Do you grease & inspect your balls? joints? How? Look regularly at the rubber boots containing grease around them. If they are impaired in anyway, like shredded or ripped, or just gone, you will need to grease them with the proper grease (owner's manual time again!) or replace the boot which seals them in grease and seals out dirt or probably replace the ball joints.
Some cars have ball joints need to be greased while others don't because they are sealed with a life time supply of grease in the above closed environment.
Hearing clunks, got sloppy steering? That may be the result of your ball joints needing replacement. When they are worn there will be a rattle or clunking sound. Take note and do something about this because it can affect your steering in a negative way by causing your steering not to respond like it should.
DIY peeps, while some cars have indicators that the ball joints are worn, many others do not. Owners manual time again, remember, if you don't have that simply Google: Owners manual, year, make and model and you don't need to print it, just read the correct section for each of your questions or simply come to one of our stores, we can help you diagnose that.
You can jack up the car and inspect each ball joint for unwanted play, however, ball joint failure is dangerous and we caution you not to ignore this issue if you hear it, feel it, see it or even suspect it. Not doing something about it is dangerous because the results can be your suspension falling apart especially with pothole season being upon us.
Again, about driving in NYC, remember, because of road conditions, stop and go traffic, pot holes, poor roads, automotive systems can wear out quicker than we think. Use the utmost caution, please? Do your maintenance in a responsible and timely fashion
Because this part is critical in steering and/or a responsive steering wheel, please, come on over to a 106 St Tire location and let us take a look.