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'slight play in both rear lower ball joints'. should i get it sorted for next MOT? Also, how does it affect the handling of the car, how easy is it to do the work myself and how much will it cost for parts, and labour if i get my local mechanic to do? 
$105 (£50 at the time) for all 4. You could probably pick up both for £20-30 from an autofactors. You'll need a ball joint splitter to get the old one off which can be a real mare to do. 
It was quite a job to get the old one out - lots of hammering. To be honest I wish I had left it at the MOT station to be fixed as it was all the car need to pass and by the time I fixed it myself and took it back for re-test it failed on something else and has been driven since!(and I am useless with spanners). I only had the back ones put on by someone else because they were doing a load of welding for the MOT so it was cheap to get them to do a few bits while the car was in. I'll put it on my list of things to do. May purchase that balljoint splitter first though. I really wouldn't bother with a ball joint splitter.widster wrote:Thanks for all the advice.
(the screw and lever type), and the "tuning fork" style one didn't work either. What did work was hitting it with a ruddy great hammer a couple of times, having firmly supported the arm around the ball joint. Hit the threaded top "pole" of the ball joint after removing the castle nut, squarely and sharply (and not that hard Tbh) and they pop right out. I used it to get the track rod end off the steering knuckle but don't remember using it to do the lower ball joint on the front, but I think I was taking the wheel hub off anyway. The puller was tricky on the knuckle tho as it kept slipping off, a splitter may have been a better fit. Anyway, I just used the haynes manual and my mate handy andy when I got stuck.