How much anger is justified/suggestions on action...

[KZJonny]

To start, perhaps I should have known better than to go to a dealership, but in this instance, I thought it was the right course of action.

 

I brought in my Spec B trailing arms to get the forward main bushings pressed out and a new set pressed in. Mainly I didn't have the correct size cups to do it myself and didn't want to risk damaging the aluminium arms by doing it DIY. (I've done a couple of these on stock steel arms easily enough.)

 

What I got back were arms that were marred up and damaged from obviously having been put in a steel vise without soft jaws, the hit with a grinder to hide some of the damage. The outer bushing shells are damaged, and look like they've been hit with an air hammer or some other such tool. Also, there is a bunch of damage to the arm where the bushing sits. Final insult is that they are not installed correctly, and pushed flush on the inside, rather the bushing is centred in the arm. Not how it's supposed to be installed.

 

I picked them up right at close, and didn't have time to really inspect them until I got home. Now I'm kinda (very) ragey about it.

 

Whoever did the work clearly did not use the Subaru specific tools which would have not left this kind of damage....

(ST A 20099AE000 INSTALLER & REMOVER

ST B 20099AE000 INSTALLER & REMOVER)

 

There should *maybe* be some circular marks around the bush where the tools push into the arms, not peices missing and then ground back. I'll get some photos when my hands aren't shaking....

 

I feel like I should go in and ask them to show me those tools and how it was they did so much damage on what should be a simple job. I'm betting they don't even have them......

 

Thoughts? Is this something worth pursueing does anyone think? I only had Subaru do this work because I assumed they would have, and use the correct press cups, and it's pretty clear they did not.

 

Ugh... It's worth noting the arms are super clean, from Japan. No corrosion or rust at all...

Edited June 24, 2022 by KZJonny

[whitetiger]

FWIW the dealership rarely does this work, and if they do, only its mostly on steel arms, given the rarity of Spec.B's coming in to the dealership. More likely they just replace the whole arm and don't do bushing work at all. you should be upset, but i would not have had high expectations from them. how much would it have cost you to get the right size cups to do it on your own? probably less than you would have spent extra to avoid this incident i bet.

[shralp]

Bottom line, 98% of dealership monkeys just don’t do well with “outside of the box” mods. They are trained in the OEM way and anything other than that their eyes glaze over with confusion. If it’s straight OEM I’m ok with it but anything else, no way.

[KZJonny]

Okay.

Been a few hours and I am a little less ragey.

 

And yeah, thanks I take all the above points. I frakked up and took work to the dealer. I can't remember the last time I did that, but I did expecting them to have, and use the correct tools.

 

To be fair, the cost of the correct diameter cups was quite a lot. A lot more than what I payed in labour for the work. I figured for a job you do every 10 years or whatever, it wasn't worth the cost of buying those specific press cups. Yes, it seems I was wrong.

 

I suppose I was mainly asking the general feeling that if by pointing out that the job was very clearly done badly, or rather completely incorrectly I might get anywhere.

 

The bushings are OEM, in an OEM arm, and at this point I don't trust them to make it right. So I really hope I don't have to eat the cost of more bushings and a set of install tools to fix what they screwed up, only to end up with damaged trailing arms.

 

I run a facility where mistakes are expensive and they've happened in the past. I try to make them learning experiences for my staff and move on. Generallly I've eaten the cost (never penalized an employee over an *honest* mistake) Probably being unrealistic about it, but I expect that is the right attitude to have in a service industry....

 

Any thoughts on how to approach the service manager with this are appreciated. My plan to *politely as possible* point out that this was done wrong on a number of levels and suggest he view in the same light. As an unwitting mistake that they need to own and make right.

[Tehnation]

I would 1st start by listing and documenting all the mistakes with pictures. Then bring it all up show him the damage etc. and see what they say. Do you have any before pictures? Comparison is huge, if u had old pics to compare to the new pics then it would make the argument a lot more legitimate.

 

I doubt anything will come of it, but I would ask for new arms. I would stress the point of the car being rare, and damaging one of the main distinguishing features of the spec b, (aluminum control arms) significantly lowers the value or some bs along those lines. More care should have been taken with the car especially with 500 dollar trailing arms. Try maybe make it some sort of deal, like they order the arms, and you install them yourself. See if you can at least get some type of deal etc.

