sparky11

No, I'm in Ohio. We had a 5" per hour storm that caused the city reservoir to overflow so heavily that its drainage creek couldn't handle it. The house basement / garages sit about 6 ft above the creek in a valley that runs thru town. The water overflowed the banks by about 6 feet and trashed the car, new truck, new 32' 5th wheel camper, garages and an apartment to the tune of $200,000+ dollars. What a mess that was!

The two vehicles were submerged for about 4 hours and probably could have been salvaged had they been attended to right after the water went down, however they set around for about two weeks before they were towed away. That being said I still would not want them even if they had been given to me after they sat that long wet. If I could have got them right away I know I could have dried them out and had little or no problems as I have done flood damage restoration for years. It is not for the average person or faiant of heart.

Another thing to consider, you did not specify if it was flooded with salt water or fresh. Salt water--don't even consider it! The longer any car sits wet the less likely it is to be worth repairing. We had two vehicles lot to fresh water flood damage, a brand new at the time 2006 Ford F150 loaded XLT and a 1990 Pontiac Grand Prix that was in good condition. Totaled

If it wasn't there before the work was done it just sounds suspicious to me. Something may not have been completely tightened up, or reinstalled correctly. Stuff happens. What they did is not rocket science.

I should clarify that I know it is not an upper strut bearing or spring problem. Its feel is similar to the strut / knuckle bolts being not tight enough allowing it to shift under stress. Those have not been touched since I got the car 3 years ago and there is no marks or evidence they are moving. I had that happen before after having a car aligned. That's what happens when you don't do things yourself. I just didn't have access to an alignment rack anymore.

Is it clunk or a pop? I'm chasing a similar noise on my 97 legacy left front suspension. I can't find anything loose at all, yet when I turn quickly left or right I get a pop from the left that I can feel. I can reproduce it by sawing the wheel back and forth at medium speeds putting a fair amount of stress on the suspension. I just replaced the left axle but it was there before i did that. I had the ball joint out of the knuckle and it looks/ feels ok however I'm leaning that direction. At this point there is no abnormal tire wear, or handling problems.

As easy as it is to replace the axle that is exactly what I would do. With a bunch of miles on the axle + torn outer boot and who knows how long the joint has been eating dirt, just replace it. There should be no twist play at all and little to none shaft movement side to side, and certainly no noise whatsoever. Rebooting the outer joint is a pain and generally not successful. New axles are available at the national parts chains for about $70.00 new, but beware thay are Chinese made and they can break immediately, or never, and anything in between. I put one in last may and the inner joint broke within a month and was replaced under warranty. I use them simply because my closest dealer is over 50 miles away and the national chain is 2 miles away, and I can replace the axle myself easily and quickly. If you a paying someone to replace them, than use factory remanufactured parts from Subaru for a once and done job.

Have you checked the power steering reservoir to make sure there is fluid in the system and it is at the correct level? You may have a leak.

Was this there right after the shocks/struts were replaced? Was it there before? If this happened just after or soon after the repair it sounds like something could have come loose. Were you told other parts were needed in the suspension when the struts were replaced and did they show what they were talking about?

It's not that I "prefer" drum brakes -- it's just what the brightons have. A yearly inspection / service / maintenance minimizes and usually prevents most if not all sticking / rusting / noise issues etc. This guy's looking for the differences between the outback and brighton trying to decide on a daily driver. Pros' and Con's for each but they don't really amount to much as it depends on what fits your needs/wants. The outback will be a little more maintenance than the brighton but to ME that is a non issue as I can work on anything.

Lower ball joints that are worn will give you that feeling. It's very disconcerting and unsafe.

Yeah, rear drum brakes but they work just fine -- it's not a performance car. Yeah its a basic car but with ice cold a/c, automatic awd, I find its easy to live with, predictable and safe and I don't have to think twice about using it for anything, something that can't be said of the loaded OBXT that has spent the winter in the garage.

Don't forget that ALL Brightons have the more reliable 2.2L engine and the Outback has the more troublesome 2.5L. Yes the Brighton is basic but it also means less to break. I do miss cruise control, but I have the rear wiper and bumper cover protector and added rear speakers as the wiring is there. Goes in the snow just fine and ground clearance has never been an issue although I like the ride height of the outback better. I'll just add outback struts later to fix that. Oh and the 2.2 performance with the automatic is just fine because the Brighton is also lighter than the Outback.

