65 replies to this topic

[SAV84C]

This is what i went off to regrease when I had sti struts in...

http://www.rexnet.co...nverted-struts/

[bobbyjimmy]

Does the bloke you took it to know you had WRX/STi stuff in it?
Or did he just ring the dealer/whoever he buys shocks off and tell them in an XT Forester, i.e self levelling rears?

[Morgan]

Exactly what I'm going to ask them when I have a chat!

[alexGT]

Do they have a nut at the bottom of them?

I have a gut feeling that they may be kaput and not rebuildable. I'm sure the cherry red/pink STi struts are regreasable, but the blacks are merely sealed KYBs.

I may be wrong, but for some reason, I'm thinking this.


Check rexnet/RSLC.

06 onwards WRX have inverted style regreaseable as does STi so you should be right to regrease them

sounds like stiction to me.

[BigWillieStyles]

Ive got that same creak in the front billies when I go over bumps at low speeds. I just figured that they were coming to the end of their life and need a rebuild or replace. I was planning on regreasing mine, but asked around on rexnet, and several members suggested that a regrease may only be a temporary fix. Saving for coilovers now!

[B4TT]

BWS, You sure it is the billies that are creaking and not dry bushs on the swaybars?

[Morgan]

Got off the phone with Bob Jane just now. He explained that when they lifted it up on the hoist, the rear wheels didn’t drop at all.

I told him that they weren’t stock and he said he knew that. I asked what would be involved in fixing it and he said I needed brand new shocks.

Still not convinced, I told him that they’re only 50k kms old and that after lots of research, it’s a very rare thing to happen and he promptly told me that it was extremely common for shocks to seize.

Keen to get the GoPro under there tonight and see if there is any movement under there in real time – not just from jumping up and down in the boot! I’ve also only just had the 100k km service done by a Subaru Specialist and very trusted mechanic who surely would’ve picked up on that?

Anyway, will keep this updated!

[skillionaire]

Hi,

Not sure why you'd expect a 100K service to look at your suspension?

Were these in before, or after you parked in a ditch?

Cheers,
Nik

[Morgan]

They were in the car when I had the accident.

[RX25SE]

Jump up and down on the back of the car.

If you can see the struts compressing (and rebounding) they are not seized.

[SUBARU]

This seems very strange to me, to have both shocks apparently frozen.

Have you tried jacking the car up yourself, to see if there's any movement in the shocks?

The car would be really, really noticeably horrible to drive if both rear shocks were frozen in place.

[B4TT]

I can't say that I have seen too many seized shocks Morgan, I have seen shagged shocks that can no longer expand back out after being compressed (I have seen a set come out of an exel that would literally fully compress under their own weight! (when the springs were taken off LOL) )

Do as Jason has suggested.

[Morgan]

@Jase - I did do that and there wasn't much movement. However, Scott also said that his don't either... These shocks were originally in his car.

@Chris - Haven't yet. Didn't have the time last night after I got it home from the shop

[B4TT]

You won't get a lot of movement Morgan, I know the B4 is nearly impossible to move by hand LOL, front or rear.

[RX25SE]

Morgs,

As chris mentioned if they were siezed it would be awful to drive.
Also it would be oversteering like mad if you push it.

[Morgan]

Mustn't be seized then.

I mean, it's stiff, but not horrible...

[SUBARU]

The billies were quite stiff when I had them in the RX too. Not much movement at all.

I'd say they aren't frozen.
I'd say the suspension place thinks they are frozen, rather than very stiff.
I'd say they want to make money.

If it tracks well, turns well, stops well, blah, blah, you're probably good.

Here's a test for you... Find an area of road that will allow for you to test the travel of the suspension.... you know like this....

The weight of the car will let you know if there's any movement, if the are frozen, then your wheel will be dangling in the air.

For peace of mind though, get them checked.

[B4TT]

If you are unsure Morgan, take it to someone more trusted and have them suss it out.

^^ Like he said .

[Morgan]

Haha my wheel will definitely hang in the air! It does teeter on most driveways but I've noticed that with most lowered cars.

Driving into Hooters in convoy is quite funny as we all leave one hanging as we take the left turn into the driveway

[Morgan]

I don't know about you, but this doesn't look particularly seized to me?