Strut Mounts?

Hey guys. I've been working on my suspension for some time now and replacing parts based on the advice of others on the forum. I'm still having some trouble with ride quality/steering, and nobody can seem to diagnose the problem. I've even taken my Legacy into Subaru, and they said they couldn't find anything. Here's what I've replaced or upgraded:

Whiteline LCA Bushings (front)

Rallitek Endlinks (front)

Ball Joints

Struts (Front and Rear)

These replacements have improved the quality somewhat, but it's still driving horribly. When I replaced the struts, I left the stock mounts and springs. I brought the front struts into a local mechanic friend just to make sure everything was installed correctly since a friend and I did the strut work ourselves. He made a comment about the mounts spinning too freely. There's almost no resistence. It's like spinning a skateboard wheel. I know they should obviously move because the wheel has to turn. Everything seemed to check out besides that, and there does not seem to be play in the mounts, but then again, it's me putting force on them, not thousands of pounds of the car when driving. He said he has never seen mounts spin like that, but I don't think he has worked on Subarus that much. Do you think this is the source of my problem? The ride is rough, and the steering has been loose compared to when I got the car at 18,000 miles (now has 60,000). There doesn't seem to be signs of bad tie rods or bearings (no popping or whirring noise). I took a video of the mount spinning before I put the struts back in. Here is a YouTube link to the video so you can get an idea of what I'm talking about. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks!

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSkwku9cFps]09' Subaru Legacy Front Strut Mount - YouTube[/ame]

I have new, in the bag OEM top mounts in the wagon. I'll check them this evening and see if they spin.

 

Gave me a few hours. I'm headed to VT after work.

I assume they are the original mounts since I bought the car with only 18,000 miles on it, so there would be about 61,000 miles on them. To be honest, I don't remember if there was a washer. We did so much work that day that everything kind of blurs together, but I don't seem to remember there being a washer. Although, my friend did more of the work than I did since he is the car guy. Would the washer be included with the mounts if I were to purchase new ones?

As far as the LCA bushings go, I put in Whiteline Front Inner Rear Bushings (W53353).

I had purchased the Inner Fronts as well, but the stock ones seemed fine since they don't have the torque on them like the rears do. Also, it would have been nearly impossible to press them in and out with the tools and press we had. I had not planned on replacing the ball joints, but once everything was apart they seemed worn, so I picked up some Moog balljoints from a local auto parts store since we had everything apart already.

The strangest part about all of this is that every time I get new parts installed, the car rides great for a week or two, then it gradually degrades back to where I started. This happened after I got new tires in the summer, when I installed the LCA bushings along with the balljoints and endlinks, and once again when i put the struts in. So on 3 separate occasions, the car drove great for a short period of time. A local mechanic had me convinced that I had a bad tire. I didn't want to believe him, but then I got new tires a couple months later and it was like a new car. Only for a couple weeks though. Even before I had started replacing all these parts, and before the ride/steering got really bad, the problem was intermittent as well. Its lasted for about a year now. It would drive great for a few days/week/weeks, then for a few days it would feel like the car was falling apart. Then one day it would be fine again. That's why it was hard to diagnose because it wasn't always present. It was like something would get "stuck" and then pop back into position. Well, eventually it got to the point where it was just bad all the time. This is my 4th car now, and I've never had any sort of problem like this, and it's just been frustrating as hell that I can't figure it out.

I'm a fairly aggressive driver (well, at least before these problems). I absolutely loved the handling on the Legacy when I bought it, which is why I upgraded the parts instead of putting in OEM. I would be ecstatic if I could get it back to the way it used to drive, but at this point, I would just be happy to drive to work and not feel like a pothole or big gust of wind is going to put me into the median on the highway. With winter coming, I'm scared of what it's going to be like in the snow too.

I tryed to spin the bearing through the bag, it feels pretty tight, I could not spin it.

When we replaced most of the parts, we were using an air wrench. Everything seemed as tight as it could get, but no, we didn't use a torque wrench.

The one thing that I have not done is get an alignment. I know it is an important factor, but I feel like it's too big of a problem to just be that. I didn't want to get an alignment until I knew everything was fixed as to avoid having to do it multiple times. It's interesting that you mentioned your mounts are quiet. There is definitely a small humming coming from the bearing when i spin it. Like I said earlier, it's like a skateboard or rollerblade wheel. That's what it reminds me of. I'm starting to think that maybe I should just bite the bullet and pick up some new mounts. This way I can make sure the washer is in place correctly, and since I installed new struts, I have a feeling the old mounts will go before the new struts, so I would be doing this down the road anyways. Do you guys know anywhere to get the mounts besides directly from Subaru? When I originally got the struts, I looked online for the mounts as well. It seems like the rear ones are readily available, but nobody sells aftermarket front mounts. I talked to two dealerships, and they wanted $69 and $89 for them. Funny that there was a difference between the two locations. Seems pricey.

With a new rear nut, bolt and washer, I spent about $217. for the 4 mounts.

