I bought this car brand spanking new so that's the real mileage. Do Front end ball joints or control arms typically wear out at 95K miles? Car is in for a worn 'rear suspension transverse arm mounting gizmo' until Friday. I said No on the front end work but can always change my mind.

Steering seems find to me. I will be forking over $100 for an alignment because of the rear suspension work.

I went through the same situation with my 95 850 front end. But all the way through the steering was fine. As to the click hard left and right: I figured out that my struts also needed replacing at about 160 K when I would get an awful "skrnk" sound when I would cross a curb cut going into my driveway on a right turn. But again my alignment never seemed to be out of whack. When I got into the work I found that one of the steering knuckles had been welded. I only found this out when that wheel turned under as the knuckle broke. You shouldn't have to worry about that kind of stupidity since you are original owner. Good luck.

Most definately, 95K is a within reason for the control arm/ball joint.

Mileage is not the only consideration.

Age is important because you are dealing with rubber parts here.

Locale is important. Do you live in Souther California, or Chicago?

Road use is important. Do you live in the south, were roads are much smoother? Or the north, were winters cause the roads to be much rougher? Or, do you live in the sticks, where you travel down dirt roads?

And what kind of driver are you? Do you run into curbs? Do you ram up against parking bump stops?

I would say that worst case, someone might have to change their control arm/ball joint at 50K. Best case is probably in the low 100-140K area. (I am sure I am going to get a response from someone saying "I got 600K out of my control arm/ball joint.")

So, 95K is perfectly reasonable.

Car was just north on NYC but son had car at Hartford, CT and probably did road trips to Boston and beyond. I myself used to break hard back in 1996. Tires seem to wear out after 25k miles.

Northern roads in winter, crashing through potholes, corrosion from salt. 95,000 miles is pretty good service under those conditions

The transverse mount is a rubber bushing, same as for the control arms. None of them "typically" wear out, but salt and heat over the years cause them to dry out and crack. Same with the front engine mount.
You can check out the ball joints by jacking up a wheel and try moving the wheel at 12 and 6 o'clock.

If you have the control arms replaced later, count on another alignment. If you only plan on keeping the car for another year or so, pass the cost to the new owner?

Klaus
--
Proud owner of a 1967 220S

Your post isn't quite crystal clear so I'll state what you probably already know - The balljoint and control arm are the same piece.

They do wear out, perhaps not at 95K miles but there is the extra time to consider. I'd have to check, but I think I replaced both on my '95 at around 130-140K. At that point the BJ's were completely shot and probably should have been replaced earlier.

Now at 187K miles I've never felt any need to replace any rear suspension parts. What led to the current work?

-Will
--
854 - 244 - Mini

I had the ball joints replaced at 160k. I bought the car with 100k with all service records and they were never replaced before. I bought it in Vermont, and live in PA so we get allot of snow. It depends. It started by the loud clicking I heard when I turned sharp right or left. It depends.

This dealer once told me I needed new rear pads. Needed is relative - they had plenty of meat left on them. Front tires just wore out evenly. Shakes a bit but a wheel lost its balance weight.

When loosening a bleeder screw on the left rear caliper I noticed play. The bushing on the opposite side of the car seperated from a metal holder so the half axel should shift. Upon further examination the rear tire showed some unusual wear. I found that wear on a spare tire - so it might have gone un-noticed for 10k miles. I never noticed anything when driving except recently more noise which I first thought might be a wheel bearing but now I'm hoping it's just the tire's bad wear pattern causing a problem.

By 20 year old son drove the car for 2 years - so imagined a curb hit at the rear or maybe a pothole. He definatly put a big dent in the front fender.

steve

I think you've found the reason why the ball joints have worn out in 95 K miles. Maybe give the bill to your son???