Broken control arm

[Blainifer]

So the story goes, I was coming around a sharp right turn at about 30 some odd mph; normally not a huge problem for my particular mcs, although there's always slight understeer with this turn. So I came off it and everything seemed fine, but apparently everything was far from fine. I rounded another right (slower and wider, nothing like the previous) and I snapped my left rear control arm. The back end whipped out and i did an ugly 180 that nearly put me into a street sign. Maybe 6 inches away? But what I want to know is could this type of driving break a suspension component?? I was always under the impression that the first thing to break would be traction, but I do know that over time, hard driving wears on the car.

I have pictures, but I don't know how to put them on sorry for my lack of technological understanding, but if someone could help me, I have about 10 good pictures that show the damage.

Anyways, I've kind of come to the conclusion that someone had previously crashed the car (it was bought used with 42,000 odd miles) and not reported it to insurance, nor had they completely fixed the damage.

So, has anyone ever had a problem like this before? Would very spirited driving, over time, cause a control arm to bend, twist, and snap in 2? Or would this be the result of previous damage.

Comments, ridicule, more questions...all welcome.

[MINI-Morgan]

Sorry to hear about your accident Lucky it was reliatively low speed.

Have you ever nocked the rear wheels? reversed into a curb quite hard? Where on the control arm did it break? on the joint to the hub?

P.s. never had a problem with mine and they have seen soooo many potholes and tracks with wider than stock tyres.

[Bhozar]

I havent had any problems with mine, but I did read of other people having this happen on NAM. Its rare though. As far as I know they hadnt crashed theirs, it just gave. I think they blamed it on the rear control arms being stamped steel or something I dont quite recall.

[MINI-Morgan]

Quote: Originally Posted by Bhozar (original)

I havent had any problems with mine, but I did read of other people having this happen on NAM. Its rare though. As far as I know they hadnt crashed theirs, it just gave. I think they blamed it on the rear control arms being stamped steel or something I dont quite recall.

Have a look under the back of yours.... doesnt look that strong. I have heard of people reversing into kerbs while trying to get onto driveways bending rear suspension.

[Blainifer]

Yeah, that's the funny part. I've never backed into a curb, it's never been hit by anything to MY knowledge. We did buy it used so the previous owner may have had a concentration lapse while parking but not so much on my end. The only thing I have done stress-wise to the rear suspension is a few very minor oversteers. You couldn't even call them drifts or slides, the rear end would kick out for maybe 2 seconds maximum and i'd pull it back in.

True, the stamped steel doesn't look particularly strong.

It broke right in the middle. It was bent dead center at some point in time (either during the turn or a previous wreck), so it put too much stress in that spot and cracked it.
Again, i need some help posting pictures but i have them.

[Blainifer]

BTW, I just found out the bill, with labor and everything, is around $300 USD. Which may be a testament to that piece's lack of strength. I think the new control arm costs about $100-150 USD??? Don't quote me.

[JAMIE1131]

There is no way a component like that should EVER fail no matter how much spirited driving you give it. The component must have been stressed during a (fairly severe) impact. Pressed steel may not look that strong but you'd be very surprised what it will take.

[Blainifer]

That's what I thought at first. The carfax came back clean, but there's always a way around carfax. So even if some idiot went nuts with handbrake turns, Jamie and/or anyone else, you don't think a control arm should just give like that??

Any idea how to post pictures of the damage, btw??

[Chinook]

I just had my rear right control arm break in the parking lot at 10km/hr. Luckily I was five minutes away from the four lane highway that I take home.

Nothing has ever touched the control arm, and I too am at a loss why the part failed. I used to lose CV boots in my old Subaru, but we do get lots of slush and snow building up in the winter.

PS, use the options at the bottom of the post "Attach files" and the button "Manage Attachments". You can tell the web page where to find the picture on your computer, then it will post it for you into the thread.

[JAMIE1131]

Quote: Originally Posted by Blainifer (original)

That's what I thought at first. The carfax came back clean, but there's always a way around carfax. So even if some idiot went nuts with handbrake turns, Jamie and/or anyone else, you don't think a control arm should just give like that??

Any idea how to post pictures of the damage, btw??

Just a thought, for both of you guys, had you recently had new tyres fitted or any work where the car was lifted off the ground??
I wouldn't ever think hand brake turns or any other type of harsh driving would break it, if you had seen some of the testing at Boxberg, MIRA or Bruntingthorpe you would understand what vehicles are subjected to prior to being released!

[Chinook]

Oil changes (at the garage) and tire changes rotations (my driveway). I always have a quick look around the wheel wells when I'm changing tires and nothing caught my eye last October. I use a jack on each jack point and my daughter helps me raise and lower the car evenly. You are thinking of a bad lift job at some point?

[MINIMANIAUK]

The control arm is fitted with a load of around 80kg in car and full tank of fuel 40kg - maybe they were replaced with no load on -prior to tightening the bolts -so became unduly loaded in use -had the rear wheel alignment been done to these cars ? or any reason to loosen them in the first place?

[JAMIE1131]

Quote: Originally Posted by Chinook (original)

Oil changes (at the garage) and tire changes rotations (my driveway). I always have a quick look around the wheel wells when I'm changing tires and nothing caught my eye last October. I use a jack on each jack point and my daughter helps me raise and lower the car evenly. You are thinking of a bad lift job at some point?

Seems quite likely to me, do you have any pictures of the failed component? They are obviously not designed to be lifting the car with, especially if the jack was placed in the middle of the arm, it would stress it in a way it wasn't designed to work.

[Chinook]

Here is an interesting collection of all the threads I put together for my MINI service adviser to look at (labelled by first post):

07 Aug MINI COOPER :: North American Motoring - Control Arm Snapped in Two
06 Jan http://www.mini2.com/forum/faults-fi...rm-issues.html
05 Jan http://www.mini2.com/forum/faults-fi...n-failure.html
04 Sep http://www.mini2.com/forum/faults-fi...ts-called.html

He was kind enough to send me the photos from their inspection that show a shiny 'new' break and a dirty 'old' break.

[Randall Raines]

BMWs before the MINI used to do this also, rare but it did used to happen, sometimes due to corrosion though, In My Opinion that's why they seem to be galvanised (silver) now, the 1st of the MINIs had the black arms top and bottom and then from about 02 reg they changed to the silver colour which don't seem to corrode as much .

However while working on peoples MINIs before I have noticed that the rear arms have been damaged sometimes quite badly (like a dogs hind leg), and the owners have been none the wiser, whether it be from a previous accident or from being curbed hard (usually combined with damaged / curbed wheels ), I've also seen people, mechanics included jack cars up where they shouldn't, as stated previously .