Time to replace upper-control arm ball joints

[TribeDC]

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!

Thanks Ryan, this is much appreciated!

PS.. I am working my way backwards from the end of this thread and see some of the service costs
It is just incredibly annoying that they brushed this off when they should have replaced it under warranty months ago.

 

[yessirrom]

I had both sides replaced on my 3/2018 build back in July. 41,600 miles at the time. Only the right was squeaking but they replaced both. My local DFW service center has been pretty good.

I am sitting at 47,900 miles now and am trying to make sure I get any issues addressed. As of now, just a passenger door that is a little harder to close than the rest.

I am now at 102,586 miles and my squeak has come back with a vengeance. Went from nothing to very loud all at once. Service center charging me to replace both, I agreed. After the work was done they said I needed an alignment because the steering wheel was off center.. They did one. Now they say it is still pulling to the right and they are not sure what is going on. I know what is going on, someone screwed up. Upper control arms do not require an alignment.

They put me in a loaner and said they are going to "good will" some diagnostic time. Needless to say, these problems did not exist when I went in.

 

[yessirrom]

 

[dwalme]

I am now at 102,586 miles and my squeak has come back with a vengeance. Went from nothing to very loud all at once. Service center charging me to replace both, I agreed. After the work was done they said I needed an alignment because the steering wheel was off center.. They did one. Now they say it is still pulling to the right and they are not sure what is going on. I know what is going on, someone screwed up. Upper control arms do not require an alignment.

They put me in a loaner and said they are going to "good will" some diagnostic time. Needless to say, these problems did not exist when I went in.View attachment 805965

Looks like you got a good alignment out of it.

 

[yessirrom]

Car was still pulling to the right after that alignment. That is why they kept it. Weird.

 

[TribeDC]

I am now at 102,586 miles and my squeak has come back with a vengeance. Went from nothing to very loud all at once. Service center charging me to replace both, I agreed. After the work was done they said I needed an alignment because the steering wheel was off center.. They did one. Now they say it is still pulling to the right and they are not sure what is going on. I know what is going on, someone screwed up. Upper control arms do not require an alignment.

They put me in a loaner and said they are going to "good will" some diagnostic time. Needless to say, these problems did not exist when I went in.View attachment 805965

Please update us when you get your car back. I'm very interested to know the end result. Was it about $700 per control arm?

I'm going to fix my squeak myself once the grease needle arrives in a couple days, but would be good to know for the eventual future replacement.

 

[Apprunner]

I recently went in to get a 30k mile inspection and replace brake fluid at the service center. They said the fluid was fine and they lubed and resealed my control arms for free. I didn't know that they do this as a preventative thing now.

 

[Rmchrger]

I know they have been doing the reseal to prevent water intrusion, but haven't heard of any service centrrs lubing them. Maybe thats something new they are doing. They did the reseal on mine about 2 months ago and surprise, they started making noise a few weeks later. I think they actually trapped water inside the joint after a Seattle rainy winter.
I have an appointment for mine, they rescheduled due to not hablving the parts. Hopefully they are being replaced. I'm at 36k miles. It was so embarrassing I jacked it up, took off the wheel and took off the ball joint pinch bolt. Popped the ball joint stud out of the arm and moved it around in circles and spun it around a bunch to get grease moved around. Its silent now, hope it doesn't effect the replacements. Luckily I have plenty of videos of the noise. On a side note I still have my extra set of control arms with grease zerts I installed just in case. Waiting until warranty is up to install those.

 

[TribeDC]

I greased the joint myself on Sunday 5/22/2022. We will see how long that lasts, but it took care of the squeak immediately.

 

[yessirrom]

I picked it up and all is good. They explained that when the steering angle was adjusted that the car computer was not updated and it was trying to compensate for the difference, hence the pull to the right.

They replaced both sides and I paid $183 for both control arms (parts cost) and $115 for the alignment.

 

[Rmchrger]

I picked it up and all is good. They explained that when the steering angle was adjusted that the car computer was not updated and it was trying to compensate for the difference, hence the pull to the right.

They replaced both sides and I paid $183 for both control arms (parts cost) and $115 for the alignment.

