So it would seem that my control arm bushings might have died on me - my steering feel has recently gone all sloppy. The thing that really irks me though is that the car has only 42k and has never been lowered. I'm wondering if anyone has had a relitivly acute onset of steering slop occur in a sub-50k mile car with stock suspension, and if such circumstanes were covered under warrenty.

 

The control arm bushings on these cars suck. People who seriously autocross these/drive them hard have had them go out at 30k even. K-heuvo (sp?) of nam fame has a big how to around here somwhere, but perhaps I am jumping ahead of myself.

Short of going under and taking a good look at them I wouldnt know whether they were bad or not, however the bushing dying at sub 50k is not unheard of. Whether or not this would be warrantied depends on whether MINI put these under the "wear item" catagory or not. My inclination is that they would not simply for the same reason that clutches are generally not warrantied.

 

Doubtful they'll cover them under warranty as it is a wear item. And I agree that the soft rubber OEM bushings absolutely suck (K-Huevo and I have a huge disagreement about this).

Mine were gone, like if a dog had chewed on the rubber, by 50K miles (All street driving). I replaced them with Powerflex Polyurethane bushings and the car feels much better than new. My sharp steering is back, better handling, better tire wear, less unwanted suspension movement.

The factory rubber crap lasts between 30K-50K miles depending on your driving. Unless you are a shade tree mechanic like K-Huevo with skills, tools and time to spare I seriously recommend against them. You are looking at a $1,000 repair every 3-4 years. Not worth it.

PS: I mean no disrespect to K-Huevo. I really admire his technical knowledge, skill and expertise. But we have a huge disagreement over the rubber vs poly bushing debate.

 

Well their LuK clutches are defective as mine has been replaced twice on their dime, no questions asked.

 

I figured it'd be a wear item in most cases, but this was like a really sudden onset... It started squeaking a lot in the rear last week after my admittedly heavy-set father rode in the back seat, but the steering felt fine. And then one day completely out of the blue, the steering just felt like crap.

It's quite funny actually - For reasons completely un-related to this control-arm issue, I had to park the MINI and drive my sister's Subaru Legacy last night... Even the MINI's newly loose and sloppy steering is laser sharp in comparison to this blasted scoobie - I was laughing so hard it actually hurt! But really, it just goes to show how truely awesom the MINI is; crappy control-arm bushings and all!

 

Oh yeah I could not agree more. It is hard to drive another more "mundane" car after being behind the wheel of a MINI.

 

My former dealer told me that my control arm bushings were bad dealer during an oil change/inspection @ 38k. I came back at 43k and they replaced them (after telling me twice that they were fine), free of charge, under my extended service contract which I had extended to 4 years/50k when I first bought the car. Believe me, they checked everywhere first for signs of abuse (i.e. cracked strut top rubber mounts, mushrooming, etc) but found nothing (Thanks M7 STB!).

My partner's 05 JCW had slight mushrooming on the drivers side, and because of this they refused to cover it at all (at 25k), citing abuse. He also has the same extended service contract.

 

That is very interesting because the rubber bushings are listed as a no covered item under the MINI Extended service plan. Perhaps the dealer did it either under your 4 year warranty or as a "goodwill" gesture.

 

I'm not sure. All my paperwork said was "warranty." Perhaps the bushings were not excluded under the old 4 year/50k extended maintenance plan? Unfortunately I was never given a copy of the details of this service plan.

 

extended warranties come from many different companies....maybe the thread should report which covered and which didn't.

I thought it curious how many things were identified as needing replacement by the dealer my first service call outside of warranty.

Got the sub-frame bushings replaced at other than dealer for less than 1/2 dealer cost, after warranty. Should they have been identified as worn b4 that time?????? And got Poly put in too>>>>>>

 

I meant more in a general sense. Like Honda isnt going to replace a clutch in a Civic SI just because it wore out during the warranty period. Though, what you say is true and does sort of make my example invalid.

It sounds like you have two sets of problems from the sound of it.

1. A possible set of worn control arm bushings in the front
2. Something up in the rear end......... Hang on...

Do you have an aftermarket sway bar? If something is up with the bar it could explain both the squeaking and the sudden onset of the poor steering.


EDIT: Just checked your car domain page and saw that you do. Check the sway bar mounts and make sure that they are in good shape, if they have grease zerks on then put some grease in them too as a start. Check you end links as well.

 

I thought sway bar first too... But everything under there is solid. Might be the source of squeak though.

 

Nothing like bringing a thread back from the dead (ZOMBIE THREAD!!!!), but just thought I owuld chime in about the warranty.

I brought my car in since the CEL went on and I "thought" I had the extended warranty. The dealer informed me I had extended my service contract but not my warranty. I thought otherwise and tracked down my info from Fidelity Platinum Insurance. So the CEL was nothing more that a gas cap issue, but he dealer found that my control arm bushings were shot (46K mi) and told me like $1200-1500. I then asked him to check the warranty again and he said it was out of warranty. I brought up the Fidelity info and sure enough covered. $100 out of pocket for new control arm bushings. Fidelity did send an inspector out, but they agreed.

The crappy part is the dealer had my car for A WEEK and then told me $300 for an alignment on top of the $100 insurnace deductable. I would figure alignment would be part of the job, but i guess not. I wonder if bleeding the brakes is part of the brake replacement. Kind of reminds me of the time when they replaced the oil pan gasket and put the old oil back in. Looks like my local alignment shop will be getting some more business soon.

Long story longer, Fidelity Insurance covered my bushings.

 

Interested in this as well......talked to the guy at my shop and he said he does not recommend the polyurethane bushings because they make "a lot of noise" and many people with e39s and m3s come back complaining that they make too much noise. He said I should go with OEM, but given the fact that my car has only 49k on it and they're shot, I don't feel right spending all this $ and putting OEM back on.

Suggestions??? what's the deal with the polyurethane bushings?

 

The regular (purple insert) Powerflex bushings work very well in the front control arms, and for me,
made a minimal impact on noise, vibration, harshness even in pothole-ridden Pennsylvania.
I did the first replacement with oem bushings at about 35000 miles, and the second replacement
with Powerflex ones at about 60,000 miles, and I give 2 thumbs up to the Powerflex ones.
I have an '03 R50 with the optional stiffer suspension and 16" non-runflat summer tires,
and 15" non-runflat winter tires.
According to their site, Powerflex also makes a softer (yellow) and harder (black) compound, but I haven't heard of anyone using those.

 

Good info....

found this video on youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwlofW23Jyk

damn hope they aren't that loud

 

Both our MINIs had those purple bushing, no noticeable noise difference (tires make more noticeable noise to me) - but all thumbs up on the driving behavior. Good road feel, tight steering, glad I did them...

edit to add: 06 had those bushing for at least 35k miles and felt as good the day the car was sold as when they were put on; the 05 had them put in this last feb to replace some seriously softened up oem bits (we're not first owner on that car). For a car with just under 80k it feels like new (ok struts/shocks are showing some effects of the their spirited life) but i wonder if the car in the video has a design that is not comparable to the MINI in the way parts move, etc

 

I have a choice between my Mini & wife's Caravan... Nothing more needs to be said.