Don't ignore shaking steering wheel.....

[glock-coma]

It's trying to tell you something.......
2008 jeep commander 100,501

My good friend calls me yesterday telling me he getting "some" vibration in the steering wheel.
Says it's been doing it for a few weeks but it's getting worse.
He brings it over after work last night so I can take a look.

And this is what I find.....ho-lee-fuk



I don't know how this tire didn't blow up.
Considering he works 2 jobs about 35 miles apart on the freeway almost every day...

And the culprit was...

Upper ball joint.
On this vehicle it's not removable form the factory upper control arm so you have to replace the entire assembly.

Pretty easy, 3 bolts and it's out.

[pmezo33]

God damn.  Don't think I've ever seen a tire in such bad shape.  Make sure he knows to get an alignment too.

[glock-coma]

I mentioned the alignment to him. You know the saying ... you can lead horse to water blah blah blah.
I'm not even putting the tire back on until he's ready to get a new one.
He'd drive it for another month if I gave it back to him like this.
He's not one for preventative maintenance.

[bpd1151]

Sweet Mother of God......

Seriously, how do people allow their tires to get to the brink of a catastrophic failure, before realizing there's a looming problem?

I just don't get it. I really really don't.

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

[glock-coma]

The only saving grace here is the upper control arm doesn't have any adjustment for the alignment. So it SHOULDN'T be to far off from where it was before the ball joint took a crap.

I told him...a $60 alignment now or $300 worth of tires later.

[pmezo33]

I mentioned the alignment to him. You know the saying ... you can lead horse to water blah blah blah.
I'm not even putting the tire back on until he's ready to get a new one.
He'd drive it for another month if I gave it back to him like this.
He's not one for preventative maintenance.

I guess anyone will to allow their tire to get that bad probably can care less about preventative maintenance.  He's lucky that tire didn't blow going 70 on the highway.  It's crazy how people risk their lives like that to save a few dollars. 

[pmezo33]

The only saving grace here is the upper control arm doesn't have any adjustment for the alignment. So it SHOULDN'T be to far off from where it was before the ball joint took a crap.

I told him...a $60 alignment now or $300 worth of tires later.

A control arm shouldn't affect the car's alignment, but look at the inside of that tire.  I'm guessing that's all not due to the ball ball joint.  I don't even want to get the last time that car was aligned.

[RandR10]

A friend of mine had worse tires on the front of his C5 Corvette.  The belts were worn right through in a couple spots so it could've blown at any moment.  He was cruising down the freeway at 75 right before that.  I yelled at him not to drive it another mile because it might not even make it home but he got back in it.  He drove it around a couple more weeks like that because he was broke.  It's amazing what some people can get away with.

[pmezo33]

A friend of mine had worse tires on the front of his C5 Corvette.  The belts were worn right through in a couple spots so it could've blown at any moment.  He was cruising down the freeway at 75 right before that.  I yelled at him not to drive it another mile but he got back in it because it might not even make it home.  He drove it around a couple more weeks like that because he was broke.  It's amazing what some people can get away with.

Love the c5's.  Always wanted to get one, but never did.

[RandR10]

A friend of mine had worse tires on the front of his C5 Corvette.  The belts were worn right through in a couple spots so it could've blown at any moment.  He was cruising down the freeway at 75 right before that.  I yelled at him not to drive it another mile but he got back in it because it might not even make it home.  He drove it around a couple more weeks like that because he was broke.  It's amazing what some people can get away with.

Love the c5's.  Always wanted to get one, but never did.

Yeah, I've thrown around the idea of getting one too even though I've stuck mostly with Fords and Japanese imports over the years.  I've done a lot of work on that car for him, and while a lot of the work was a PITA, I'm impressed overall with the engineering on the car.  The centerpiece of course being the LS1, but the rear transaxle for weight distribution and the height adjustable transverse leaf springs.  It's been a reliable car for him too.  Auto trans is starting to act a little funky, but he's got like 125k on it with no major issues.  Just some seal leaks here and there, old worn out rubber pieces, alternator, water pump, some interior parts wore out, little stuff like that.  It's also my favorite body style of all the different models.  I really like the C1's and C2's, but there's just something about the lines on the C5.