Hello all,

 

I have a 1993 Legacy wagon, 2.2L, 5spd, 180k.

 

The ride is rough, I feel all of the spots on the road.  If the rear tires hit a manhole cover it yanks the car around. 

 

The tires some kind of studless tires (whatever that means, probably has something to do with snow) and the tread is almost gone, but I don't think that new tires alone will necessarily fix my problem.

 

The tires are worn pretty evenly.  One is slightly more worn in the middle (overinflation?).  The front passenger tire was worn worse on the inside edge.  The other two were pretty even.  The tires were on the car when I bought it, and I reckon have been on it for the last 40k miles or so.

 

My first inclination is the shocks need replaced.  I was always told to do a 'bounce test' by pushing down on one corner of the car and seeing how many times it bounces up and down to test the shocks.  But this car doesn't bounce but once.  So by that old adage, the shocks are good. 

 

And I don't see any choppiness in the tread.  Or hear the tires vibrating.  I can take it to almost 90 without any significant vibration.

 

I looked up the shocks on autozone and they want $90 a piece for the cheapest one.  Plus almost $300 for a set of tires.  Sheesh, that totals out to more than I've got in the whole car!

 

Any ideas?

 

What gets me the most is when the rear tires hit a hole, even a slight one, and it yanks the car around like you wouldn't believe.   I can live with the rest, but I've never had a car do this before.

 

 

 

Hit the yard and find a good used set of KYB struts.  Many ears will bolt right up.  With the years and the miles yes the struts are most likely shot.  You can pull the boot up and see if you can see where the fluid has leaked out.  Dead strut for sure.

get some tires and an alignment, I bet that will take car of a lot of the problem. my 97 legacy is kind of rough in relation to feeling the road, and has worn out goodyears currently but she doesn't get yanked about like that

i just priced monroe struts for my 98 outback at rockauto.com for $275 shipped.

plus there is a good rebate from monroe.

 

check it out.

 

but good used would probably be cheaper.

Edited March 12, 201313 yr by johnceggleston

I'd check out the mount as well as the strut.  I had the same thing going on in my wagon (93 legacy fwd 5spd) a couple years ago, was a a blown strut and broken mount.  Hitting bumps at high speed was pretty dicey, the rear end would move around quite a bit.  Easy enough to check the mounts in a wagon.

make sure the tires aren't over-inflated.

 

a 93 could have several bad bushings in control arms too.

You may not be aware that Subies NEED to have all 4 tires having within one quarter inch of the same circumference. Nasty, expensive things happen to the all wheel drive system if they are not. From what you describe of your tires, you need a new set, now.