My father-in-law bought a 2010 legacy sedan. I was able to drive it for extended periods in city and on the highway. I have to say I liked the way it drove and it never seemed to lack for power. The CVT transmission performed flawlessly. Having never driven a cvt equipped car I really curious about how it would perform and I was impressed. It was much better than the 08 AT Legacy sedan he had previously. Nice roomy interior and comfortable ride, but homely styling and ugly dash for sure.

Try and find a used driveshaft? I'm surprised that no one bothered to check all the rotational items while it was on the rack for the tires--especially when one of the complaints was a vibration. Checking for other causes was always a standard procedure when I was working on the line no matter what shop I worked at. At least you didn't have to bear the cost of a complete set of tires. That vibration from the driveshaft should have been a "seat of the pants" type. If rotating tires f/r or s/s didn't change location/frequency you usually can rule out tires. A lot of times we would swap the tire/rims on the problem car with a known good set to eliminate them as the problem. Of course easy enough to do at a new car dealership. Driveline vibrations can sometime be a B to find.

Make sure clutch disc is centered, of course or it will not go back together easily or at all. Otherwise no real difference in the swap procedure, at least that I can call to mind. I have the same Haynes manual and it is pretty good, for a non factory manual. If you have pulled / swapped before with automatic should be no problem with this.

Yeah ,the exhaust manifold stud / nuts will be the biggest problem. nuts were rust welded to the studs so the studs came out -- no big deal there, pretend they are bolts and put them back in in my case.

The hardest part may be seperating the engine/ transmision but it will come apart, sticks on the dowel pins. I didn't even use an engine lift, just floor jacks, and a neighbor to help me lift the engine out and set the replacement in. Not the best practice but what I had to do. used a plywood sheild between the a/c condenser and engine to prevent damage to the condenser.

You probably won't have any trouble using hand tools at all. I did mine with mostly hand tools and it had more corrosion on the fasteners than that one! Don't be afraid of that one at all. It is such an easy swap and you'll have a great car. As for the "low Compression" If you buy it right you might find that the timing belt jumped slightly and it may be an easy fix.

There is nothing there that looks like a problem at all. If you think you may have a frozen fastener (not likely from what I see in the pic) use some PB Blaster, etc on them a couple days before beginning the swap. Also power impact tools can break free a fastener that would possibly snap off with hand tools. You are not likely to have any trouble at all! I usually reassemble "problem" fasteners with never seize lubricant unless they should have loctite.

All tires have their belts hand layed up in the molds. The difference is in the tolerance specs for the mold for the finished product. Michelin has the tightest tolerances of all manufacturers and is a pricey tire. Do they make the best tires? That is subjective, however I have found that I have found that their build quality is superior so they have the least problems. That being said, if you have more than 1 tire that has a problem rotating may not help you find or pinpoint which one it is. Premature wear can be suspension problems or just a matter of the tire rubber compound not being right. You'll never know that, the manufacturer won't admit it and neither will the distributer/installer. If your tire wear is even and smooth on all 4 with regular rotations chances are it is just soft rubber, notwithstanding the tire mileage wear claim. You do have a lot of miles on the car so confirming that you also do not have worn parts is also prudent. A car cannot be properly aligned with worn parts and a good alignment tech should be able to pinpoint the problem area during the process.

The speed at which the vibration occurs can change as well as the belts can shift and squirm within the tire as it is rolling. I've seen them produce physical knots and bulges on the tread at their worst -- basically the tire was ready to fail or blow out at that point. Most people are riding around on tires that have one problem or another that doesn't affect the safety of the tire but gives them a less than comfortable ride, and they just don't realize it.

Most certainly a tire with bad, broken or shifted belts can balance out fine. Its the tire not rolling true with weight on it that causes a vibration at certain speeds. It can wobble slightly, or be out of round or have what is called force variation problems from improperly overlapped belts. Tires take a lot of abuse, and you can get brand new tires that have belt issues because tires are still made by hand in that the belts are all layed within the tire mold by a person and that can cause in-consistancy from tire to tire. It happens across all brands but is more prevelant on the cheaper / lower end tires and not so much on the premium / high end like Michelin. Also all balancers are not created equal and not all shops care about precision balancing a wheel / tire either.

Absolutely!!

170k on my 97 Brighton. Drives and rides like new on unbelievably original struts/shocks. Perfect no rust body at all and it lives in the rust belt too. It is used every day not afraid to drive it anywhere. And what does $2k buy anyhow. You are getting a low mileage, sophisticatedly simple AWD car that is as handy as a leatherman tool and easy to repair and cheap to run. If the car overall is decent, even if it has a mechanical flaw its worth spending the money on and fixing IMHO.