Man I gotta say I'm really pissed here. For about 2 months now I have been hearing a little rattle in the front driver quarter panel when driving over little bumps and what not. At first i thought it could be a dropped bolt in the engine bay or whatever but long story short, I AM TOLD ITS THE LOWER CONTROL ARM BUSHING WHICH HE SAYS IS "SHOT" and that IT WILL NOT BE COVERED BY WARRANTY because of "the suspension work i have" I said what????????? all i have is a set of Sprint springs. Not a thing else i told him and he says then i would have to talk to the service manager about this but dodts anything can be done. GUYS I NEED YOUR HELP! Is this true? can this void my warranty for the lower control arm that he says needs to be replaced? I didnt get much of an attitude with the guy but he knows i'm not happy about this.

what about that magnusson or whatever law that states dealer has to prove springs were the cause?

1. Has anyone had this problem before?

2. How much would something like that be to replace?

3. If i end up getting screwed are there better control arms out there and should i replace both side? etc etc etc/

Oh and to make matters worse, a couple days ago, i got some wierd NON TYPICAL BREMBO squeek at all times when driving which he says is probably the pad ( this too is on the driver front). Im not really so worried about that but man, My car has a meassly 25K miles on it.

OK THIS PART MIGHT BE REAL IMPORTANT! A while back when they replaced the entire motor under warranty costing them 14,000 due to becoming hydrolocked, something went bad with an engine mount in which they actually stripped the threads on the mount that is on the frame itself. I know it was thier fault. it pretty obvious since they had to remove the engine to replace the block and when they went to mount the engine, they simply stripped the threads which the only remedy was to cut that mount off the frame and weld another one. My question is can't i bring this up since it was their fault for cross threading the engine mount and then getting my car back with a welded on engine mount onto the frame? maybe this will scare them into thinking i can sue for that! at the time this happend (the motor replacement) i didnt care too much because i just wanted my car back but now i'm beggining to think this new problem with the control arm may be directly related. Can this screw up on the engine mount cause the lower control arm to become faulty over time? after all, all the problems are coming from the left front suspension area. stripped engine mount first causing the engine to not be stronly secured to the frame then a "shot lower control arm followed by a bad brake pad. sorry for the long thread but I need help. RX

what should i do guys? thanks RX

oh and since i forgot to bring them the wheel lock, they wanted me to bring the keys in so they can verify that it is or isnt the brake pad that is the cause of the squeeling. THERE GOES SCRATCHES TO THE INSIDE OF THE WHEEL SINCE THERE IS VERY LITTLE SPACE BETWEEN. What should i do? take back my car and not let them remove tyhe wheel untill i know if it will be covered by infiniti or not and then replace the lugs with regular lugs that will clear since these dumb asses dont give a $hit? Man this really suks! Guys any suggestions will be appreciated. thanks again RX

 

dang.... relax man. you're talking about the bushing right?

then it's only a bushing. you can probably just get an oe one and swap it yourself.

 

ahh really? i was under the impresion that the whole arm needs replacing although that might be cheap as well? RX

 

yeh, check with your dealer on the part that's worn out and just
replace it yourself.

 

Bro, which dealership did you went to?? Well, i am assuming you are still running factory sway bar & if so, they should be covered under warrantee..Worst comes to worst, if the dealer refuse to cover it under warantee then hit me up, maybe i can help. A good friend of mine owns shop perhaps they can fix it for you for cheap...

 

yea what dealership are you talking about??? CC?? i was there today and yesterday........anyways good luck

 

Find out exactly what its going to cost for the part. If its gonna cost you a lot, swap in the stock springs and head to another dealership.

 

The dealer would have to prove that the springs were the direct cause of the malfuction in order to void your warrenty and even if they do prove it, they can only void the warrenty as it relates to that part. They can not void all parts of your warrenty because like I said they would have to prove that you made chnages that resulted in the malfunction/failure.

 

mmmm, talk to the service manager and tell him to show you how the spring is affecting the control arm. From experienced, i used to have an RSX with new suspension coil over and progress sway bars, i heard a bunch of rattlings as well, it MIGHT be the problem, the dealer tried to blame it on me, but i know for a fact because they said the sway bar is touching the exhaust pipe when its like 1 million ft away from it. make sure its not the cause b4 u talk to the manager, once done, they will have to fix it, they fixed mine cuzz i removed it and still had the same clank. Hope this help. check and advise, replace it if u have to, control arms are EXPENSIVE MAN, but if its just bushings, do it urself, pretty cheap.

 

Yea I went to the new sawgrass infiniti. I went back today and had them give me an estimate and took my car. Basically they wanted 490 for the job. he said it was only the bushing that was shot but that the bushing alone cannot be replaced and that i needed the whole lower control arm replaced and an alignment (which by the way i know they cant do because my car is too low for their machine). So i took my car and returned the loaner before saying that you very much. theres no way that a new arm and labor costs 500 bucks.

I was wondering, is the lower control arm part of the aftermarket camber kit for the front that are out today? I know they are expensive but i might as well change the cambers if that arm is involved and this way i save my tires. cause my camber is currently way off. anyone know??????????

BTW I beat the $hit out of that loaner. those trannys really hold up! couldnt quite smoke the tires for more than 10 seconds though. dang auto's. RX

 

it's the upper A-Arm that is adjustable (front). not the lower control
arm.

 

For $500, they better guarantee that the noise goes away or you get your money back.

You can get a lower control arm for $160 and do it yourself.

http://www.trademotion.com/partlocat...11&catalogid=1

Did they show you the "shot" bushing? I wonder how they can tell. Also, before you start changing anything, I would try this out as well.

http://www.350zforum.com/tech/frontl...leftclunk.aspx

 

Hate to say it but all the suspension stuff ties together bro. You lower your car, you change it. You stiffen it up. Every bump impacts it that much more. Nissan shouldn't have to cover suspension bushings when you lower your car.

 

is your name bill? I bet you're my service ageant at infiniti! RX

 

No I'm not the service agent, just been nailed with this before. As much as it sucks, be logical. You are completely changing your suspension when you lower the car. You throw your camber out of wack, you heel/toe gets jacked, you don't tread your tires properly. Obviously the car's suspension wasn't designed to be in the state you put it. Then you wonder why bushings go bad????? I'm not saying it doesn't suck, but I also don't think Infiniti should be held liable for problems that occur from someone modifying their car. I mod mine, and I wouldn't expect them to cover that if it happened to me.