Upper front wishbone wear and tear

[stavr0ss]

Planning a suspension refresh for half term (a Change is as food as a rest eh?)
I’m trying to do the thing properly so taking out the wishbones, removing the bushes, having them zinc passivated- trouble is the top front wishbone has a captive ball joint that I can’t really remove, can’t afford a new one and can’t get the zinc done with it in place- I’m thinking to do those ones myself with wire brush and dinitrol rust converter- so my question is how much punishment do the top fronts typically get?
Is it worth spending the extra 350 sheets for new bones with pre-fit balljoints or can I clean them up well enough myself and just regrease and re-boot the ball joint...

[Zed.]

top balljoints are pressed into the wishbones, easy to remove & I suppose they could be re-fitted after plating (if they are in god condition?)

new top balljoints are ~£10 each so won't break the bank

Rich.

[stavr0ss]

That’s interesting, I was under the Impression Mazda didn’t sell them separately- would a ball joint press get these out do you think?

[cwinterb]

IL Motorsport do a replacement upper ball joint. Bit more than a tenner though.