1998 Esprit GT3: MOT Minor Defects - Ball Joint Dust Covers

[esprit gt3 nickbassett]

Hi,

1998 Esprit GT3 has received two Minor Defects on its MOT:

• Nearside Front Upper Suspension arm ball joint dust cover severely deteriorated (5.3.4 (b) (i))
• Offside Front Track rod end ball joint dust cover damaged or deteriorated, but preventing the ingress of dirt insecure (2.1.3 (g) (i))

I'd like to have them done but know nothing about it.  Is this something that the incumbent MOT garage should be able to do?  Or is it for a Lotus Specialist?

Can anyone advise a ball-park likely figure of cost, roughly?  TIA.

Nick.

[eeyoreish]

Any competent garage should be able to do those easily. You might prefer to supply your own parts though to make sure they're the right ones. Anywhere like PNM, SJ Sportscars will have them if you can't get them locally.

I'm (thankfully) out of touch with garage labour rates but I'd have thought no more than a couple of hours work max? It'll probably need the wheel alignment checked too either as part of the job or afterwards.

[LotuStuart]

Maybe just do the dust covers-cheap as chips, and I'd expect no realignment needed afterwards .

[eeyoreish]

True, I've done that in the past on pressed in ball joints that are otherwise fine. Those covers and clips can be fiddly little beggars though, plus you'll still need to split the joint to get the cover on. On bolted on parts it's arguably less of a fiddle to just change the whole joint, then you know it's definitely good 🤔

[jonwat]

3 hours ago, eeyoreish said:

On bolted on parts it's arguably less of a fiddle to just change the whole joint, then you know it's definitely good 🤔

And do both sides while you're at it, if one has gone the other won't be far behind.