So, I take the wife’s '06 Hyundai Tucson GLS into the dealership over the weekend to get an inspection done. The service advisor told me the bushings need to be replaced (I believe he said control arm, but it may have been sway bar bushings - I can update this later if I need to). He told me parts would be around $750 and labor another $750. He also said that since my wife had bought the vehicle at that dealership, it’s only a month and a half out of warranty, and it has low miles (less than 34,000) - he’d talk to his district manager and try to go to bat for me, and see if he can get an OK to knock off the labor. Maybe he said he’d try to knock off the parts instead of the labor, but $750 is $750 - I don’t care if it’s for the parts or the labor.
After a bit of somewhat unsuccessful homework, I notice that this is probably “We need to replace the whole arm - not just the bushing, and we need to do it on both sides.” Both sides is fine, but a national chain told me $225 for labor, plus whatever the part would cost, since it’s (of course) a dealer part.
A bit of looking through the forum here also tells me that there’s probably NO way these bushings should wear out so quickly, but I’d even be willing to give the benefit of the doubt.
My question here is: Can I just get the bushings done on the car and save a boatload of money, or is the bushing actually not a separate part on this car?
Getting the old bushing out of the control arm is very difficult, it can easily suck up more labor time that the cost of the whole arm.
The good news is that your service writer is only trying to drum up a little more business. These bushings will “check” around the edges. Checking is very shallow cracks in the rubber. It is harmless and the bushing itself will last 20 to 30 years, or more.
BTW, changing the arm is fairly quick. It would need an alignment after the work, but still $750 for labor is very high in my opinion.
Update, in case anybody is wondering. STILL haven’t heard from the dealership as far as how much they can “help” with the $1500 repair bill. Doesn’t matter, though. Took the car to the local Monro (no prob there, they know me and want my company’s business) to get the inspection done over the weekend. New brakes, okay, sure. Not a WORD about ANY bushings. I’m still waiting on the dealership to tell me what they can help with before I lay into them. If I don’t hear back by August (when the inspection would have been expired), I’ll give 'em some ear-chewing.