Time to replace upper-control arm ball joints

[Rmchrger]

So, not to be "that guy" but I'll go ahead and be "that guy" ...

Wouldn't getting shavings from the drill/tap be a problem?

Being "that guy" is all good. And brings up a good point. I was concerned with the shavings as well. until I realized it was plastic all the way to the ball. There was no "void" for shavings to go anywhere but out the hole I drilled. Agreed, metal shavings left in there to grind around would be counterproductive and cause excessive wear. But being plastic, I'm not concerned about any small soft bit of plastic hurting anything. I'll try to take a some better pictures of the hole on the 2nd one.after its drilled and after its tapped. Better pics may help explain it better.

 

[zhu-]

I got mine replaced last winter but the noise was still present after - I think it went away mostly from temperatures being warmer. I just checked to see which revision I got and looks like I got two different ones? I got a feeling I'll be going back to service this winter again...

 

[TomT]

Did they update them at that time or something?

If you look at the part number, it seems that they are regularly updating them which means, to me, that they still don't truly have a handle on the issue.

 

[TLLMRRJ]

I have a 65 Jag E-Type that has about 26 Zerk fittings around the chassis that are supposed to be lubed every 6 months of normal driving according to the factory user manual. It's funny that the E-Type community are constantly replacing the Zerk ball joints with the sealed balled joints, but on here, they are talking about going the other direction. It just shows that everything is a cycle.

The real solution is probably to find a better quality substitute than the low quality ball joints Tesla is using. I am sure Tesla got the ball joints off the shelf from the lowest bidder, and there are higher grade ball joints of the style available that can be pressing into place.

 

[android04]

So, not to be "that guy" but I'll go ahead and be "that guy" ...

Wouldn't getting shavings from the drill/tap be a problem?

The part where the grease zerk goes is plastic, so I'm not personally worried about the "chips". If they were metal, I would definitely not do it on the car in order to make sure I cleaned the area really well. I plan on putting the grease zerks on my FUCAs later for preventive maintenance. The Electrified Garage link is very informative on what drill size and tap size to use (that's all I need). I don't think the plastic "chips" will be a problem.

 

[Rmchrger]

Installed the zerk into the other arm. I tried to get some close up pictures showing the hole after drilling and tapping.
This one also shows solid plastic all the way to the ball. There is a white layer of plastic around the ball that you can see. Might be a teflon layer for wear. You have to get through that white layer so the grease reaches the ball but without drilling into the ball.
You can see why I have no concern about shavings if you blow out the hole.
Forgot to mention the threaded zerk isn't very tight in the plastic so I also applied a little urethane sealant on the threads to hold it better.
Good point TLLMRRJ. I wish we could just replace the balljoint in these like your E-type. Maybe someone will try to press it out some day. I think its permanently molded in plastic during the assembly process. Who knows, worth a try if you have one to experiment with.

 

[texas_star_TM3]

If you look at the part number, it seems that they are regularly updating them which means, to me, that they still don't truly have a handle on the issue.

which is a tad unsettling as control arms should last well over 70k+ miles absent of heavy corrosion ... replacing them on 2-3 yr old vehicles with less than 50k miles isn't a great experience... even worse when it's over 50k miles and on your own money

 

[YauKwan]

Just had it replaced as my car is past warranty. Was around $500 for the arm and labor. it was replaced once already in 2019 under warranty.

 

[mewantcookiez]

Had mine replaced with the J revision a few weeks ago. 2019 with 15k miles

 

[android04]

I had my driver side FUCA replaced by Tesla in July 2020 at around 44k miles. I'm now close to 65k miles and my passenger side hasn't yet become noisy. No idea what revision my original control arms were because the labels were faded (made in March 2018). The new one that Tesla installed on the driver side was revision -G.

This thread and Rmchrger's work inspired me to add grease zerks to my FUCAs while installed in the car. It was easy to blow out the plastic "chips" with a can of compressed air. The hardest part was figuring out how to make a long extension to drive the drill bit and the tap into the top of the ball joint at the straightest angle possible. I used standard 1/4"-28 zerks as shown in the Electrified Garage kit. There's plenty of room above the zerks as you will see from my pics and they most likely won't hit anything. I measured the depth of the holes before tapping to avoid bottoming out the tap. The zerks fit nice and snug, but I used Permatex Plastic Bonder epoxy to fill in around them and hopefully keep them from popping out when I grease them.

