Rear Control Arm Issues.

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My Rear Lower Control Arm on my car has developed a fracture in it. Not in the usual sense though. Here are some pictures of the control arm and how unusual this really is to me.

Here is the problem;







As you can see, the fracture has no bends on it. The other side of control arm has no bends. But my Mini rep, when I talked to him, instantly accused me of wrong doing to the car. I have been working on cars ever since I have been 16 and whenever there is a broken or cracked control arm, generally it is bent severely, this isn't the case. I have someone shipping me the control arms so I am going to change them myself. However, I just want to know what other people's feelings are on this and if there are any other issues similar to this that people have had to deal with.

Thanks,

-Matt

[Berthil]

Here's one who had the same problem, in that there is another reference to another thread with again the same problem.