Control arm bushing failures

[Phaedrus]

This is my first BMW. It's a cerfified pre-owned 2004 325i ... silver gray metallic with gray leather. It had both the sports package and the premium package and the 5-spd manual transmission. I'm loving it.

Here's my problem: I took the car to the dealer yesterday to address a couple of issues, including some wheel / suspension vibration I noticed up above 75 mph. After seeing what's going on I am really surprised I hadn't felt it at lower speeds! The dealer called yesterday afternoon ... told me I had 3 bent wheels and a blown control arm bushing, and I was going to need to pay for repairs.

I've put 600 miles on the car since bringing it home. No one else has driven it, and I know I didn't do anything to bend the wheels. And 3 of them? Why not all four? I got to the bottom of that today, but I'm still puzzled about the control arm bushing.

The wheels: turns out the dealer took the worst wheel and made it my spare and did the best he could balancing the others, thus explaining the 3 and not 4 bent wheels. I was furious. Giving me a known bent wheel as a spare, plus trying to make me think I bent the others. OK ... he's going to pay to have AWRS repair the wheels, and I hope they do a decent job.

The control arm bushing: the left bushing is blown. The dealer had just installed new bushings during the certification process. I didn't do anything that should have caused the bushing failure, as far as I know. No hard braking from speed. No potholes. We looked over the maintenance record for the car and found out a bushing had failed once before. This means there have been 3 control arm bushing failures ... 2 on the left, and one unknown.

I'm paying the parts cost for the bushings ... the dealer told me I'm paying their cost ... $150 each ... and they are covering the labor.

Does anyone have any ideas about what could cause this type of repeat failure?

Thanks very much,
Kurt

 

[Big Daddy]

Your dealer is ripping you off! I would pay nothing, this is a "certified pre-owned" than the dealer should be repairing the obvious defects that should have kept it from being "certified". $150.00 ea for control arm bushings??? They are less than $13.00 and up to $41.00 each from Arizona Autohaus. Tell this crook your not paying!

 

[Kirby]

Dan's right, this dealer is bad news and should be reported to BMW NA for the wheel dishonesty.

I also think they should take care of the control arm bushing at no cost. Four bent wheels, the odds are high that the CAB blew out when the wheels got bent. SO it was pre-existing when they sold you the car. So much for the CPO certification process at this dealer!!

As far as the price for the bushing though, it appears they might not be ripping you as bad as it might appear. Realoem.com, which shows BMW parts at dealer list price, lists the bushing as follows:

06 SET OF BRACKETS WITH RUBBER MOUNTING D=66MM 1 02/2001 31126757623 $130.57

I believe (but do not know for sure) that it says "SET OF BRACKETS" because it includes both sides in a kit? I think BMW may sell it this way so you replace both sides at the same time for safe handling/driving, but I am guessing a bit here. That would take the cost down to $65 each which sounds more reasonable. But either way, the list is $130 according to realoem.com. Dan, what do you think?

If I am correct that it is a kit for both sides, then I would insist on them replacing BOTH sides for safety.

Go to this page to see the pricing and parts diagram:
http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do?model=ET37&mospid=47720&btnr=31_0600&hg=31&fg=05

 

[Big Daddy]

Yep, I concur Kirby, looks like a set. Have the dealer do both sides FREE!

 

[Phaedrus]

Dan and Kirby, Thank you for the excellent information. It looks like the 'set of brackets ...' includes both the right and left ... for $130. I already told the dealer I would cover the cost of the bushings, but I will try to get the price down. Just for kicks I am going to call another dealer's parts dept to check the price. If I find out they are $150 each (or less? that would be a kicker), I will notify BMW NA immediately. I am leaning toward notifying BMW NA anyway, and I am certainly going to find another dealership for service.

My Bentley's manual came yesterday, and after studying the bushing replacement procedure I think it is possible the failure was due to improper installation. If the control arm engages the bushing too much or too little, the bushing will be pre-loaded. It's too bad I didn't measure the blown bushing before it was replaced.

The car will be ready today. You can bet I'm going to inspect and measure the CAB installation and check all the wheels. If this CAB installation is incorrect I will have it corrected and won't pay for any of it.

Thanks again,
Kurt

 

[Kirby]

Kurt, you're right about the preload concern, good catch. In the same sense, when replacing rear Trailing Arm Bushings, the procedure involves a step to ensure that the bushing is not preloaded incorrectly.

 

[Phaedrus]

I picked up my 325i today. The car is fine; the experience mixed.

I called a sister dealership on the other side of town this morning and found the bushings are $199 retail. I was waiting to be overcharged, because I had been told $150 /each (dealer cost), but was happy to find they charged me $113 for the pair. More than they're worth, when compared to high performance bushings in the same price range, and way too much considering I didn't damage them in the first place, but there you have it. The dealer paid to have the wheels trued. They seem to run true visually, and the car feels fine, although I haven't been over 80 mph.

I was charged labor for the bushings (!), but at a reduced rate. I should have fought harder, but I wanted my car and figured $390 wasn't too much to pay for repairs and a lesson. If the bushings don't fail prematurely that will be great. If one does fail, then it will be BMW's issue and I will try to get my $$ refunded. (Ha! That would be a neat trick).

A note about speed
I don't drive reckslessly, and I don't make a habit of speeding. Quite the opposite. Give me an open road and I'm happy to putt along at speed limit plus or minus, even when riding my Suzuki GSF1200S Bandit. I enjoy precision more than speed, I think. But put me on an interstate or a county road full of inconsiderate / unconscious / incompetent drivers, and I'll do what it takes to get away from the pack and out by myself. I call it 'active defensive driving'. It doesn't always mean driving faster than traffic ... it's a balancing act. I'm sure you all know what I mean. I haven't tried to explain it to any police officers yet, and hope I don't ever need to. I doubt they'd be impressed, although I guess it would all depend on circumstances.

Thanks, guys,
Kurt