2006 HHR lower control arm/ball joint
 

Well it all started when I thought it would be simple, needed to replace ball joints on lower control arms, guy at parts store said Colbalt ball joints will work, I said give me two. Got car home, jacked it up, pulled tire, looked, remove bolt that goes through spindle to hold ball joint in place, pry down, control arm, won't come down far enough to come out of spindle. Unbolt strut,brake caliper and move out of the way, got ball joint out of spindle. See that ball joint is riveted to control arm, remove control arm from car, drill out rivets, dry fit replacement ball joint, bolts bigger than hole, drill out hole, put bolts through ball joint through control arm, guess what? Bolts too short. By now I have realized that it would have been easier to have just changed the control arm.

When the ball joint went on my 2006 HHR, they replaced the whole lower control arm assembly (the bushings were also gone).

I bought the extended warranty, so it only cost me the $100 deductible to get that and other front end work done.