Also, if anybody is curious about the construction of ball joints, see this informative video

.

 

[Rmchrger]

I had my driver side FUCA replaced by Tesla in July 2020 at around 44k miles. I'm now close to 65k miles and my passenger side hasn't yet become noisy. No idea what revision my original control arms were because the labels were faded (made in March 2018). The new one that Tesla installed on the driver side was revision -G.

This thread and Rmchrger's work inspired me to add grease zerks to my FUCAs while installed in the car. It was easy to blow out the plastic "chips" with a can of compressed air. The hardest part was figuring out how to make a long extension to drive the drill bit and the tap into the top of the ball joint at the straightest angle possible. I used standard 1/4"-28 zerks as shown in the Electrified Garage kit. There's plenty of room above the zerks as you will see from my pics and they most likely won't hit anything. I measured the depth of the holes before tapping to avoid bottoming out the tap. The zerks fit nice and snug, but I used Permatex Plastic Bonder epoxy to fill in around them and hopefully keep them from popping out when I grease them.

Also, if anybody is curious about the construction of ball joints, see this informative video

.

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Great job!!! If you haven't tried putting grease in them yet, only thing I can recommend (since they are still on the car) is take the tire off, and remove the bolt that clamps on the ball joint so it can lift out. Then have someone rotate it around (the ball joint) as you inject the grease.
At least with mine, I couldn't get the grease to go around the ball without some movement. I didn't want to force the grease gun pressure to much and take the chance of blowing out the zerk.
You can definitely feel the friction loosen up went the grease gets around it. The joint will temporarily lock up as your rotating it because of the grease pressure, but that goes away. Keep rotating, pumping grease and eventually it works its way around and slowly fills some grease in the boot.

Again, nice job. Nice to see someone else do it and do it a different way, on the car!!!
Heck ya way to improvise!!

 

[android04]

Great job!!! If you haven't tried putting grease in them yet, only thing I can recommend (since they are still on the car) is take the tire off, and remove the bolt that clamps on the ball joint so it can lift out. Then have someone rotate it around (the ball joint) as you inject the grease.
At least with mine, I couldn't get the grease to go around the ball without some movement. I didn't want to force the grease gun pressure to much and take the chance of blowing out the zerk.
You can definitely feel the friction loosen up went the grease gets around it. The joint will temporarily lock up as your rotating it because of the grease pressure, but that goes away. Keep rotating, pumping grease and eventually it works its way around and slowly fills some grease in the boot.

Again, nice job. Nice to see someone else do it and do it a different way, on the car!!!
Heck ya way to improvise!!

I greased then up this morning before reading your suggestion. It did take a lot of effort to pump the grease gun. I pumped until I saw the plastic area with the zerks visibly bulge a little. Then I turned my steering wheel side to side, lock to lock, about 8 times. Then I went in to pump some more grease, but it was really hard (I have a one-handed Lock N Lube gun). I forced it and popped out the zerk on the passenger side. I screwed in another one and it still fits snugly. I did another round of steering wheel turning. Finally, I degreased both zerks and sealed around them again.

Lesson learned: don't try to force the grease gun too much. But I'm not concerned about the zerks falling out. Worst case they fall out and water goes in to the joint. Then it will start creaking again and I would replace the control arms myself with UP or MPP after markets.

 

[Victor-Y]

Mobile Service inspected vehicle and said this repair had to be done at service center. We have new service center opening in our city in July. The alternative is to take a 3 hour road trip to the next nearest service center.

Front right upper control arm assembly replaced under warranty on July 22 with 34,524 km on the odometer. Had been creaking for about 2 months before I could get an appointment at our new service center. Old UCA was Rev. G and new arm is Rev. J.

The front left UCA was not making any noise... hope it lasts (or fails before warranty expires). Service center applied urethane sealant to both front UCA.

