I just had my 2018 Subaru Crosstrek serviced today. The dealer indicated that my Control Arm Bushings need to be replaced at only 50,300 miles? And at a cost of $1,350! They said the rubber parts have cracks. I haven't even finished paying for the vehicle. If this this is true, between the head gasket blown on my Outback (very expensive) and now this, I'm thinking I'm going to have to start purchasing a different brand vehicle.
Crosstrek Control Arm Bushings need to be replaced at only 50,300 miles? Really?!
Aldo-Suba
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These are my two bushings after 114,000 miles on my 2018 Crosstrek .
I also had the shock towers and bearings go bad,
And replaced with Bilstein no lift shocks, with new strut mount
I ordered completely assembled struts and shock with king springs from rallietech.
My mechanic pointed out the bushings, and I'm just having them install new control arms with new bushings.
Not cheap, but I drive off road allot because I live in the San Gabriel mtns
I can't have a 2 wheel drive vehicle.
We have 4 Subarus, 2 cross treks, one Forester, one out back.
A tundra and a 7.3 liter f350 diesel, 4x4 massive thing for hauling water trailers.
So I don't need the subsides too be lifted.
I've got 144,598 miles on the 2018 Crosstrek.
So this is cheaper then a new car. It's my commute car.
Attachments
The rubber does deteriorate with use and time. Been spraying all the exposed rubber on our cars with 303 Protectant. Every oil change.
Cannot tell with control arms, only spraying the ends of the bushings. But axle boots and ball joint boots are all still intact.
Started about six years ago. Used generic silicone prior. The 303 seems to restore dried and cracked seals.
Spray the door and hood seals, interior, window seals, every black rubber part on vehicle. It really has improved the rubber on two older cars. The window seals and doors look better than they did when purchased 7 -8 years ago.
Purchase the 303 by the gallon.
Cannot tell with control arms, only spraying the ends of the bushings. But axle boots and ball joint boots are all still intact.
Started about six years ago. Used generic silicone prior. The 303 seems to restore dried and cracked seals.
Spray the door and hood seals, interior, window seals, every black rubber part on vehicle. It really has improved the rubber on two older cars. The window seals and doors look better than they did when purchased 7 -8 years ago.
Purchase the 303 by the gallon.
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709 Posts
Once Upon a Time, it was the damned CVJ boots. Look at 'em hard they'd tear. You hear the click-click-click-click and know you were already boned. And then tear into yourself for not paying attention to the unders. Knuckles destroyed. If you caught the tear before damage was done , you had three choices: 1. The cheapest, and the worst, get one of those weird split boots and hope. 2. Okay, but not optimum, disassemble/disconnnect the shaft and put on a new full boot, reassemble/reconnect. 3. The best, just replace the entire shaft with new booties already on it. I went through this multiple times with my earlier Subies, well except the split boot solution, that was crap.
And it is in part because of CVJ PTSD that I change my own oil - it's a force of sorts to crawl underneath the vehicle and eyeball stuff, especially the boots. The boooooots...
I'll be soon rolling my 2018 Crossie into the dealership for the 30k. Hope I'm not told I got bad bushings. I don't think it would go well, no. I wonder if they sell split bushings...
I spray with silicone. Works for me.
Post #19
Any of these are better than nothing. I like the 303. Was treating dash, door panels, seats and other vinyl with it. Used Krytox on door seals. Had to wipe on. Sprayed silicone on suspension.
Went to using the 303 for all of it. A squirt bottle and blue paper shop towels and I can treat everything. I currently maintain a handful of cars. A gallon lasts 2-3 years.
Treated the five month old Crosstrek twice. Every oil change. The sway arm bushings are like these control arms, untreated they do not last like arms did 15 years ago. Hopefully spraying with something extends this.
Went to using the 303 for all of it. A squirt bottle and blue paper shop towels and I can treat everything. I currently maintain a handful of cars. A gallon lasts 2-3 years.
Treated the five month old Crosstrek twice. Every oil change. The sway arm bushings are like these control arms, untreated they do not last like arms did 15 years ago. Hopefully spraying with something extends this.
Rubber and plastics are the all about same whether door seals, CV joint boots, or the dash. The Protectant prevents drying out and cracking. Cannot tell if the sway bar bushings and control arm bushings are helped much. Can only see the ends. But boots and seals definitely benefit.
