Just installed two new lower ball joints on my son's 2003 Corolla,lowered the car down, and took it for a test drive. Car steers wonky, steering wheel not straight and centered. Never went over 20 MPH, front tires scuffing the pavement, stopped, jumped out, and I see that they are not standing straight up, they are splayed out at the bottom, too much camber. I did absolutely nothing to alter the steering geometry. Could it be that these aftermarket ball joints are incorrectly made, or they could just be the wrong ones. I will jack it up tomorrow to inspect, just too tired and fed up for today. I've done this before on many Corollas and Camrys, never had an issue.
Splayed out wheels
- Thread starter impala409
- Start date
Examined the ball joints this morning, made a comparison to the old ones. They are identical.Centered the steering wheel, left side tire perfectly straight, but right side slightly turned outward. I had removed the tie rod at the spindle, taking out the cotter pin, removing the 14mm castle nut. and knocking out the joint. also removed the two bolts at the top of the strut at the shock and removed the 30mm nut on the half shaft, finally removing the entire spindle. Had to do this as the original ball joint castle nut was badly rusted. After success on the work bench, I quickly replaced the spindle on the car and reattached everything. At no time did I alter the length of the tie rod, everything went together hassle free. Only after car was down on the ground did I notice this problem. Before ball joint replacement, car ran a true line, no wandering at any speed, no vibrations. Just was making a loud thunk when driving over rough surfaces and potholes. Quiet now. Anybody's guess as to what happened? Will take it for a wheel alignment.
It’s an old Corolla (be kind to it) 
My guess:
The bushing on both front-end suspensions probably wore out or gone.
The sway bar and sway links are probably rusted out.
Both ABS hubs are warp, due to the 18 inches DUB wheels you mounted w/ +4 inches (slam drop).
I’m not sure if your Corolla is on coilovers or cut springs. However, this is good excuse for you to do energy suspension master bushing kit for us w/ pix
My guess:
The bushing on both front-end suspensions probably wore out or gone.
The sway bar and sway links are probably rusted out.
Both ABS hubs are warp, due to the 18 inches DUB wheels you mounted w/ +4 inches (slam drop).
I’m not sure if your Corolla is on coilovers or cut springs. However, this is good excuse for you to do energy suspension master bushing kit for us w/ pix
Actually, car has only around 70000miles on it, the links are new, the front brakes are new, I checked the lower table bushings, all in good shape. No idea what changed the geometry, but I am taking it in for an electronic wheel alignment. Also table is straight, no signs of impact or distortion. Car drove and handled well before I changed the ball joints.
Basically, I loosened the two strut bolts, jerked the wheel upright, and tightened down the bolts. Sent the car to my wheel alignment guy, he made some minor adjustments to camber/castor. All is well now, and the car has been sold for good money! Replaced with a 2006 low mileage Corolla, sort of a creampuff, that my son drives around. Sorry that I did not reply sooner...have been crazy busy at work since this Corona Virus thing started.