crooked ball joint / tie rod.

[kidlex01]

2001 GASE 2.4L

I was trying to figure out why my car handled so beautifully after the suspension drop and thicker sway bars then all of a sudden it went out the window and felt like i was driving a stock GA, i looked at the ball joints and noticed that the driver side one sits perfectly flat and the passenger side ball joint is sitting down a bit its all torqued and everything nothing feels like it will break it just feels like the car has problems driving in a straight line.

I was windering if i could just loosen the bolts that keep the tie rods tight and just move the ball joint so it sits flat and then tighten it all back up, i know i will need an alignment afterwards, but just to get the steering setup the way it should can i adjust the ball joint, the shop looked at it and said everything is fine it just needs to be adjusted to match the other side.

Thanks for your help.

[rixGAphx]

The actual 'ball joints' on cars are the large (1-1/2") top and bottom joints, about which the wheel hub pivots.
They can't move up or down.
They're just, well, THERE.

I think you're referring to the tie-rod ends??
They have little round ball-type joints on each end, mebbe 3/4" diameter?
They function mechanically as 'ball joints', but that's not their name.
You buy new tie-rod ends, like this:
http://www.partsamerica.com/productdetail.aspx?MfrCode=MCQ&MfrPartNumber=ES3455&PartType=80&PTSet=A
http://www.partsamerica.com/product_images/img/mcq/es3455-4.jpg

Yup, remove the old, replace with new, get alignment.

Hope this helps,
-Rick