Just to clarify, both control arms was $183? Or each?
Few months ago i saw people posting estimates showing 165 each, hence my asking.
Thanks

 

[Rmchrger]

I stopped by my local service center today. I verified the front upper control arms are indeed $90 each!! Parts guy said they are hard to get right now because of all the replacements needed.
Anybody see these cast aluminum replacements on amazon? I've been burned by fake amazon listings before so I'm skeptical. Prime, but no reviews. And a seller with no selling reviews....hmmm.

 

[RyanS]

Not something that you want to take a chance on. Stay with OEM.

 

[Rmchrger]

Not something that you want to take a chance on. Stay with OEM.

Agreed, especially since they are only $90 now.

 

[Rmchrger]

Had both upper control arms replaced under warranty the other day. It included an alignment check.
One thing I noticed instantly was the lighter steering force required. A few weeks earlier I had changed to the comfort setting because it seemed to change. It was noticeably stiffer to turn. After the new arms were installed I quickly went back to the standard setting as it went back to its normal feeling with the new arms.
Something to keep in mind if your steering effort increases. Ball joint may be binding up enough to notice in the steering.

 

[tm1v2]

Had both upper control arms replaced under warranty the other day. It included an alignment check.
One thing I noticed instantly was the lighter steering force required. A few weeks earlier I had changed to the comfort setting because it seemed to change. It was noticeably stiffer to turn. After the new arms were installed I quickly went back to the standard setting as it went back to its normal feeling with the new arms.
Something to keep in mind if your steering effort increases. Ball joint may be binding up enough to notice in the steering.

@Rmchrger Did the service center update your car's software? If so that might be the steering change you felt, more than the control arm replacement. A recently software update significantly lightened Standard and Sport steering modes. Even Sport feels overboosted at low speeds now (and I used to prefer Standard before the update!).

Sports mode steering feels significantly lighter

I was out for 2 weeks and when I got back and started driving my model 3P, I could feel the steering wheel was not as heavy as before. My setting was in sports mode. Has anyone seen this behavior previously? Maybe worth mentioning my Tesla went through a software updates while I was gone, but...

teslamotorsclub.com

 

[Rmchrger]

Yes, good point!! I thought that might be a possibility too, but no software change. Same as it went in. 2022.12.3.2.
I never did feel the change on mine like you guys are experiencing. Just the sudden stiffness then back to normal after the control arms. I'm going there this week, I'll ask them about it.

 

[Rmchrger]

I took one of my extra new control arms, removed the retainer clip and pulled the boot back. I wanted to see exactly how much grease they are putting in them. We can only guess what kind of grease it is. It looks like Crisco vegetable shortening...lol. Maybe a white lithium grease? Who knows. I may clean it out when I install the zerks so 2 different types don't mix.

 

[N54TT]

I took one of my extra new control arms, removed the retainer clip and pulled the boot back. I wanted to see exactly how much grease they are putting in them. We can only guess what kind of grease it is. It looks like Crisco vegetable shortening...lol. Maybe a white lithium grease? Who knows. I may clean it out when I install the zerks so 2 different types don't mix.
View attachment 813576

Thanks for the pic! Looks like a good amount of grease. Where did you buy the arm from? How hard was it to remove the retainer clip. I presume it’s damaged during removal and cant be reused? Did just use a ziptie to re-secure it? Have an after pic?

Instead of people using a needle, puncturing the boot and adding grease. Would probably be a better idea to remove the clip, pull down the boot, clean out the joint and add new grease.

I’m also curious to see what the inside looks like of one that is squeaking.

 

[Rmchrger]

The pic is deceiving. I think it looks like alot cause its just spread all over. If it was enough nobody would be having noise issues, aside from the possible water intrusion causing problems.

I bought 2 arms used with less than 5k miles and bought another new set from Tesla parts at the SC. Yes, I had to wait for them.

Its just a spiral clip, I used a small hook tool to grab the end and spiral it off. Goes back on the same way. Kind of like installing piston rings if you've ever done those.

Technically these are non-serviceable joints that I am attempting to make serviceable by adding a zerk fitting.

IMO, just filling the boot and moving the ball around will help, but does it really get grease all the way to the top and around the ball? Maybe.

These joints are tight, it takes 2 people to get the grease by the ball. One person to move the ball around while the second person is pumping the grease gun. Also the reason I use flush zerts. You have to push down on the zerk to install the grease. These are going into plastic. If you just clamp on a grease gun to the other style zerks and start pumping you'll blow the zerk right out.