09 Impreza 2.5i steering wheel vibration. Tried lots of things already

[Hamsamsquanch]

Hey all! I am coming up on 6 years of ownership of my 09 Impreza and it has had the same shaky steering wheel problem the whole time. It only happens on certain roads and speeds over 65mph. It's also not specific to steering any direction or braking/accelerating. But again, only certain pavement compounds seems to cause it.

 

Things I have done since buying the car (not all due to chasing this problem btw):

- all new struts, springs and tophats

- new sway bar endlinks all around

- WRX rear sway bar addition (none stock)

- new wheels and tires

- alignments (At least 3, all by reputable shops)

- brake rotors and pads all around, twice

- tire rotations with every other oil change

- wheel re-balancing a few times

- trans and diffs drain and fill (auto trans)

 

The car is 100% stock otherwise. CV's look good and engine/trans mounts aren't shredded. Only CEL to ever show up is P0420 intermittently.

 

Anything else I should be looking at? Car has 140k miles on it and has been in my possession since 81k. I did notice while helping a buddy with his rig the other day, that my steering wheel has literally zero slop. All the other cars around me have some slop in the steering. Could this by chance be my issue?

[Fairtax4me]

It's the road. Not the car. Quit worrying about it.

[Hamsamsquanch]

It's the road. Not the car. Quit worrying about it.

Would if I could :/ The steering wheel moves about an inch back and forth when I go over certain roads, but is buttery smooth on old back country roads regardless of speed. My arms actually went numb after 3 hours of driving on I5 today and my chest is still sore, 4 hours after getting home. I also had to quit driving this car to work recently since they re-paved I205 with not Subaru friendly pavement.

 

If it wasn't actually causing problems with my body, I would write it off as just the roads. There is also the fact that none of my other cars (98 Impreza L, 91 Loyale, and an 03 Civic Si) have this issue with the same exact roads.

[Hamsamsquanch]

And before someone says that I'm just being a baby, a month ago I did a 5k mile road trip in the 98 Impreza and didn't have any soreness whatsoever. I also never saw anywhere near as severe steering wheel movement as the 09, and I know the alignment isn't perfect on the 98.

[DaveT]

I am not familiar with the particular model...  But I used to have steering wheel shake at certain speeds when I was running the white wagon wheels on my GL. It would sometimes come and go as the 2 front tires shifted phase [one turning slightly slower than the other] - when the out of balance weight is in the same place on both wheels, [say the top as example] no shake.  As the off balance weight drifts to different timing, during even a long slow turn, the shake would build to a maximum then fade away.  It turned out to be balancing, and the ONLY place that could do it right, was a dealer.

[GeneralDisorder]

Front lower control arm bushings. These are always shot by 75k. Replace with poly.

 

GD

[Hamsamsquanch]

I am not familiar with the particular model... But I used to have steering wheel shake at certain speeds when I was running the white wagon wheels on my GL. It would sometimes come and go as the 2 front tires shifted phase [one turning slightly slower than the other] - when the out of balance weight is in the same place on both wheels, [say the top as example] no shake. As the off balance weight drifts to different timing, during even a long slow turn, the shake would build to a maximum then fade away. It turned out to be balancing, and the ONLY place that could do it right, was a dealer.

Thanks for the reply Dave! Sounds like different shakes, but I am getting a set of summer wheels and tires for the 98 soon. So I'll have to throw them on the 09, after verifying no balancing issues on the 98, to see if a 3rd set of new wheels fixes it.

 

Do you know of anyone on here that has played with the steering racks on these things? I'd love to dial in a hair of slop just to see if that fixes it, but I also don't want to just randomly start turning bolts on the rack. The car has been great otherwise, but this problem pretty much makes it unusable now that all the highways here are paved with the "shaky" compound.

[GeneralDisorder]

Don't touch the steering rack. Although it probably is going to need a new pinion/valve assembly sooner or later. They leak like a horse traders mule.

 

GD

[Hamsamsquanch]

Don't touch the steering rack. Although it probably is going to need a new pinion/valve assembly sooner or later. They leak like a horse traders mule.

