Can any one explain to me, how a bushing, specifically control arm bushing can "MECHANICALLY FAIL".

Or fail any other way outside of deterioration/wear and tear????

I am preparing to utilize legal pursuit on a scammin' azz extended warranty company that has explicitly stated these parts are covered in my package,...but are using the wear & tear non-coverage clause to back out of their responsibilities.

My thoughts:

there's no mechanical parts in a bushing
a rubber part can only deteriorate

has anybody changed them out over a 100K miles???

 

I caused a tear in the lower control arm bushing by pushing on the arm with a jack (long story trying to get to the oil pan). Other than that, the only thing I can think of would be some sort of accident. Otherwise the bushing could just wear out over 100k.

 

i asked about the mileage cuz i found a guy with a camry who's didn't go out till 210K miles. I only have 88K miles on mine,... all rear bushings are fine,....

If people aren't gettin' them replaced until in the higher mileage, then I might be able to use that as leverage.

 

well i have a LS and we do share some things with the SC like engine perhaps lol.

well my upper control arm bushing worn out at 164,000 miles. I just got a replacement for 190 at a local junkyard.

 

Mileage is just a number though. If you had all smooth roads in your area, and your suspension was perfect, you could probably go 200K miles.
If your suspension was a little messed up to begin with, or your roads are filled with potholes, it might only last 50K miles.
Sounds to me that mechanically fail means either the bushing was faulty to begin with, it was installed incorrectly, or something was done to it.

 

How the car is driven has a lot to do with suspension life too - if you're a gentle driver and always start and stop smoothly, etc -

FAT CHANCE with this group!

My '93 SC4 is just about to 100K, and it's like-new tight because it wasn't driven hard - I'm changin' that routine - I own cars quite a while and don't baby 'em, it will be interesting to see how long it takes me to wear this one out - - I have gotten Volvos and Peugeots to 140-150K before they got loose and mushy -

 

Regarding the wording of your service policy, the suspension parts may be "covered" under the policy, but not against "wear and tear" which is always excluded, for everything.

If your engine overheated and blew up because a radiator hose burst, your policy might pay for the engine because it was a "fortuitous loss" - one that could not be foreseen - but the radiator hose wouldn't be covered, because it just wore out. But if the engine blew up because it (the engine) just wore out - no coverage.

My general opinion of service policies:

 

Well these cars are prone to a problem with the control arm bushings, but that's beside the point...

From my experience, any bushing that doesn't work anymore the way it's supposed to, should be covered by a warranty if it spells out that suspension parts are covered.

A lot of the coverage is decided or ok'd by independent shops or adjusters, be nice to them and you can get quite a bit accomplished.

 

Westside Lexus here in houston feels that how they interpret the contract, would indicate that since this part is specificly listed, it should be covered. They also feel, there is no other way for this non-serviceable, non-mechanical part to fail, other than by cracks from wear and tear thru usage, by nature of what it is. They feel as long I have a warranty,... and it breaks outside of abuse or accident, and it's listed on that covered items list,... they should be liable. OTHERWISE, I could have not spent the money for a warranty, and paid my own repairs. If they specificly wrote hoses on that contract, and had a no wear & tear clause,... I'd like to know how they plan to cover any failure of that hose. This is essentially what they've done in my opinion,... and now, they're gonna have to pay for that.