Hey so I took my car up to the dealership and they said my engine mounts and front lower control arm bushings are going bad. They quoted me $1800 dollars just for the bushing replacement and another like $170 for the alignment and I think another like $400 for the engine mounts. I didn’t tell them to do this work or anything I just said okay and left. I then started doing research and found that some shops are only quoting $450-$500. For the bushings. So I decided to take my car to another shop and told them that I took my car to the dealership and they said my front lower control arms bushings and engine mounts were going bad. Didn’t tell them what MINI quoted. They said they would look at it and confirm. I then get a call like a hour later and they said yeah your lower engine mount is leaking fluid and my control arms bushing were leaking fluid as well. They said that with replacing the engine mounts it would be best to just go ahead and replace all the mounts on the engine and he gave a good reason why so I just said okay because mini said my lower and upper needed to be replaced. He then said that for the control arm bushings I would need to replace the whole control arm assembly on both sides because they are pressed in and quoted me $2500 for everything. He said that after I was like just for bushings? So now I have two shops/dealership giving me the same price for this. Is this correct? Cause online and on this forum I see people getting it done for $500 and it seems like he’s charging me around the same as the dealership would. I’m getting really paranoid about his and it’s stressing me out cause I told him to just go ahead and do it cause my car is shifting rough and the handling is very erratic sometimes it’s feels alright other times is feels like sloppy loose garbage. And I’m on a tight schedule and don’t have much time. So my question pretty much is do you really need to replace the whole control arm for the bushings? or is the shop I just talked to and the dealership trying to rip me off? It’s just like wtf can you it find a good honest shop anywhere?! Feel like I gave someone my trust and was blatantly lied to by a scummy pos. Thought this shop was reputable it had 4.7 stars.

 

Here is your answer

https://www.powerflexusa.com/shop/ca...-f56-2014-1472

 

In regards to the front lower control arm bushings. Two ways to replace the bushing. Original OEM Mini bushings are only sold already installed in the control arm, and not as a separate item, thus you replace the entire arm. The other and cheaper option is there are after market bushings (without the arm) such as Power Flex, in which you remove the original bushing from the existing original arm and replace that bushing with the after market one.

 

Changing LCAs to PowerFlex is going to cost about the same. The LCAs themselves are like $130-150 each online. Not that much more than the bushings. And they are ready to go in, the bushings need to be pressed out before doing the Power Flex. I had to take my LCAs to a speciality suspension shop to press out the OE ones, at $100 for the 4. So the cost works out pretty close. The ride with Power Flex is certainly rougher, though it does get better after several thousand miles. Still, I decided to go back to OEM. I just like the ride better. I don't think the Power Flex really improved anything that I can notice on the street. They say they will last longer, but I don't know. I'll do another set of OE LCAs if these wear out.

And both those shops are ripping you off. The LCAs are maybe an hour each side, plus an alignment afterwards. The engine mounts are actually kinda a pain, as I hear, so maybe 400 isn't terrible on that. I'd try another shop for sure!

 

Powerflex: https://www.ecstuning.com/b-powerfle...per-s-b48a20a/

They are on sale now 15% off.