alt Hacker NewsI don't have so much knowledge about EV repairs, but I got burnt by this on ICE cars already - had a car fail a regular fitness test on suspension bushes, they weren't replaceable without replacing the whole arm(s). What should've been a $40 part was being quoted as more than the cars value.
(I'm not sure if there was a way around this, there may well have been but I had other things going on and sold for scrap)
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FWIW, this has been my experience since 2003 when I had to get suspension work done. Doesn’t matter if it’s a BMW or Honda, dealership or indie repair shop, the story I have heard consistently is that the bushing is part of the arm for structural integrity, stability, <reason I can’t remember, truth or crock>. Bushings typically fail faster than the arm does, and this repair is expensive ($1000+ for performance cars, not that much cheaper for Civics).
The “Design for purported Safety vs. Design for Saving Dollars” principle at work.
> (I'm not sure if there was a way around this, there may well have been but I had other things going on and sold for scrap)
I've heard of people (who own a press) simply pressing out the existing bushing and pressing in a new one.
The trick is to get a new one - typically you'd have to press out the existing one, then run around town to find a match.
Instead of $40 part it is $150 part. Very easy to replace. Less than 1 hour labor for both sides.
https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/jeep,2012,grand+cherokee...
That particular example is a labor arbitrage issue - it's a better value to have a $500 assembly with $250 labor than a $50 part with $600 labor. If you have the know-how, BYO labor is the magical way to save on this sort of thing.
The worst practices with cars is when they make it too tight or engineered to work on. Ford was kind of notorious for this - some dealers would do cab lifts for routine-ish work to save labor hours. I had a 90s Cadillac that required un-mounting and tipping the engine to change the rear spark plugs, unless you bought a really expensive tool.