Hello,

 

I'm new to this forum. Nice to meet ya all. I'm having issues with my wife's 1997 Outback Impreza Sport. Every time I make a slow, tight radius turn I hear / feel some sort of grinding noise from the rear of the car. Something like gears skipping teeth. It seems to be centered and not coming from either rear tire.

 

What is the likely cause of this? The car has about 95k miles on it. I did replace the 15" stock rims with rims / tires from a 2000 WRX. Could this cause AWD problems?

 

Thanks much!

 

-JrFreak

Hello,

 

I'm new to this forum. Nice to meet ya all. I'm having issues with my wife's 1997 Outback Impreza Sport. Every time I make a slow, tight radius turn I hear / feel some sort of grinding noise from the rear of the car. Something like gears skipping teeth. It seems to be centered and not coming from either rear tire.

 

What is the likely cause of this? The car has about 95k miles on it. I did replace the 15" stock rims with rims / tires from a 2000 WRX. Could this cause AWD problems?

 

Thanks much!

 

-JrFreak

 

I think I found the problem. I noticed the air pressure in the right rear was very low. I filled the tire up with air and the problem seems to be fixed. Didn't think low pressure would cause that big of a problem.

Impreza rear wheel bearings suck. I have the same car, and i've replaced them twice in 2 years (once a summer...). I finally had them swapped out with legacy bearings and haven't had a problem since.

Oh yeah, and that car is an off-roading machine! you can do almost anything in it.... or something

Impreza rear wheel bearings suck. I have the same car, and i've replaced them twice in 2 years (once a summer...). I finally had them swapped out with legacy bearings and haven't had a problem since.

Oh yeah, and that car is an off-roading machine! you can do almost anything in it.... or something

 

Ok. The air in the tire wasn't the problem. It did seem to help some, but after driving the car more it still has the same problem. Would a bad CV joint cause noise/grinding turning in both directions? Thanks.

Ok. The air in the tire wasn't the problem. It did seem to help some, but after driving the car more it still has the same problem. Would a bad CV joint cause noise/grinding turning in both directions? Thanks.

 

I took the car to the local Subaru dealer and here's what they told me. The grinding sound is a bad rear bearing. They quoted $200-600 to fit it... not knowing if I'd need a new hub, etc. They also said my transfer clutch is going bad. Total quote to fix both including labor was $2400. They said it would 'probably' be lower...:-\ I've been reading a bit on here about changing the bearing myself and just leaving the clutch go. I'm not spending $2400 on a car that books for $5000 and has 100k miles on it.

 

Man that grey 2006 WRX that sits behind the service dept. is looking mighty good right now.