MOT Fail - is this quote fair?

kittennose

MOT failed this week, "Offside Front Lower Suspension arm ball joint dust cover no longer prevents the ingress of dirt".

Our quote was over £500 to fix this issue alone (ignoring advisories) which is pushing us to question whether it's even worth it or just get a new car? (Our last MOT was £600 so this is becoming a pattern).

Mazda 6 - 2010 - 90k miles.

Arunmor

The part seems to be about £55-£100.  Are they proposing to do both?  It looks a expensive for just one.  Is it a main dealer doing it?

If you can keep your car running for £600 a year that is a big win, you will be horrified at the price of its replacement.

facade

If it is the one I'm thinking of, it is a cheap part with an absolutely massive labour bill due to Ford Mazda's "design" that means the subframe has to drop to get a single rear pivot bolt out.

Try taking it somewhere cheaper for a quote.

A few years back you could buy generic dust boots from motor factors and just fit a new boot which would only be half an hour's work as there is no need to mess with the pivot bolts because the arm stays on the car.

A failed dust boot is nothing, anything around this age is going to suffer, it is just unfortunate that such a small job is so expensive.

The car would be a bargain for a "fixem up & floggem" driveway trader who does the work himself, or even the garage who "takes it off your hands for scrap" as they don't pay the labour.

chrisw

What are the advisories? These should give you a clue of the likely running costs for the next year or so. As said, a newer car will easily lose £600 a year depreciation, although you don't notice it as much as it's a hidden cost, on top of wear costs.

droopsnoot

facade said:

A few years back you could buy generic dust boots from motor factors and just fit a new boot which would only be half an hour's work as there is no need to mess with the pivot bolts because the arm stays on the car.

You still can, as far as I know - certainly you can at classic car show autojumbles.

Weird that you'd need to drop the subframe, but then it's the same on a variant of my own car, one bolt won't clear the sump. On that car, dropping the subframe isn't much of an issue (it's only four bolts), but they're stretch bolts so should be replaced, and once you've disturbed the subframe it needs a wheel alignment. 

jimbo6977

can you still get 2-part "sticky boots" to avoid all the labour hassle if the fit is as troublesome as described above? They won't last nearly as long but might be a better bet in the circumstances. 

400ixl

Split boots are not worth it unless you plan to sell the car in the next 12-18 moths. They rarely last much longer than that. If you plan to keep the car then it is worth doing it properly and if it is a car where they are a pain to do, then invest in doing both inner and outer boots all at the same time to save on future labour costs.

tedted

they are talking about ball joints not cv joints,clean the boot with petrol and seal it with black rtv