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Blown shock?


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I recently purchased 97 Legacy Outback. Overall the car is in pristine condition even with 147,000 miles it drives great. I noticed that when you accelerate to over 50 mph there is a shaking/ vibration coming from the front passenger side wheel. I jacked up the car and checked the ball joints and everything is tight, no play or shimmy. Could this be a blown or worn out shock? It also sounds like a loose spring clunking noise when i hit dips in the road at over 50mph. When driving at lower speeds theres no vibration or noise. somebody help me figure this out. Thanks for your help.
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the clunking is just bushings and what not. i think. i have the same problem. and the wobble could be a wheel bearing. lose turnbuckle. clean the wheel. i know i had alot of mub on my wheels and the car shook like hell.
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The car came with brand new michelins 215/70 on the stock 15 inch wheels but who's to say they were'nt balanced correctly. The first week I drove it the problem did'nt seem that bad until after I put on some WRX 16 inch wheels on 205/55's. The bigger wheels but smaller tires really made the shaking/ vibrations more noticable. I'll get the wheels balanced for good measure but has anyone done the wheel bearings on one of these wagons? Are they pressed? I changed the bearings on my MkIII jetta using a socket to press (gently hammer) them in. Can I do the same here? Thanks for the advice guys.
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Come on guys chime in. Any ideas will help. Yesterday I raised the front end again to look at it and I don't see anything wrong :confused:. No broken boots or leaking anywhere except some oil from the engine but that's another story. I did notice that the lug nuts on the drivers side front wheel where not torqued so took care of that and it seemed to help until I hit 60mph then the shaking started again. Would bad wheel bearings cause this much shaking? I'm taking it to the shop tomorrow to see what they say. I went to a subaru dealer near my house to get a new thermostat and oil filter so I asked some of the guys there (the dicks behind the desk making appointmnets) a few questions and they seemed bothered by me asking questions. I don't want to take it to just any place and the guys at the dealership act like Paris Hilton. I'm thinking of replacing the rotors all around to see if that helps but I don't want to go throwing money into parts that won't fix the problem.
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I doubt the rotors could be SO warped that it would cause shaking. I would go to a good shop, one that wont charge you to look at the car, and see what they say. Problems like that are one of those "you have to drive it" to know whats wrong with it.
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The first week I drove it the problem did'nt seem that bad until after I put on some WRX 16 inch wheels on 205/55's. The bigger wheels but smaller tires really made the shaking/ vibrations more noticable.

 

It's probably the wheels/tires you put on. If those WRX wheels you put on are made to sit on a different size hub they will not center properly and cause a vibration. Wheels these days will not center by tightening lug nuts, they center on the hub. Make sure your wheels sit tight on the hub. If not you will need hub centering rings. If they are centered, check the obvious first before throwing $$$ at rebuilding the car. Get them balanced properly and rule that out.

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  • 2 weeks later...
So I've had the WRX wheels balanced and it helped tremendously only problem is one of the wheels has a flat spot on the inside of the barrel :mad: but keeping it on the rear it isn't that noticable. Center bore on the WRX wheels are same as stock. However I still get a clucking sound and vibration from the front passenger wheel, more noticably when I roll over dips and ripples on the roads. With 147K miles I'm thinking it's time to replace the shocks/struts. I've seen some stock KYB's on ebay for about $300. How easy are shocks/struts to put in myself? Any easy inexpensive ways to upgrade from stock set up of shock/struts? I'd like to drop it about 1 to 1.5 inches. Any sugestions?
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+1 I was going to say to a bounce test just press down on the side of the car where the strut is, good struts should go down and come back up firm and maybe with one bounce. Blown ones will go down too easily and come up and bounce more than once.

 

New struts are super easy to put on, if you can find some lowering springs from a wrx wagon and your gold. 3 nuts on the top 2 bolts on the bottom and on stock struts the brake line goes through this metal holder on the strut so you can saw it off (like i did) or undo your brake line, which you will have to flush out that caliper and pump fluid to it again.

 

Im on S-tech's (flamming on me starts now) with kyb gr2's and its not a bad ride, sorta gives you the firmess of coils with the performance of your regualr lowering springs.

What I like about it is the drop 1.5-1.7 is what I dropped to I'm on 18's and I have half a finger gap in the front and barely can get two fingers in the back. It sits nice and looks nice and for now they do the job.

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do you know how to check shocks? visually look for leaks. do a bounce test. you tell me if the shocks are blown or not. i am pretty sure no one on here is a psychic.

Damn! No one on here is a psychic??? :rolleyes: Thanks for being a smart @ss.

 

WESTcoast,

Thanks for your input. I've done the bounce test and they seem fine. I know where I can get some WRX springs so I'll throw those on as soon as I figure out where this rattling noise and shaking is coming from.

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