ball joints rubber boots - Honda Prelude Forum

Si_g · 09-17-2005, 11:34 AM

for the past few months, I been having the weirdest semi clunking sound everytime i drive on a bad road. When the road is neat, no problem...its all smooth...but when its paved or broken or just plain not smooth, my passenger side rear just goes crazy with that sound like 2 pieces of metal are constant hittin each other really fast...its not really a clunk, but u can tell something isnt right. I ve gone back there, jacked up the car and check everything out...and everything is tight and neat. The one thing i did was used a rubber hammer, and hit the knuckle, rotor, and all parts down there to try and recreate the sound...and everytime i hit something, that weird sound kinda came back out, and it seemed to come from the ball joint area. I figured the whole thing was bad but decided to investigate some more. So now I came to find out it maybe just be the rubber boot thats bad ? I dont know...could a bad rubber boot be the source of this weird small clunk when i drive on a bad road ? what would be the symptoms of a bad rubber boot ? could it be anything else ? all my stock bushings are perfect shape i ve checked them out zillions of times

Sorry for the long description...but i try to have it as detailed as possible for other people who may have the same thing.

Thanks for the help.

rayslude · 09-17-2005, 11:54 AM

bad ball joint (the thing thats in the rubber boot)...

Si_g · 09-17-2005, 12:32 PM

would that be the one on the upper part, by the upper arm, or the lower one by the spindle? or should i just change both ? I did read somewhere that there was a 3rd one somewhere, but i couldnt find it on the diagrams? also, would the rubber boots need changing too while I go down there and change everything?

Or should just change em all out once and for all? so far, i only have the problem on the passenger rear, so i m not sure what could have caused that one to go bad.

I m contemplating the 5 lug swap idea, so I d like to get everything fixed up first...

red92s · 09-18-2005, 06:27 PM

2 of them are attached to the front spindles, so if you do the 5-lug swap you could just drop the knuckles and joints off at a shop and have them changed.