iv have a poping sound comming from the front side of my car thats gotten progressivly worse. It only happens when breaking. I Think it could be the lower ball joints, could it be anything else? My car has 55,000 original miles on it, so it seems strange somthing like this would happen, or is this common?

 

I would certainly think if a ball joint is bad, not likely @ 55,000, you would be able to hear it, or feel it, other then when braking. I'd jack it up and check caliper/brake assembly for any loosness. If nothing found, look at other suspension parts.

 

Yea ive noticed my car does this sometimes as well. Makes a pop or ping under braking, I didnt know it was associated with the ball joint even though I noticed that 1 of the ball joints I used for the 5 lug conversion were completly shot.