 

Ive learned that haggling for things is a genuine skill lol. Like a used car salesman, some people have it and some dont.

Edited June 25, 2022 by Tehnation

[whitetiger]

TBH i think there is no recourse for the shoddy work they've done unless you can manage to garner their sympathy in some way. if they try to stone wall you, there wont be much you can do.

[jams20]

I disagree. They should know their capabilities and have guided you elsewhere. If I was a GM of the shop I would want to know what my employees can/can’t do.

 

Take the pics in w your story and give them the opportunity to make it right.

 

 

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[bergs]

If this were me in your situation, I'd give the service manager a few options, refund my money, get me all new parts or get put on blast.

 

Absolutely zero excuse for complete garbage work, especially since they are a representative of the brand.

[KZJonny]

After another day to cool down, I am going to do as suggested above, only I am going to bring the arm in with me and sit it on his desk between us while we chat.

 

I am still *really* pissed at just how badly this simple job was executed. I showed another local LGT owner and he initially couldn't even understand what tool they'd used to do the "job" and that much peripheral damage.

 

I also looked very closely and the worse of the two bushes is so badly damaged that you can see a tiny bit of light between it and where it is supposed to be friction fit into the arm....

 

So yes. I wil be polite and reasonable, and not give them any reason toss me out or what have you. Give them the chance to see this as a learning opportunity or for more training for the "tech" who did the work etc....

 

But ultimately I'll ask for either new arms to replace these ones, which I have no faith in their safety etc... Or my money back, so I can buy a new set of used arms, and a set of bushing cups that fit. Hell, I might even offer to buy them through the dealer as a sign of good faith.

 

Nobody there has been rude to me or suchlike yet, so I don't see the point in starting off aggressive or whatever. But I won't leave without some kind of action being taken, whatever that might be. They claim they they're the Subaru specialist and have all the right tools for your car to do the job right. So, I want the GM or service manager to look me in the eye and say the the work they did on these represents Subaru excellence. If they do, and don't blink, I think I'm totally out all the money and on my own.... If they agree that this is not best work possible, the hopefully we can work something out.

 

If nothing, then yes, I will start with the process of scathing reviews, and probably putting up a couple hundred posters all around the dealership with some photos of the damage warning people to go elsewhere. I bet they'll love that...

[silverton]

I'm flabbergasted that an actual Subaru dealership didn't have the right tool. Or.. the tech didn't know about the tool. Or the tool was lost and not replaced because that cuts in to the shop foreman's bonus. Each dealership is sent a special cabinet setup that literally contains every special tool that Subaru has in their repair manuals, but only once. It's up to the dealership to replace lost/damaged special tools.

 

Good luck buddy!

[Tehnation]

Looks like they used an air chisel to knock the bushing out and then grinded it down to cover up their butchering of your trailing arm... like if your going to be lazy and fast about the job at least try to do it right, but being that its in a place that MOST if not almost every person wouldn't even take a second look at, I can see how this happened. If it were a normal legacy, which they are probably more accustomed to, who the hell would really care. But they should know better with lgt owners especially a spec b.... at least I let anyone working on my car before hand that I know EVERY nut, bolt and wire on my car so .... no games, please and thank you.

 

On another note, after looking at that butchery you could even argue the point that they grinded off to much material via doing the job incorrectly and damaged the part, so much so that it degraded the structural integrity of the part, which could lead to mechanical failure. They really took a lot of meat of the section between the bushing and the arm, those curves and whatever have science and engineering behind them I'm assuming and butchering those arcs and curves isn't part of the original design, thus they have in fact made the part inferior to an oem product. Or some bullshit like that lol !

 

You gotta let the anger go it only makes things worse when you want REAL results, I would get angry if you confronted them and then they acted like scumbags, but getting angry now is pointless and unjustified. Gather your ammunition, and like you said be respectful and be civil, its a company with many moving parts, the person who damaged your parts probably isn't the person your going to be discussing the issue with, so you have to approach with the right mentality and tact, aggression and anger will make them put their guard up or just say go f**k yourself. At least give them a chance to respond, you have not done so, so this might all be just an exercise in futility! People make mistakes and getting mad before they can atone from them isn't very nice

 

Only mistake i see is a rushed job on a rarer car, normally nobody would give a sh*t about what they did if it wasn't an aluminum control arm. The regular steel arms would have taken the beating like a champ and everyone would have just moved on. This tech probably saw a spec b for the 1st time in his life and didn't know what to do and wasn't about to go look at a "manual" cause its just a control arm... in a spot thats almost impossible to see unless the car is in the air...

