LiquidArrogance

So for those who weren't following my control arm fiasco this weekend here's the gist: I got the control arms out, had ES bushings pressed in, couldn't get the control arms back in and ended up paying a neighborhood mechanic to come over to my house and do it for me.

so . . . on driving the car today I was noticing a little bit of noise coming from the left front. Climbed under there and saw this.





I assume this means that boot is torn . . . lol.

So here's my questions:

Could this be the source of my noise?

Can I replace just that boot or do I have to do the whole ball joint?

I've seen polyurethane boots?? Are the ES bushings putting too much stress on this little boot and I need those or this is going to keep happening?