As some of you may know, I took Airadne in to have her balljoints replaced today.
I asked to see one of the old arms and the mechanic happily obliged.... It was a disturbing sight however....
The actual balljoint (the bit that the recall is about) looked largely okay - it felt free and smooth, maybe a bit of 'play' but no 'grittiness' or obvious leaks.
The disturbing part was the condition of the other two bushings on the arm - the one that joins to the chassis and the one that the strut bolts on to... I have taken pictures with my camera phone and will post them later (once I've found my sync cable).
Both bushings were in very poor condition; the rubber had sheared on both of them, and one of them was heavily compressed - the metal eyelet was quite obviously no longer centered. The bushing that held the chassis mount looked like it had been 'torn'
With both arms now replaced, ride comfort and handling has significantly improved. In fairness, my car is now showing 100,000 miles and it's eight years old - so the wear is probably in keeping with the car's mileage and age.
Just a note of caution to those of you with Galants that have seen a lot of action, be that in terms of age, miles or track time.... Keep an eye on your bushings.... They may not be as healthy as you expect!!