Staff at new service center were great. They have been delivering a lot of cars. I'm seeing more in my neighborhood and around town in general.

 

[Sophias_dad]

Stacy's Mom just got two new upper control arms at 42400 miles , both now rev J, about three hours from dropoff to pickup. Was saddened that they didn't do an alignment afterwards.

 

[phoglite]

I discovered this thread after I began hearing the squeaks on my '18 M3 RWD LR with ~27k miles. Similar to others, they quoted the diagnostic fees but waived upon verifying warranty work. Driver's side upper control arm was replaced with a J version and passenger side was re-sealed. They claimed the issue was a sealing issue with water getting in over time but that if they hadn't started to squeak then things were solved with a simple sealant application. One other item of note.. they checked two electrical areas of concern noted as "Inspect X950 and X952 for Damaged Electrical Circuits" but found no issues with either.

 

[lukex4]

Just got both upper-control arm replaced by mobile service (in less than an hour). 32500km, Model 3 LR RWD March 2019. Still under warranty. Revision H. Very satisfied of the service!

Some squeaky sound came back (now at 43000km) so I scheduled an appointment at the Service Center. Got a reseal of the FUCA with urethane + they replaced the lower lateral link.

Same as @phoglite they checked some electrical insulation and found no issue.

Let's hope this squeaky sound is gone for good now...

 

[texas_star_TM3]

the squeaky noise will be gone for the remainder of your basic vehicle warranty. absolute bandaid solution ... just adding sealant after the fact that water intruded/ created an issue isn't "fixing" it

 

[RyanS]

Well… after 113k miles, I am now getting that nice squeaks. Hope it won’t cost me too much.

 

[TribeDC]

Did anyone end up getting this repaired yet at cost? I'm curious how much it cost because I'm about to get stuck with paying for this repair myself.

I've run into an extremely frustrating situation with tesla service that makes it hard to recommend this car going forward. Nov '18 M3 LR AWD. I've been a huge proponent of the brand, we own a 3 and a Y, but the 3 has been a nightmare with tons of service issues and software/hardware issues and I'm thinking we need to repair this and sell it as quick as possible.

I was on a road trip from MD to AZ in January of this year (2022) and while driving through bad snow and rain I started to hear a screech from the front right wheel. I started this trip with around 43k miles on the car. I wasn't aware of the known issue with the upper control arm and seal.

Arrived at my parents in AZ where I was spending the next week and scheduled a service appointment for a broken window button. The car was at about 46k miles at this time. When the mobile tech arrived I drove him around and he tried to determine the source of the noise. He said it was probably a connection between rubber and metal up in the wheel well. I told him I was concerned because I would be on this road trip through the 50k mile mark but he guaranteed I wouldn't have an issue getting it repaired under warranty when I got back, and stated he would make notes of the issue for the service center to address.

I spent another two weeks out west skiing and driving back to Maryland with just over 50k miles on the car, as expected. I experienced some major issues with software and hardware throughout this trip -- constant rebooting while driving on highways, having to put the car in camp mode while supercharging or the screen would turn off, way more issues than I can list here -- but let's say the squeaking coming from the wheel was the least of my worries. I spent a lot of time talking with support while driving on this trip and they took notes of all the issues, including the squeak, and assured me that even though I was going to be over 50k miles when I took it in that all issues would be addressed because I had called and documented everything on this trip.

I scheduled the appointment for March and the car had 50,033 miles on it at time of service. Addressed 23 issues, resulting in replacing the seat sensor, main computer, touchscreen... but they said they couldn't identify the screech and it wasn't an issue. I picked it up after hours and the screech was there the whole way home.

This is now my partners daily driver, and last week she informed me the screech has gotten worse, I had forgotten about it since it's not my daily driver anymore. I scheduled the appointment last week but Tesla service wants to charge me for this repair now, even though I had documented the issue dating back to January when the car was well under warranty.

Anyone have any thoughts or experiences with service like this?

 

[RyanS]

I fixed it myself for less than $7. If you have to buy a grease gun, make it $30.

Post in thread 'Creaking noise from suspension - resolved!'
Creaking noise from suspension - resolved!