I've had two mechanics tell me that wether its a dry front end ball joint or one that is enclosed in grease-
If you coat the ENTIRE assembly -the rubber boot included-with a great big gob of grease- you will keep dirt away from the ball and socket. They say road dirt tends to adhere to the outer surface of the grease and since the grease is not moving around and can get into the ball and socket surfaces- the ball joint is pretty much protected and GOOD FOR LIFE ! As long as you don't move the grease off by washing- you can carefully re-coat it with grease if necessary.
Three mechanics told me that grease DOES NOT degrade a dry ball joint socket (like on Saturns)- so there is nothing to prevent you from poking a small hole in the rubber boot and injecting grease into the socket itself-then coating the whole thing on the outside with grease.
Anyone ever do the above or want to agree or dispute this?
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