Sunday as I was pulling out of the parking lot at work... I heard a *Pop* *Thunk* *Rub* *Rub* *Rub*...

I got out to find my wheel up against the rear of the wheel well. So I get under the front to take a look... my control arm is hanging down not connected to the hub... The lower ball joint on my front right control arm sheared off and about 10 feet back in the road was the other half of the ball joint.

All this in the pouring rain mind you...

I showed my buddy who's a mechanic the half of the bolt and asked if he thought it was a result of my beating the hell outta the car... but he said there was an odd discolored line in the bolt and it looked like a manufacturing defect. He said there are plenty of other parts that'll normally break before a 1/2 inch thick bolt will.


I'll take better pictures later... that's just with my cameraphone...

I'm lucky as hell that it happened then... and not when I was autocrossing, doing donuts, or cruising down the highway...

So yah... my car's at the dealer now. And their "Waiting to hear from Subaru, because your warrenty may be voided since you race your car"... I was like... whatever dude, just tell me what the damage is and how much it will be if it's not under warrenty.

So he tells me it's the Lower Ball Joint, Control Arm, and Half Shaft. While it's completely viable that all of them could have been damaged in that type of occurance, I have no way of knowing if they are just bull****ting me or not. I have no way of knowing if the Half Shaft is actually damaged, nor did it look like there was any damage to the Control arm when I looked at it. I drove no more then 10 feet after it broke and came to a smooth stop.

Anyways, for those three parts... he says it's about $1,516. Which is complete bulldookie. I went to online OEM Subaru parts dealers and found all the above, plus all new bushings for only $650ish... and that's with them making a profit off it so they can stay in business. So guaranteed the cost is probably $60-$100 less then that.

We'll see how it goes... I'll hear back from them tomorrow. It would be nice if it's covered under warrenty. I'm not trying to scam anyone, I have no probably paying labor and cost on parts if it's not coverd... but there's no way in hell they're gonna get away with charging me $1500 for $500 worth of parts. Expecially if all that's really damaged is a $36 doller bolt.

Fun fun fun

 

That sucks man, I hope all turns out well.

 

we should stop by the shop and see what they have to say.

so....whats it like sitting in the back of a 3000gt with no rear seats