Ball joint and lower arm replacement on 147 GTA

At my last service, my alfa garage advised me of some play in one of the ball joints, it wasn't excessive but something to be kept any eye on.

few 1000 miles on, and I can now feel the play on full lock and the car will now "crunch" when on hard lock

So I asked them about replacing it, they said it only comes as part of the lower arm and that costs about £270!

so my question is, have any other GTA owners replaced this item or the lower arms?

have no GTA owners ever replaced this part yet then???

How many miles has it done then mysparan??
Had lower wishbones replaced on my 147 GTA at about 16k if I remember rightly.

Hi mysparan

Got the same thing on my 156 GTA. backing out of my drive requires hard lock and then the opposite lock while pulling away - at this point I get this crunch or "grabbing" sound/feel. It's almost like something is catching on the wheel as it rotates.

Probably had this 3 times during the life of the car and is always fixed by lower arm replacement. Yep, £270 a time sound about right :-( [later] replaced twice - once each side from the receipts I have, so this is the 3rd time I've had the problem.

Not sure whether powerflex bushes would help this situation, but I intend to get these done at the same time when it's in the garage.

This sounds like the same problem I am having on my 04 147GTA, I was going to post a question about it, but couldn't quite think how to describe the sound/sensation. I find I get it when on full lock either in forward or reverse, turning to the right. It is a weird kind of clunk/tug at the wheel, a bit unnerving.

Can anyone advise as to what will happen with this problem as time goes by - is it something that will cause further damage / more expense if it is not fixed now?

Originally Posted by Dunkx

This sounds like the same problem I am having on my 04 147GTA, I was going to post a question about it, but couldn't quite think how to describe the sound/sensation. I find I get it when on full lock either in forward or reverse, turning to the right. It is a weird kind of clunk/tug at the wheel, a bit unnerving.

Hi Dunkx - I was going to post a question too. It's the left side affected on mine. It is very difficult to describe - almost like the road wheel is turning too far in and you're trying to force it off the normal track, if you get my drift.

To me this is one of the recurring faults with the GTA - the way this car has been through suspension components is unreal.

Originally Posted by Dunkx

Can anyone advise as to what will happen with this problem as time goes by - is it something that will cause further damage / more expense if it is not fixed now?

It will just get worse and probably cause other bushes/joints to wear quicker? I would imagine it would get picked up in the MOT if it was bad enough, although mines just passed with this issue present!

Had mine done about 3 months ago and yes they aren't cheap. I had a bad clunk noise when going over bumps. Car had done 25K.

Originally Posted by mysparan

At my last service, my alfa garage advised me of some play in one of the ball joints, it wasn't excessive but something to be kept any eye on.

few 1000 miles on, and I can now feel the play on full lock and the car will now "crunch" when on hard lock

So I asked them about replacing it, they said it only comes as part of the lower arm and that costs about £270!

so my question is, have any other GTA owners replaced this item or the lower arms?

The arm itself is around £80 max. Its a bit of a PITA to replace though.

Are all 156 arms the same? Cos the 'normal' 156 arms are only about 70 quid plus VAT like Chris said.

ok bit further news on the wishbone front....

I sourced a set of genuine alfa arms from shop4parts for about £80 each. Alfa dealer wanted £150+ for exact same part

Alfa are gonna fit these for me when I have my brake upgrade done this weekend.

I have also sourced a set of Firstline wishbones that are cheaper than alfa ones and look almost identical, a thicker cast so a bit heavier, but they look stronger

They fit all 147, 156 and GT - see this link
L/H Front Lower Arm ALFA ROMEO 147 156 GTA GT 3.2i V6 on eBay, also, Alfa Romeo, Car Parts, Cars, Parts Vehicles (end time 14-Jan-08 17:49:20 GMT)

my 156 gta is going in next week for upper, lowers and arb... may as well get it all done at the same time