[Rich A]

Till it comes out of the boot, then wipe off the excess.
Then you know it is fully greased.

 

[Rich A]

WRONG. Thats a blown out boot which leads to water, dirt, and grim in the joint. Any grease filling the boot doesnt lube anything.
A new joint, half dozen pumps(?), if you see the boot start to swell, stop.
Thats one of the reasons new cars dont have grease fittings on the ball joints, everyone thought they would grease them, damaging the boots and then the joints would go. Then they wanted warranty to fix them.

rich grsc,
You must not have the FF tubular control arm! The boot for the ball joint just slides over the joint. :001_rolleyes:

As for OEM ball joints, when you see the boot start to swell, stop, is correct.
And the reason why new cars dont have zert fitting really is cause customers want a more maintenance free vehicle.

As you can see in the picture below the boot is just free floating and just slides over the joint.

Upper front control arms

Lower front control arms