My A8 and XJR both have better looking suspension bits than they did when purchased. That was eight and nine years ago. The A8 was built in 2004 and window seals, CV joint boots, door seal seals, and ball joint boots look better than they did in 2013 when I got it. Treating the rubber is the reason.
My A8 and XJR both have better looking suspension bits than they did when purchased. That was eight and nine years ago. The A8 was built in 2004 and window seals, CV joint boots, door seal seals, and ball joint boots look better than they did in 2013 when I got it. Treating the rubber is the reason.
MY18 - hasn't been treated roughly at all , a fairly gentle life.
Last service the ( usually reasonable ) Subaru dealer said "next service we will need to look at the lower control arm bushes" - Uh .. OK ... so that will be at 130K Km ( approx 81K miles ) - what ??, then I see these posts and think .. oh darn. No price as yet. Of course it is also only 3 months out of the 5yr extended warranty, I'm not saying the dealer is wrong .. but I think I'll put it up on a mate's hoist first and have a look ;-)
My '99 Forester bushes lasted waaaaayyy longer than that...sighs.
I'll get a price then look at my options.
Cheers from Oz.
Ray
Last service the ( usually reasonable ) Subaru dealer said "next service we will need to look at the lower control arm bushes" - Uh .. OK ... so that will be at 130K Km ( approx 81K miles ) - what ??, then I see these posts and think .. oh darn. No price as yet. Of course it is also only 3 months out of the 5yr extended warranty, I'm not saying the dealer is wrong .. but I think I'll put it up on a mate's hoist first and have a look ;-)
My '99 Forester bushes lasted waaaaayyy longer than that...sighs.
I'll get a price then look at my options.
Cheers from Oz.
Ray
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1 Posts
Just been told by my subaru dealer.....who i bought the XV (NZ) off and have serviced it under warranty for the last 3yrs....that my lower control arm rear bush has split, at 32,000 kms (20miles) the car lives in a garage hardly used! funny how these issues come up after the warranty period. Does this seem a bit odd?
I know it doesn’t seem right but I’ve had to replace that bushing at less miles. It is dependent on how and where you drive that accelerates the wear... and living in WV is such a place. Always turning on sharp curves. Now I check that bush on all my cars and am always amazed how quickly they degrade. Most never look, thus are unaware of the gradual degradation in their handling. IMO these are are the worst bushes in the car for longevity. Seems to me to be a colossal fault in engineering design, and given how negatively they affect steering once worn it’s almost criminally negligent.
I replaced mine with poly bushings. The change in handling was night and day difference, to the better. A friend who had equipment and experience did it, but it took some doing to get the tools right for pressing the bad out and new in. In the future I’ll just buy new control arms and have the bushings replaced with poly first. The rest is relatively simple.
I was never happy with that rubber puck they use for the rear mount on the front control arms. I lifted my Crosstrek which caused extreme wear on that busshing. I discovered that the WRX/STI control arms will bolt on perfectly on the Crosstrek. They use a real ball joint instead of the rubber puck.
Here are the before and after shots of mine at 13K miles:
![Image]()
Note the cracks already appearing in the rubber. My lift helped it along, I'm sure.
![Image]()
Much better with a ball joint there. Most of my understeer issues also went away with this mod.
Here are the before and after shots of mine at 13K miles:
Note the cracks already appearing in the rubber. My lift helped it along, I'm sure.
Much better with a ball joint there. Most of my understeer issues also went away with this mod.
Sure do!
Right - 20202VA000
Left - 20202VA010
Bolts - 901000377 (You will need one for each side)
Here is a link to the mod in my build thread - LINKY
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21 Posts
Yeah! Me too.Great idea with the silicon spray. I really miss the days when I could use a grease gun to pump grease into suspension fittings.
How did this situation work out for you? Just took our 2018 for a service check at 42K miles and the shop reported our front lower control arm bushings were cracking. Similar quote for complete lower control arm replacement. I’m going to shop it around. Also out of warranty and I’m not going to do it myself. Good to note this is a flat road city car - surface streets and highways. Not a lot of potholes.
Definitely getting a second opinion. They’re not saying it’s urgent but that we need to keep an eye on it and start planning for replacement.
I wouldn't replace the bushings until you start getting an intermittent vibration in the front end.
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