I went in for 6 month oil change at dealership. I was told I needed front lower complete control arms because the bushings inside the arms are cracked. Is this normal for 2015 Subaru Crosstrek, 51,000 miles in Arizona? $1,300 estimate with OEM parts.
Take the vehicle to an independent shop and have it checked out, don’t mention the dealer, just have them check the steering & suspension out and if you need an alignment…
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Have you been off-roading the car?
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Definitely go to a reliable independent shop for an opinion. As mentioned by other poster, dont tell them what the dealer said.
Some small cracking on bushings can be normal and acceptable, it just depends.
Arizona is hot and dry. That is hard on rubber parts.
Be happy you have a Subaru with a $1300 repair. An Audi of similar year and mileage would be more than $1300 for the parts alone… labor extra.
But getting a second estimate is good advice
Your car is 10 yrs old. The service tech looks at service schedule and recommends to change everything. Just wait till ur next appointment. Time for new transmission.
Control arm bushing do crack over time. but does it warrant replacement?
It depends. Usually the car will handle and perform oddly when they do require replacement,
I second taking the car to another mechanic to get a second opinion.
Tester
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I would post some pictures of these bushings, if possible
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There is cracking and there is checking. A crack would go through the entire bushing causing problems and is actually kind of rare and mostly found in vehicles over 20 years old with 300k+ miles.
Checking is dry brittle cracks around the edge of the bushing and is very common. They can start to appear within two years of manufacture. They only go in about an 1/8" are not a problem. But an unscrupulous mechanic can use them to scare a customer into expensive repairs, or steer them back into the showroom to buy a new vehicle before the old one “nickel and dimes” them.
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I don’t dispute this, however this is a 10 year old car with relatively low miles. Unless the OEM parts are extremely low quality, or this vehicle was abused, it is preposterous to suggest that major steering and suspension parts should need replacing at this time. To put this in perspective, the struts and suspension bushings on my 2004 Corolla lasted for about 20 years and 160,000 miles in the Arizona desert climate.
Agree but… Rubber cares less about miles than time. Dry heat and time is its enemy. Rubber continues to cure from the time it leaves the mold until it hits the landfill. 5 year old Arizona tires can be as hard as the pavement.
I absolutely agree.
But the current design trends in rubber bushings is to create voids so it is soft in the fore-aft direction for a smooth ride but stiff in the lateral direction for good handling. The results of that seem to be significant amounts of rubber in tension (rubber does not LIKE tension, it likes compression) which results in cracking far earlier that it should. I personally don’t think it is a good design choice.
But as some have posted, even if it LOOKS bad, it really isn’t yet due for replacement.
Is the bushing starting to separate from the outer sleeve?
Do you notice any problems while driving? Any noises?
I agree, but not about your timeline and mileage
Here is a thought, go to a place (open parking lot when the business is closed etc) and have a helper drive the vehicle forward some and hit the brakes hard, then back up and hit the brake hard, does it look like the wheel is shifting (moving) forward/rearward in the fender wheel opening?? if so then probably needs bushings, if you see very little (slight) movement then don’t worry about it and move on with your life..
The front lower control arms rearward bushing is a pancake type bushing and they are known to crack and allow access movement in the control arms, it can also make the vehicle try to shift lanes when/if going from acceleration to braking kinda fast…
This is assuming you are talking about the front suspension…
Here is the bushing and then the control arm w/ bushing…