 

 

Ok I just openedthe bag to one of the front mounts. The bearing spins when you stick your finger in it. Very smooth but well not spin by its self.

I don't know how much this helps, but i've owned a car where i used an aftermarket strut mount on it and boy let me tell you, worse nightmare. Every bump i went over i hear "kucum, kucum" When my REAL meachanic checked it out he showed me the play in the strut mount and ordered me to get the genuine one. I replaced with the genuine one and also my control arm bushings.

 

I could now drive my car through the worse of roads on 50 series tires and dont feel a thing that i shouldn't be feeling!

(2003 honda civic)

Get the original parts and you will be pleased.

Thanks for the help guys. I have another question. Before I get into replacing the mounts, do the stock springs go bad often? The car has gotten really bad the last few days. It's drifting or floating all over the place. I looked at the spring with the car loaded, and it looks like the top of the spring is so compressed that the 2nd coil from the top is almost overlapping the top coil. This may be how it is, but it doesn't seem normal to me.

Here is a pic. It's hard to judge depth from the picture, but the right side of the spring (2nd coil from top) is basically adjacent to the top of the coil.

Hey guys. I've been working on my suspension for some time now and replacing parts based on the advice of others on the forum. I'm still having some trouble with ride quality/steering, and nobody can seem to diagnose the problem. I've even taken my Legacy into Subaru, and they said they couldn't find anything. Here's what I've replaced or upgraded:

Whiteline LCA Bushings (front)

Rallitek Endlinks (front)

Ball Joints

Struts (Front and Rear)

These replacements have improved the quality somewhat, but it's still driving horribly. When I replaced the struts, I left the stock mounts and springs. I brought the front struts into a local mechanic friend just to make sure everything was installed correctly since a friend and I did the strut work ourselves. He made a comment about the mounts spinning too freely. There's almost no resistence. It's like spinning a skateboard wheel. I know they should obviously move because the wheel has to turn. Everything seemed to check out besides that, and there does not seem to be play in the mounts, but then again, it's me putting force on them, not thousands of pounds of the car when driving. He said he has never seen mounts spin like that, but I don't think he has worked on Subarus that much. Do you think this is the source of my problem? The ride is rough, and the steering has been loose compared to when I got the car at 18,000 miles (now has 60,000). There doesn't seem to be signs of bad tie rods or bearings (no popping or whirring noise). I took a video of the mount spinning before I put the struts back in. Here is a YouTube link to the video so you can get an idea of what I'm talking about. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks!

09' Subaru Legacy Front Strut Mount - YouTube

 

Resurrecting a dead thread, but just curious did you ever fix the ride quality/steering issue you had? What exactly was the issue you were having, I didn't see anything specific about what was going on.

 

I had an issue about a year ago with my car tram-lining hardcore, the slightest of grooves in the road would suck my cars tire into it and make my car swerve. So, I got an alignment, tires balanced and a new rack and pinion and STILL had the issue. Everything else on my car was checked and was fine, and it of course didn't do this when I originally bought the car. The ONLY thing I had done to the car was put on 2012 WRX wheels which came with the original tires(cant remember what they were but they were name brand). The car drove fine with the new rims/tires I bought but I ended up blowing 2 tires out at two different times and was hard up for money at the time so I bought some two off brand cheap tires. The day I bought all new tires for all four wheels which were bridgestone pretty much top of the line, I stopped having the tram lining issue. Now, the reason I'm back here looking around for driving issue threads is because recently I started having a clunking noise when going over rough roads, straight or turned didnt make a difference. So, I jacked the car up and looked at all the bushings, tightened all the bolts, and it ends up the clunking is my front top strut mount bearings. From inside the car I could tell the noise wasn't coming from under the car, so now i've gotta go get some OEM strut mounts. Question is do they come with the bearing or is that separate? Anyone have the part numbers handy for an 05 legacy 2.5i?

My new oem strut mounts came with the bearings installed. I wonder if maybe the 3 nuts are loose, or maybe the main strut nut is loose? I don't know much about suspension stuff, so you might be right about the bearing too.

My new oem strut mounts came with the bearings installed.

 

What was the final cost? Did you have both fronts done? That's what I want to find out a general ball park cost with labor. I've found the OEM subaru front strut mounts for about 55 shipped. Just wondering about labor cost really

I replaced them myself when I replaced my front struts. My guess is the dealer would probably charge 1hr of labor for each side, then their marked up parts price costs. Not sure what an independent shop would charge. You have to take the struts out, compress them and basically do the same stuff you would do if you were to replace the struts.

 

Rockauto sells "quick struts" which are new struts, springs, strut mounts, all assembled and ready to install. Not sure about the quality of the parts, but that's another possible option too.

http://rockauto.com/en/catalog/subaru,2005,legacy,2.5l+h4,1430732,suspension,strut+/+coil+spring+/+mount+assembly,15174

Not going with anything but OEM. So if I can get OEM mounts for 52 bux each, Im gonna do that. Thanks for the info

So.... no one tried the JDM version of the top hats for cheaps from Febest?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DM9QP1Y/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A6JK0PO3GJYXY