hckrach

Hi, 2000 Cherokee Sport 4.0. About a week and a half ago, I noticed that some of the time when I would brake on the road, I could feel a little bump or jolt, both in my right foot on the brake (it is difficult to describe), and in my left foot resting on the floor. This would only happen once in the braking process, and would not always happen. It also is a bit sloppy when driving down the road, like I need to firmly hold onto the steering wheel to keep it going straight. Also, on bumpy roads, I do sometimes hear a thump on the bumps, not a metal on metal, just like a slight thump (shocks were replaced 2 months ago). It does not feel like it is actually related to the brakes, but I took off the fronts, inspected, and got the rotors turned to make sure that the pads weren't getting caught on a piece of rust from them. I did the same with the drums in the rear. In the process I discovered both rear wheel cylinders were leaking (shocker, I know lol), I replaced all the springs and the adjusters on both sides, along with the wheel cylinders and getting the drums turned. Both the shoes and pads were in good shape.

After all of that, I still feel the bump on occasion.

The only thing I noticed, is that when I did the front side, since I had it jacked up and it was oil change time anyway, I greased all the fittings. When I greased the upper ball joints, I did my best to clean them up, and on the left side, the rubber boot actually will spin around the joint, when wiping it clean. On the right side, there is not much visible boot left. Even after greasing it, it didn't expand much. The lowers are not greasable and the boot on them appears and feels good and "thick." I did the test of pressing the tire from left to right, and up to down, without any play in it.

Also, just a side note, I am in desperate need of tires along with an alignment.

Obviously I know I need the tires and an alignment, but don't want to replace the ball joints unless I know they're bad (I've never done ball joints, so I'm not good with know when the finals straw comes in determining to replace them).

Could the upper ball joints be bad, causing the feeling when I brake/hearing the thump going over bumps on the road? Could juust getting new tires and a good alignment fix these symptoms?