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Ball joint replacement

Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2008 8:43 pm
by Rochester SE
I need to replace the ball joints on my 2002 SE. It has aluminum control arms. When looking for parts online I see ball joints for steel control arms and for aluminum control arms. Can anyone tell me what the differnce in the two ball joints would be? I recently bought one from a local parts store (before I knew there were different ones depending on your control arms) and the bolts that came with it are a smaller diameter than the holes in the control arm. Is that the difference? I have asked the "techs" at a couple of the sites I've visited as well as the guys at the parts counter but they can only tell me what they see in the catalog.

TIA

Re: Ball joint replacement

Posted: Sat Jul 05, 2008 10:20 pm
by Archon
I'm not aware of any 2000+ Bonneville that has steel control arms. They are all aluminum, so I don't know why some would be listed for steel. I'd only be able to guess, but as aluminum is a softer metal than steel, it may need the larger bolts for additional strength.