okay, i am building my car... and have been looking into problems that i can fix beofre i throw it on the road. before i parked it the front end creaked alot. and i wore out tires pretty fast, even though my alignment is corrected. i put my car on the jack to look at my fron suspension... and holy crap... i thought my wheel bearing were bad that i just replaced because i felt alot of play...

THEN i happen to look up at the control arm to see it is moving all over the place. it seems to me there is pretty much no bushings in there or something. maybe tomorrow i can make a youtube video showing the movement... but it seems pretty bad. i have ingalls camber caster adjusters i was gonna be installing... but now i am thinking i will have to replace my suspension bushings... or maybe my new parts being put in there could get rid of the play? or do i need to get new suspension bushings or what?

i would really appreciate the help. i dont wanna drive the car with it like this... i am hoping my new adjusters will make it all better since they replace the part that the movement is around. what do yo guys think?

 

Which control arm? There's a couple of things under there that are called control arms. The one that should concern you the most is the one that connects the wheel to the crossmembers. That's called the lateral arm and it looks like a dog bone. I've also seen them referenced as a control arm at autoparts stores so be careful. The actual control arm is the upper control arm and it looks like an off centered "A". Then you have the compression arm and it is the farthest back and curved.
So, which one is it again? Lol.
Regardless, the balljoint is gone and the entire arm should be replaced. Yes, you can just replace the balljoint of the upper control arm, but it is more of a headache than it's worth. If it's the lateral arm, replace it before you drive it or your wheel(s) may come out from under you.
Driving with a dead balljoint will just allow movement of the suspension and kill your tires and it can be dangerous. Remember that your 2900lbs+ car is just a 2900lbs+ projectile if you lose steering control.

 

it is the upper control arm that is shaped like an A. it is the one the you can see chillin (above) the tire all the time. it just moves front to back(in regard to car) and i know it shouldn't lol. well, i know it is not safe to drive my car like that. thats why i wanted to find out before i throw down a bunch of power and take it out on the road. so you think i should get new control arms for the front all around? i mean is that a waste of time/money? i have seen kits with all of them in it for a couple hundered bucks on ebay... but i dont trust ebay very much. or should i just replace the one that i am talking about? anyways. thanks for the response. i would just throw the camber caster adjusters on there... but dont wanna install em and find out it still had play in it...

 

i went outside and looked at my car today. the new camber caster adjusters actually look like they are more beefy and even fill up all the space in the ctrl arm's play. the old ones just look worn to hell or something i mean the bushing or spacers or whatever are all chewed up and almost gone. and i am not sure that they are even built as solid as these new ones.... but the control arm looks perfectly fine. and the bushing at the end seems in very good condition also. i will put the new parts in. but i guess i should ask, what is the best way to go about doing that? since they need to be set as close to the stock is as i can get. before i try and drive it to get all the alignment done.

 

Mitsubishi and Chrysler issued a recall on the control arms on the 2nd gen eclipse and talon.They replaced both the control arms and the a frames on the driver and passenger side. It shouldnt cost anything. Call your local dealer and ask them about the suspension recall on the 2nd gen dsm.

 

i hope you are right, cuz i will call them up tomorrow. almost sounds like its beem so lomg they would tell me to buzz off.. lol.. only cuz its a 98 with 205k. but if they do that would be awesome. thanks for the tip.