 

GD

Thanks for the warning. Could that assembly failing be what is going on here with the tight/overly sensitive steering wheel? I don't know how the previous owners treated the thing, so they could have been turning at the limits for the whole 81k. It hasn't ever lost fluid. But I don't know if it has ever been replaced now that I think about it.

[Hamsamsquanch]

Front lower control arm bushings. These are always shot by 75k. Replace with poly.

 

GD

Will do that next weekend! Might explain some of the squeaks too. Edited May 6, 2018 by Hamsamsquanch

[GeneralDisorder]

Thanks for the warning. Could that assembly failing be what is going on here with the tight/overly sensitive steering wheel? I don't know how the previous owners treated the thing, so they could have been turning at the limits for the whole 81k. It hasn't ever lost fluid. But I don't know if it has ever been replaced now that I think about it.

If it's not leaking its fine. There should be no play. That's a good thing.

 

GD

[Gloyale]

 

 

The car is 100% stock otherwise. CV's look good and engine/trans mounts aren't shredded. Only CEL to ever show up is P0420 intermittently.

 

 

You can't tell squat from looking at CVs

 

I would replace them.

 

side to side steering wheel shake is almost always outer CV joint.

Edited May 6, 2018 by Gloyale

[Hamsamsquanch]

You can't tell squat from looking at CVs

 

I would replace them.

 

side to side steering wheel shake is almost always outer CV joint.

Didn't feel any play in them, but 140k is probably enough to kill a set. I'll have to see what I can get a set of CV's for since I'll be that far into it for the control arm bushings next weekend.

[GeneralDisorder]

Intense vibrations from the inner CV's are possible. But usually not on something that new with that mileage. Also tends to only happen when they get hot. Let them cool and it stops. Also there's no way they would have lasted 80k with this joint vibration. Would have split the boots or torn themselves apart if they were binding for that long. I would say unlikely.

 

Rear lower front control arm bushings will be BADLY torn at 165k. They are basically shot at 75k. Every one of them. Bad design. Subaru has changed it.

 

GD

[Hamsamsquanch]

Intense vibrations from the inner CV's are possible. But usually not on something that new with that mileage. Also tends to only happen when they get hot. Let them cool and it stops. Also there's no way they would have lasted 80k with this joint vibration. Would have split the boots or torn themselves apart if they were binding for that long. I would say unlikely.

 

Rear lower front control arm bushings will be BADLY torn at 165k. They are basically shot at 75k. Every one of them. Bad design. Subaru has changed it.

 

GD

Any kits in particular you would recommend that has all of the front end bushings? Might as well just do all of them while it's apart.

[GeneralDisorder]

Whiteline makes the rear bushing in a polyurethane variant for $117 or so. They might make the front but usually we don't bother doing them as they are fine on the non turbo cars. Ball joints will be accessible as well as swap bar links. Genetic replacements are fine for both.

 

Get the Whiteline bushings from www.rallysportdirect.com

 

These bushings are pressed in, and DO require a hydraulic press to replace. Also the new bushing has a specific orientation it needs to be installed in with the voids in the bush perpendicular to the axis of the front bush.

 

GD

Edited May 7, 2018 by GeneralDisorder

[Hamsamsquanch]

Sorry an update took so long on this one, but I can't stand it when I am searching forums for info and people don't say how they resolved an issue.

That rear control arm bushing is a POS. I got a poly bushing kit (Energy Suspension) for the whole front end and the shakes are all gone. Also did ball joints, wheel bearings (Timken) and tie rod ends since I was getting an alignment and they were cheap enough to replace all at once. Gotta go back in and reboot a CV axle that shredded the outboard boot soon as I got my summer tread on the car, though. 

Thanks for the input guys! Drives better than it ever has before, at least during my ownership. Total cost was like $600 since I had to have a shop do some of the press work. Used all MOOG parts except the wheel bearings, so I'll try and report back on how they hold up. It was already chewing through the endlinks since lowering, so I don't expect those to last too long.