Loose Rear Suspension

[sid_vicious]

2005 Outback Wagon, 98,000 miles.

 

When I go over even small bumps in the road, the rear end of the car wanders. It isn't an up-down bouncing, but more like the whole back end of the car is shifting side-to-side.

 

It seems that if the struts were shot, the springs would be bouncing undamped, right? I don't see any bushings that are broken either. I guess I'm not really sure what to be looking for, but the only thing I have found is that when I grab the sway bar and pull it back and forth there is a lot of motion in the end links. Is that normal?

 

The tires are full. The loose feeling from the back of the car feels like what would happen if the sidewalls were flexing a lot, but I've checked the pressure and it's right on.

 

Any ideas? The car been used for some towing if that helps at all.

 

Thanks,

Andrew

[lmdew]

Take it to an alignment shop and get an estimate. The sway bar should be under a bit of a load when just sitting there. If its loose, something is broken or worn.

[naru]

Loose wheel bearings? Jack it up and try to shake the wheels around.

[bheinen74]

The problem is the 2005+ Outback design.

mine does it too. my old subarus never did anything of the sort. look at all the posts for others with problems. Everyone is complaining. please file a complaint at: https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq/Consumer.cfm

 

it takes a few minutes, you need your vin number to do this.

[hankosolder2]

To the OP-

 

Did the car do this when it was newer? I think that's the key to determining whether the issue is the claimed suspension geometry issue in newer Outbacks (which presumably can't be solved by parts replacement) or wear/tear of suspension parts, an alignment issue etc.

 

 

Nathan

[bheinen74]

the car has issues.

my car has issues.

hundreds of others with this year 2005/2006 have issues

the more that file the complaint and describe what it is doing, the more chance we have of a fix from subaru.

the nhtsa database logs the vin number range and can narrow things down and that may help.

[sid_vicious]

I'm the second owner and can't speak for its behavior when it was new, but I too have owned other Outbacks from earlier years and never in a million years would have imagined that what it's doing is not the result of something being wrong. It really catches me off guard sometimes.

 

I haven't heard any serious wheel bearing noises, but maybe the occasional hint of a protest from the passenger-side rear bearing. I'll jack it up and see if there's play there.

 

I'll wait to file a complaint until I know for sure there isn't something worn out. If everything checks out fine with the suspension, a complaint is definitely warranted. It would be astounding for a car in proper working order to act like that.