Tire Problems Caused by Faulty Ball Joints

Video Transcript

"Hi my name is Nate McCullough on behalf of Expert Village. In these clips were going to talk about the proper way to remove and replace a front wheel drive vehicles valve joint. In this clip we're going to talk about some of the things that can happen if you continue to drive a vehicle with bad front end components. In particular this vehicle here, our Probe has a failed ball joint. What that failed ball joint does is allow the tire to contact the ground incorrectly. If you take a close look you can see that all the way around we're starting to get what they call tread separation. The ball joint is the lower pivot point for the wheel and when its integrity has been undermined it allows the wheel to tip farther and farther and farther inward. Which is applying the entire weight of the front suspension to a very small portion of the tread, as you can see this tire has been destroyed it is no good anymore. We're going to replace this eventually, it's not going to be in this video, but this is just for your frame of reference. These are the kind of things that can happen if you ignore a failed front end component. The wires are actually coming through. When this fails and it will fail critical. The tread will tear all the way around and tear across and split off and you'll get a flat tire. Horrible thing to happen, you're going to want to make sure that anytime you hear any front end noise; wining, rumbling, bouncing around, clunking. Take it to your nearest repair facility or at least do an inspection yourself."