Long story:
Recently I had a seemingly minor accident involving an exposed I-beam in a tight parking garage. I either got too close trying to avoid the maniacs who fly around blind corners and down the ramps, and rubbed up against the I-beam, which then snagged the passenger rear tire, or a part of the I-beam that was previously damaged and bent out snagged the tire and then pulled the car into the beam. Heard a loud bang and the car stopped dead. I was also trying to accelerate up a ramp at the time which probably made the problem worse.
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Regardless of why it happened, the result is a bit of a rash on the passenger rear door and a passenger side wheel that was toed out nearly four degrees as well as pushed back in the wheel arch what looks to be at least an inch and half.

Once I saw the terrible state of the wheel's position, I knew there was a potentially serious issue and took it to a local repair shop today to see if they could tell me what was wrong, or just do a realignment if nothing looked bent or broken.

Now they couldn't "see" anything wrong with it; nothing obviously bent or broken. They put it on the alignment rack but weren't able to fully correct the toe out issue (but did move it in about 2-2.5°). But they did tell me that, due to rust on the nuts and bolts, (which I visually confirmed is present) that parts need to be replaced (control arms as well as bushings, and likely more). I think the reasoning was that the hardware is somehow part of the suspension parts and not a separate part?

I did not commit to anything right now as the car is a luxury so I can take some time to make a decision on next steps. However, I'm concerned and suspicious that they couldn't find anything wrong yet want to replace parts based on rusty hardware alone.

(They also mentioned potential frame damage being a reason they couldn't fully correct the issue but that's a separate issue I which I was sickened to hear.)

TL;DR: Mechanic is telling me I basically need an all new rear suspension because of rust on the nuts and bolts. Am I right to be suspicious?!?

 

Yeah, sounds like the shop is trying to up-sell you on a few things.

There are likely to be some bent suspension components, but they might be slight enough not to notice with a visual inspection. Would you be able to get the car jacked up and snap a few pictures? Might help with trying to make suggestions of what to look for. Also, what year and model/trim is your car?

 

Thank you for the reply. I suspected the upsell as much once I looked up some diagrams as well as feeling around the suspension when I got back home. They were also trying to upsell the upsell to adjustable control arms haha.

My MINI is a 2016 Clubman S. I'm an apartment dweller so I don't think I can jack the car up (and it's probably not a good idea to use the emergency jack from my SO's Golf) but I'll try to slink underneath it and upload some photos later today as well as a picture of the affected wheel.

​​​​​​​It's pretty incredible how every nut and bolt back there is rusted pretty badly. I don't know if it's a result of driving in a northern climate for four years or from being, for the last three years, exposed to salty air, or a combination of the two, but still. Considering I was told by the dealership that a realignment needs to be done whenever they rotate the tires one would think those parts that need to be adjusted would be a little better quality-wise.