efseiler Posted July 19, 2014 Share Posted July 19, 2014 One of the wheels on my Forester droops from time to time compared to the other ones. Sometimes it's on level with the other wheels but more often than not it's lower than the other ones. Normally I wouldn't care much but it's chewing up one of my tires! I'm thinking maybe it's the shock/strut but what else could it be? A spring...mounts? A visual inspection doesn't reveal anything obviously amiss... Thanks for your input... --Damien Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairtax4me Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 So the wheel appears to be closer to the body of the car? Make sure all tires are aired up to the correct pressure. Park on level ground and measure from the wheel center to the bottom lip of the fender. Compare left to right. A weak spring will cause one corner to sit the lowest and the opposite corner to sit the highest. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prwa101 Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 Id say your springs/struts are shot. Get some new kyb's and springs and if you want a little stiffer ride get some raised king springs from primitive. Prwa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gloyale Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 Rear springs espescially can break from rust......Your in Vermont soooo..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rooster2 Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 Rear springs espescially can break from rust......Your in Vermont soooo..... more likely spring is bad, not strut. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
efseiler Posted July 21, 2014 Author Share Posted July 21, 2014 So the wheel appears to be closer to the body of the car? Yes, that's correct. OK but if it's a bad spring how could the problem be intermittent? Sometimes the wheel clearance is normal but much of the time it sits impacted in the wheel well.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted July 21, 2014 Share Posted July 21, 2014 intermittent is odd, but it won't be with a new spring. i pulled out a failed spring last year - the car was slammed on that corner and unstable at highway speeds. very odd feeling, on bumps the back end would just "randomly" fishtail. i was surprised to find no discernable difference between the failed spring and the new one. every characteristic lying on the floor it was identical. while different than yours, i'd view the failure modes/symptoms of springs as gray rather than black and white. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
efseiler Posted July 22, 2014 Author Share Posted July 22, 2014 I guessed the strut assembly must've gotten damaged/bent so I went ahead and ordered pair of struts thinking it's best to keep it balanced. It seemed odd to me that the tire would sit right sometimes and other times not... When I get it finally repaired I'll post back and tell you what the problem ultimately was. --Damien Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idosubaru Posted July 22, 2014 Share Posted July 22, 2014 I guessed the strut assembly must've gotten damaged/bent was it in a significant incident? ever had an alignment? have the tires warn evenly? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
efseiler Posted July 22, 2014 Author Share Posted July 22, 2014 No the tires aren't wearing evenly...the one that is mounted in that well is getting uneven wear. I don't know because I've only had the vehicle for a few thousand miles....I'm hammering out all the bugs, you see... :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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