I immediately knew this was a subaru because subaru seems to be plagued by these issues. Mine failed at 26k miles and only 4 years out of factory. Yours needs to be replaced really soon.
Honest mechanic here. This is about 10% separated as seen near the bushing sleeve a real tear developing. The surface cracks all over are not concerning. I tend to recommend control arms once they are 50%+ separated; at that point stability and tire wear are considerably compromised, and should be addressed before complete separation of the bushing. Once the bushing is completely separated, braking will cause severe wandering, and going over speed bumps will make a notice “banging” like clunking. With that said, these arms being only 10% separated, and Subaru bushings, they will easily last to 100k+ miles without serious consequence. Now, a BMW or German built car with bushings like that would be more urgent, as the rubber deteriorates more quickly on those & gets a lot weaker even without severe separation. But, this softer rubber is also how they have a much smoother ride when everything is in good shape. $1600 is slightly on the higher end of price though not excessive depending on part brand used. Shops will mark up parts around 2.5x wholesale pricing, and using book time for labor, including alignment, is around 4 hours. At an average $150/hr labor rate, that’s $600 in labor roughly $850 in parts, then tax and shop supply fees ends up at $1600. You can find someone to replace them much cheaper, but they will most likely use in-house parts store brands which are notoriously garbage and have the ball joints fail in under 3 years, which is an even greater safety concern. The absolute best quality part you can get is OEM but that would be even more expensive at the dealership. Delphi and Mevotech Supreme are quality aftermarket brands. Everything else is not worth the time and money.
I got a similar quote with almost identical wear showing for my 2014 crosstrek ($1700), and everyone said that it was insane high. I searched facebook for a Subaru specific group in my local area, and searched it for recommended Subaru mechanics. Found a highly recommended mechanic who replaced both control arms plus the needed alignment for about $540.
For example, Subaru control arms tend to be a wear out part that doesn't last that long The dealer will charge you $1,500 to do both sides and sure that's using OEM parts which aren't even that green in this case I myself was able to do that exact repair for $250 and a few hours of my time
I did my very first control arm change a few weeks ago, £80 parts (Febi) and about 6 hours labour to do both sides.
I did the lower control arms on mine (used delphi).
I had upper control arms replaced on my Model X 3 times in 3 years under warranty.
Delphi and Suspensia are priced cheap, but are high quality. I haven’t got the most trust with Moog any longer. I had better luck with Mevotech stuff honestly. But for my personal car, I’m probably going to go for the Delphi control arms when I do order them.
Now if you can afford to get the AC Delco Gold stuff, I’m going to recommend that. It seems to be of the best quality from what I’ve experienced. Very good products.
Had both LCAs replaced a little over a year ago. I have noticed the clicking sound has returned so I probably need to take it back in.
Moog LCA... You’ll be replacing them in a year if you do
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