Brand new front control arm with bad ball joint

[flatlander]

I had a left front control arm (wishbone, not tension strut) replaced with a Karlyn brand arm. Had the alignment done and wheels balanced. Right away as I got up to 50 mph on the highway I started to feel a shudder in the front end and in the steering wheel.

As I was in a hurry to get somewhere, i had to drive with it in that state for about 100 miles. It sucked. The local tire shop showed me that the new ball joint had play in it. Anyone else experience bad ball joints from a brand new part?

These X5s are really hard on the lower control arms. This is my third set of control arms going out, and I've got 110,000 miles.