Calmini ball-joints

[WhidbeyD21]

I have a worn out upper ball joint on my HB.
Two questions...
First, are Calmini's upper ball joints worth using?
Second, why are they $25 when everyone else on the planet seems to want $45+? Do they stick you for the difference with S&H?

[DamnHippie]

My Calmini ball joints didn't even last one year. I went and replaced them with generic cheapies from the auto parts store ($17 each) and those also lasted a bit less than one year. Then I got better ones from Napa (the ones that run around $40-ish) and those are lasting just fine so far (about 16 months now) except that the rubber boots got destroyed in a few months from the high angle. But aftermarket boots are cheap.

[Bobby B.]

I thought that all those guys used the upper ball joints out of a hardbody, which can be obtained anywhere.

I have a neighbor who works at a Nissan part counter; he got me the OG nissan ones and they've been holding up.

Spencer at SLR told me years ago that he only used the Nissan stuff, ball joints to TREs because he believed they were the better choice for holding up.

[DamnHippie]

Yeah, the Calmini BJs are definitely just 90s Hardbody BJs. I suspect SLR are too, but I'm not positive on that.