My lower ball joint boots are torn.

The ball joints make no noise and there is no unusual movement in the ball joints. So, I had planned to replace the boots. However, while looking at old pictures of my suspension, I discovered that they have been torn since at least 2015.

Are they still worth repairing?

Should I replace them even if they are not causing problems?

2005 TL 5AT 103k miles

 

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If the car is not a daily driver and you can inspect the ball joints, without the boots, to confirm / reinforce your 'no noise...no unusual movement' impression, then the circlips ($6.60ea) and lower dust boots ($18.67ea) might be the better fix to 'milk' a little more life outta them.

Fill up the dust boots with plenty of grease, monitor the ball joints for a while, then call it done until they make noise.

 

I've replaced ball joints many time in Honda's, definitely worth doing as I've never had to replace a ball joint. Just thoroughly cleaned out the old grease, repacked with fresh grease (Mobile 1 synthetic grease), then put on a new boot.
I reuse the old circlips, use a very small straight screwdriver to work them off.

 

Hello, I'm finally getting around to fix this and I have a few more questions.

Is it critical that I get rid of all the old grease? Do different types of grease react badly when combined similar to how mixing the various types of anti-freeze can create problems? Is the Honda OEM grease similar to mobil 1? How exactly do I remove the old grease that is inside the ball joint on the top part of the ball?

Thanks for any help.

 

What is more important is that you pull out any contaminants held in the old grease, for something like a ball joint which doesn't move at thousands of rpm etc, you really just need to match the consistency/viscosity and keep crud out. If we were talking about some high-load mechanical bearing that needed to be packed just "so" because its part of a tramp steamer's engine pistons then it would be a different story. But in this case I would just use the high temperature mobil 1 grease (red stuff), you can get it in a tube at the hardware store. Whats most important is that the joint is cleaned of debris, and that ample grease is used.