Pics Well, they totaled the Mercedes.

I don't understand...if you replaced them with after-market parts instead of GM parts would the problem go away?

From what a friend told me, maybe. This friend used to own a repair shop. He said he managed to find (locally) a place that sold aftermarket ball joints that would last about 2yrs instead of the 1yr like most other aftermarket balljoints (autozone, vip, napa, carquest, etc) or actual GM part. He also said that job made him the most money (seeing so many of the bad balljoints a week). Pretty much guaranteed any GM vehicle that was in his shop needed new ball joints.
 
According to some research online, it appears that on certain GM trucks the ball joints don't have zerk fittings to allow proper greasing. Thus the grease dries up or gets pushed out and lots of wear happens. Also allows dirt and moisture into the ball joint. Derp.

Edit: another catch appears to be the ball joint being riveted to the upper and lower control arm assembly. So if the balljoint is bad and you want GM part, you gotta buy the upper and lower. LOL
 
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