Hi everyone, I know I haven't posted much on this forum-but I read it often and appreciate all the information that I have gotten from here. Well now I really need all of your help. I have reached my mental limits with my car right now-and I need some sanity.

I am writing this post on a Sat night, soon after I just got done working on my 1992 Honda Accord LX. What started as a simple-I just need to replace my rotors because they are warpedand might as well do lower ball joints while I am at it, has turned into the biggest mess I have ever seen.

I've replaced the rotors and ball joints before, so I figure-just remove the steering knuckle, take it NAPA to get the hub/bearing pressed out of the knuckle, and a new ball joint pressed in. Simple right? The machine shop guy mentioned that sometimes the bearings don't make it when they come out of the knuckle. That's fine-I can expect that. I picked up the knuckles after work-he said everything was ok. That night, I notice that the there is a little bit of play in the bearing that wasn't there before-so now I have to replace the bearings. I also notice that one of the ball joints isn't pressed in all the way. Great-now I need to replace the bearings, pay more money to get them pressed in, and finish pressing in a ball joint. I can deal with that-part of owning this ridiculous set up of a honda car.

I buy some bearings, and have them pressed into the hub, along with the rest of the one ball joint into the knuckle. Here I am thinking finally-I am done I can reassemble the car and get on with my life right? Wrong. As I am reassembling the knuckle onto the suspension, the aftermarket upper balljoint stud threads strip-causing me to lose my mind-because now I have to go back to autozone and get new ones-IF they have them in stock. As I loosen the nuts to take off the knuckle again I notice... the lower ball joint has COME OUT OF THE KNUCKLE again. After removing the knuckle, I can take the ball joint out with my hands.

Some history: I bought the lower ball joint at HONDA. I figured it would be the best quality part, and it was only 5 bucks more than the el cheapo one I bought 15,000 miles ago that was already loose, and any other aftermarket part. I notice there is no snap ring so I call TWO dealerships and ask about the lack of a snap ring on the lower ball joint part. Are you sure? Yes we are sure-it is the redesigned part, they no longer have snap rings. Positive? Yes sir-just press it in.

So my question is to the veteran people here is:
What do I do? Do I go back to Honda ? What if they try and give me another ball joint? What if I hadn't seen this one come out and I was driving down the road and it came out. I don't understand this design, and I checked my knuckle, there are not cracks where the ball joint goes in. It's purely a tolerance issue-and why do all theother aftermarketlower ball joints have snap rings?

I badly need some advice here-and some menal sanity from all of you because I am ready to lose it. I've spent about 3 days so far on this car (a few hours a day) and around $500.00 so far in parts and press fees all for a lousy rotor and ball joint replacement which is supposed to be simple on any other car in the world.

Should I get another honda ball joint? Should I get an aftermarket one that has a snap ring and might wear out in a couple years again? I never want to take the knuckle off again!

Thanks in advance to anyone who can offer me some advice or experience-rest assured I will be thanking you for and wisdom in this matter.

You all have a wonderful evening.