'll do the uppers etc (and complete superpro kit)

Nigel

[pyroman]

TRW from repco are good and MOOG are U.S made and great thing but hard to find >>

[FoX]

i got the el-cheapo brand that had a rather dodgy name, they were exactly the same as the high-end brand i once bought, even with the grease nipples n such, only they didn't come pre-packed with much grease, only a little bit...

[jeffb5.8]

They are all the same the only difference i have found is some have a hard cheap plastic feeling boot that perishes very quickly causing early wear and failure. The others have a soft boot that last a lot longer.

[408clevo]

best brand is TRW, they were the OEM supllier from waht i ahve worked out

Is the TRW the same as 555?

[KLR250]

I dont like any of the greasable ones, they seem to all have to much play.
I use genuine ford ones which are TRW, non greasable

[BIGCAV]

Is the TRW the same as 555?

no, from my memory/understanding 555 are roadsafe paja branded

[cjb]

no, from my memory/understanding 555 are roadsafe paja branded

you are right BIGCAV, I was just looking on the roadssafe website and that's what it said

[grabber]

yeah, you can buy a 10 piece set for $170, can't beat that. I asked and engineer and he said they are all the same except, as stated by Jeff the quality of the rubber boots varies and perishes easier. This can be overcome by not using your brakes so much and making concerted effort to DRIVING FASTER....

[Vyl]

Sounds like my kinda ball joints. lol

[deankdx]

the last supposed TRW one i bought LOWER, came in a TRW box from repco, non greasable, didnt keep reciept(didnt expect to ever change it on previous experience)
it died totally rooted like, dangerous in less than 30,000km. wish i kept it, the box and the reciept.

i fitted a wasp one recently, cheap, greasable(not usually a fan) and after 10,000km car drives fine( its probably got measurable wear though?)

i would never recomend rubbish brand stuff, but 3 years ago when i got pedders to align my ute, they were supprised TRW was still available, they suggested its all junk from the same factory...i figured they might be spinning some bull? turns out they were probably correct on this one.
i find idler arms to be the fist thing to fail on my cars, seem to last 30,000km max.

good luck.

[grabber]

Yeah but if you drive 30,000kmh you enter a time warp and everything that was old becomes new again...

[deankdx]

Yeah but if you drive 30,000kmh you enter a time warp and everything that was old becomes new again...

thats cos you need to replace it all, with new parts

[Nigel]

Lots of places still talk about selby stuff. Im dubious - think its still the same factory.

My Car is all OEM now.... brand, not ford that is.

[crazy2287]

I've recently used direct from ford ball joints and tire-rods and i used a WASP joint when doing the UCA drop.
Both seemed of good quality and feel. nice smooth movement. WASP still uses the castellated nut with split pin and a is greaseable. ford ones have changed to nylock and are non greaseable.

[SPArKy_Dave]

Ages and ages ago, I bought quite a few samples of upper ball joints from different places - Motorcraft, Silverline - (repco), Bursons, 555, etc.
I also have an original three part 'TRW' Ford upper ball joint, (must be about 20yrs old) (not a riveted in one)

After much comparison between the original TRW sample, and the current ones available,
the 555 are the closest match - greasable, castellated nut with cotter pin and a good rubber boot, etc.

The 555 uppers, are not a 3 piece ball joint, however their lower ones are.

They come in an orange box, with '555' on it, some Japanese writing, and a reflective sticker.
They're made in Japan (or at least the box is.)

The other difference, is in the bolts - the original bolt in replacement TRW's, used three dome headed allen key cap bolts, and regular nuts/washers.
555 just use ordinary high tensile nuts bolts and washers.

They also seem to be the most expensive X series ball joint I've come across.

However, they seem to be wearing very well, as I've yet to replace one.


just my 2c.