pugelly Posted September 11, 2004 Share Posted September 11, 2004 Hi I own a '04 WRX with now 3500 miles on it. Since I bought it (never noticed one test drive) it vibrated in steering wheel moderately past 65MPH. They rebalanced tires, test drove and did not work, swapped wheels from another new WRX, same thing. They ordered new axles and a the vibration has lessened to slight to occasionally above slight. They recently rebalanced the tires whcih made no difference. I noticed that in the morning, when first driving, it does a similar feel in the wheel. The next step is ????. I was thinking I will be due for tire rotation and maybe this will help and point to the existing tires or rims?? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bajavwnsoobnut Posted September 11, 2004 Share Posted September 11, 2004 If I were you I would go talk to the service guys at the dealership you take it to for warranty work and explain to them that you have a vibration problem still and want something done about it and also look into the lemon laws for your state cause it might be a case that they need to take back that car and give you a new one for me fo my 04 OBS I am in for the 3rd time for the CD player cause the first one overheated and damaged a couple CD's of my wifes and all the cd's were hard to handle after ejecting them so I finaly got a replacement after talking to them the second visit to the dealership (first was a cold start issue and a trim piece kept popping out and had to be ordered and also radio was mentioned and they said it was normal for the tray above the radio to warp, second was replacement of trim piece and also ordering of the radio, third time was the first oil change and replacement of the radio which doesn't even read CD's!!) and now I have a Appt on monday mornin for the replacement's replacement to be put in and if that one doesn't work I am just gonna go back in and say to grab one from a car off the lot and make sure its one of the cd/tape players Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
legacy2.5 Posted September 13, 2004 Share Posted September 13, 2004 try to find a shop that has a hunter wheel balancer that has the capability to road forcer your tires. it basically measures the pressure of the tread on the road and if needed has you move the remount the tire to a different part of the rim. a lexus or infinity shop has this stlye machine because they are more strict than other companies on there raod force measurements. i know th nissan dealer i work for has this machine. I own a '04 WRX with now 3500 miles on it. Since I bought it (never noticed one test drive) it vibrated in steering wheel moderately past 65MPH. They rebalanced tires, test drove and did not work, swapped wheels from another new WRX, same thing. They ordered new axles and a the vibration has lessened to slight to occasionally above slight. They recently rebalanced the tires whcih made no difference. I noticed that in the morning, when first driving, it does a similar feel in the wheel. The next step is ????. I was thinking I will be due for tire rotation and maybe this will help and point to the existing tires or rims?? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoahDL88 Posted September 13, 2004 Share Posted September 13, 2004 did you get an alignment? that could help, my dad had a tracer wagon that needed an alignment every 3 months, of course me driving it sideways didn't help it track straight either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spanky_pete Posted September 13, 2004 Share Posted September 13, 2004 I'm getting that problem right now with my '04 at 24k miles, but I know for certain it's tires. The Potenzas they use on the Imprezas are horrid tires. I'm waiting for winter to arrive and I'm getting some aggressive snow tires mounted. The wife's '02 went through a set of tires in about 25k miles. Your mileage is too low for tire wear to be an issue. But you could still be dealing with crap tires as part of your problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pugelly Posted October 15, 2004 Author Share Posted October 15, 2004 Update, the vibration is now pretty much a mute point. Subaru dealer would not rebalance as they stated it was ok at 65 mph (not always the case) but acknowledged it above 75MPH+. They also recommended Hunter balancer, I went to a decent local independent tire shop with this machine and they said road force was ok however a tire was out of balance and asked who used the cheap weights (Subaru dealer did:rolleyes: ). The tires were also rotated too. I guess I will just the dealer for major services at 30k possibly/warranty work (free loaners since I purchased car there. Not Subi specific independants in the area unfortunately..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sios Posted October 15, 2004 Share Posted October 15, 2004 Wow, already doing the rotation? Well, I for one feel lucky now, having that same 3500 miles put on my '04 OBS without any problems at the moment. Although, there was some bad gas trouble (or so I believe) from the car being manufactured a whole year and one-half before I bought it and it had 228 miles on the odometer (first full tank of gas could not have been used up within that time). If I had been experiencing as much trouble as Pugelly was I think I'd be trying to get them to take the car back. My OBS does real fine, far as handling goes. Have had the speed over 100 MPH on a deserted stretch of resurfaced freeway in the middle of the night. A smooth ride. Likewise at all speeds below that, except for the usual "feeling" the road. Real nice on winding roads (at moderate speeds), gravel roads, too. The automatic transmission is another matter, with its revved downshift into 2nd and sloppy cruising speed change hesitations; hoping it's a matter of learning or AT break-in, but not so sure anymore. Back to the subject of wheels, or tires... My fault, probably, for not checking tire pressure after getting the car home. Expected the dealership would have done that during "detailing" (ok, ok. Yeah, never expect anything!). All tires were about 6 to 8 PSI too low a few weeks afterward, when I finally did check them. Rechecked yesterday and all were near the correct PSI of 32 for front and 29 rear*, down by 2 since 25 degrees colder now than was a month ago. So maybe they lost only half pound in that time, but too close to call. Point being, apparently low tire pressure doesn't cause obvious poor handling or whatever else. I'd think it would be, if very unequal side to side, though. So that came to mind when I read this message thread here. Perhaps if I were accustomed to this car that would be easier to notice. Right now I'm still never sure if a tire could be flat and I'd realize it or not. *{editing note: I keep remembering rear tires as being 30 psi, in case I load it down with something in the back! sorry, changed it to say 29 now. And yes, I'm probably being too much of a perfectionist here.} Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bajavwnsoobnut Posted October 15, 2004 Share Posted October 15, 2004 well except for the tire pressure stuff sios I agree with you almost all the way but heh heh heh heh I have a 5 speed so it's more funner that way hehe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sios Posted October 16, 2004 Share Posted October 16, 2004 well except for the tire pressure stuff sios I agree with you almost all the wayOh? Did I say anything besides tire pressure stuff? LOL "speeds of fury", eh? You're obviously someone that absolutely must have a clear human to gear interaction. Was thinking I saw your car pic at subaruoutback.org before so I went to find it, not that I looked very long. I'm the overtalkative noob with a soob called roo over there. Heck, I'm almost a newbie everywhere I go anymore. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bajavwnsoobnut Posted October 16, 2004 Share Posted October 16, 2004 ummm havn't even heard of that site before but sounds cool might check it out in the mornin then and well heh I have been mostly old school with subies until we got a forester with the auto and that was like sit and wait till it downshifts and now with the OBS it's like wheeeeeeee I can have power on demand yay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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