Took my 2014 F56 into a specialty MINI mechanic due to some terrible groaning/clunking/creaking from the suspension. The noises come mostly from front-passenger, but also from front-driver. They looked the car up and down for over two hours but couldn't see anything wrong. In the end, they guessed it was the control arm bushings and recommended replacing the entire passenger control arm for $800. The kicker: I had already replaced both control arms in 2016 (under warranty) due to a service bulletin, and there's currently less than 50k miles on the car. How can this car go through two sets of control arms in less than 50k miles?

Is this diagnosis legit? Why is my car eating control arms? Noises are getting worse and not sure what I should do.

 

Go back to the dealer, as its an ongoing warranty issue that has not been resolved.

 

Not heard of control arm problems but hear lots about top mounts going - especially if the car's been lowered

 

Cars out of warranty now, and the dealer is didn't offer any additional warranty on service or parts for the work they already did. How do I convince them to do something?

 

The control arms are expensive, find a shop that will install Powerflex bushings in the control arm and rear control brackets. I had the same noises and this fixed it and the Powerflex bushings are a to better than stock.

 

How do you like the handling of Powerflex? Are there any new vibrations? Ballpark what was the cost? Thanks so much!

 

Hi Brana,

Maybe you can reach out to MINI Customer Relations and explain the situation.

I would also agree with @sgscomps, performance bushings are amazing, can make a big difference and last longer.

Hope all works out,

Rich

 

I don't remember where I bought the bushings from, direct from Powerflex, ECS or FCP Euro. I work at a MINI dealership and paid a tech to change them. The front end feels much better and more responsive with the new bushings and the noise I had before is gone.

 

Any downsides to the Powerflex, in your opinion?

 

I would seek out either another mechanic or go back to that same mechanic and have them check the passenger side motor mount. It's a flawed part that's known to fail in 3rd gens. I had to replace mine around Thanksgiving 2019 at ~90,000 miles. It was so far gone that the bushing inside the mount was torn to shreds and part of the metal housing was chewed up as well. No mechanic should guess what a problem is in the hopes of fixing the problem and if the noise keeps getting worse then it's obvious that the issue hasn't been fixed yet.