NA Miata front upper control arms - New, Used or attempt to press ball joints??

In for answers. <- has a torn boot on his autocross car.

I've pressed Miata upper ball joints in/out more than once, it's chimp simple. They aren't even particularly tight in the arms. I have also used the Energy Suspension boots on stock upper and lower joints which are still tight but just have split or torn boots. When these are installed, it's best to smear some grease inside them then after everything is back in place and torqued down wipe the excess off. I've done this on tie rods too, works great.

Yeah, if you catch it early enough, you can just clean them out, repack the grease and install new boots. You can get the boots for a couple bucks through any mazda dealership.

The trick is to try and pop it apart with a prybar with the car in the air, if it shows play, its done. Uppers you can usually rock the top of tire back and forth when they get loose.