# 2008 Toyota Highlander - Worn Ball Joints?

**URL:** <https://community.cartalk.com/t/2008-toyota-highlander-worn-ball-joints/151252>\
**Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\
**Created:** [October 22, 2019, 3:45am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/2008-toyota-highlander-worn-ball-joints/151252 "2019-10-22T03:45:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Robitaille](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/278dde/32.png) [@Robitaille](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Robitaille)\
**Post date:** [October 22, 2019, 3:45am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/2008-toyota-highlander-worn-ball-joints/151252/1 "2019-10-22T03:45:56Z")

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is the reason various indep. mechanics have told me I must replace the lower ball joints and control arms (now 180k miles) is because I hadn’t ever replaced my struts? …didn’t do alignments either.

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**Author:** ![Purebred](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/purebred/32/46796_2.png) [@Purebred](https://community.cartalk.com/u/Purebred)\
**Post date:** [October 22, 2019, 3:12pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/2008-toyota-highlander-worn-ball-joints/151252/2 "2019-10-22T15:12:37Z")

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More likely they are recommending replacement is that the components are worn out, why didn’t you ask the mechanic?  
If your struts are bad they would have recommended replacing them, of course at 180,000 miles it wouldn’t hurt.  
I would think to accelerate wear on those components the alinement would have to be so far off to make tire wear excessive and/or steering difficult.