 

hmmm the more I think about it..... i duno... does it actually affect the performance and driveability of the car??? I like playing devils advocate with myself! Don't mind me!

Edited June 26, 2022 by Tehnation

[NORULZleggy]

Take it as a loss if they do not do anything about it for you. See people wonder why I drive 3 hours from my house and spend the money on all the gas to make sure my sh!t does not get screwed up. I have said this before. FIND A TUNER SHOP. A place that you know has done these type of jobs.

[apexi]

hmmm the more I think about it..... i duno... does it actually affect the performance and driveability of the car???

 

That's kinda how I feel to be honest, I think y'all are overreacting, but.. Just seems like cosmetic damage to me on a part no one will see

[KZJonny]

So, I dropped by Subaru this morning and had a quick chat with the service writer. He took a look at the arms and agreed that they shouldn't have been put in a steel vice, and that they probably had been, and they should have at least wrapped them in a rag or some such to avoid that kind of damage.

 

I pointed out that the bushes weren't installed correctly, one was damaged to where you can see light through where the press-fit should be in contact. He spent a little time with it, we looked the service manual, and again, he agreed that the bushings weren't installed to spec, and that the bad one should be replaced. He said he would also not want to have a main bush in a control arm installed like that on his car....

 

I didn't ask for new arms, or anything like that. I figure there was no chance they'd agree and I would just look like an unreasonable jerk. They are going to replace the bad bushing entirely, and adjust the one that was put in poorly....

 

I see what people are saying about it being mainly cosmetic, and the clamp marks are, and (probably) the scoring around the bushing bore is as well. However, the badly damaged bush and them being installed incorrectly is a real concern.

 

Any case, I have my reservations about having them do more work on the parts, but it did not seem like there was any option to get a refund. He was willing to do the work over, and he now knows that I really do care about the small stuff, like clamp marks and cosmetic damage.

 

Fingers crossed they won't do more damage, but I was already half expecting to have to buy new arms anyway. I figure if they're offering to install new bushings at no cost, and now are very aware that the details are especially important to me, it's worth rolling the dice.

 

If that doesn't work out, I am not really any worse off than I am at moment. I figure I've got 2 trailing arms that aren't fit to be installed in my car, and was looking at a total loss on them. Felt like I have nothing to lose aside from another couple days of not having the car put together.

 

I definitely want to give credit where it is due as well, as the service writer was super polite and understanding. I know that's kind of their job, but as mentioned above, sometimes you get denial and stonewalling.

 

Thanks to everyone for chiming in. I realize there wasn't much anyone can do, but having a place to talk it out a little and get a few different views is great, and chatting about a thing a little is a great way to cool down on it. I'll check back in when I pick the arms up and see if they've made things right.

[whitexc]

Good luck man....hope it ends well for yah and thanks for the update.

 

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[KZJonny]

Well, it ended as well as figured it reasonably could at this point.

 

Subaru replaced the damaged bushing with a fresh one, and pressed both to the correct depth and alignment.

 

Nothing to be done for the cosmetic damage from the clamps, and at least the worst of it is facing inside, but it'll grind my gears every time I see it, I know. I'll take the blame for having gone to the Subaru dealer for work on my Subaru, but I really did expect a bit better on the whole.

 

On the plus side the service writer was polite and the first things out of his mouth after having a look were an apology and an offer to make it right, which I think they did withing reason. (Again, I want new arms, but that was not in any way likely to happen, so I chose not to make that the hill I was going to die on.)

 

Figure it's worth giving the dealership some credit here for what they did do right.

 

Guess from now on, it's gonne be me or a trusted Subaru shop the whole way. As noted, for the time lost and money spend on labour I would have been close to just buying the specialty tools and doing it myself in my press.

 

Next time. Thanks all for the support.