95 Legacy LS sedan....height adjusters any good??

[SUBARU3]

  Are these things pretty easy to install and do they work?

   I need to boost the rear of a 95 Legacy sedan. These popped up and I was wondering if they might work on the original struts with 105K. Struts are fine...just saggy.  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B076KWYF34/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_5?smid=A3H0Q55MMMNUGX&psc=1

[GeneralDisorder]

No that's just silly. Get some King springs for the rear from Primitive Racing. Will stiffen it up and allow more cargo and trailer weight, etc. 

GD

[heartless]

if they are saggy, they are not fine - but whatever

 

 

[SUBARU3]

 That's what I figured. These just showed up when I was buying cat food!! LOL.   Thanks for the quick feedback!

[idosubaru]

Can you install springs?  They’re only $30 new from Subaru if they’re still available.  Or maybe you’re trying to avoid installing them?

The rears are really easy compared to fronts. 

[SUBARU3]

 OK...I looked at Primitive racing and sadly, I cannot justify the pricing for these. Over $300 for springs alone, but struts and other assembly components pushes this to over $1000 for just the rears. This is a great car and a daily driver, but the car alone is worth only a few thousand, even with the condition and low mileage. What are the other options for a "good quality", (Not junk) complete strut assembly that I can have delivered ready to install? I want to simple level the car. Car has 106K on it.

 

Thanks!

[GeneralDisorder]

There are no complete assemblies (that are not junk) for these cars. You don't need a spring compressor for the rears. You can just lean on them a bit and start the nut. The wheel arches are such that these cars always look like they are sagging and I'm about 95% that if you install anything that's "stock" it's going to look and act exactly the same as what you already have. A non-rusty car with 106k on it is pretty much guaranteed to have good springs, and at least marginal shocks (which have no effect on ride height). I would just get the King springs and put them on your existing struts and call it a day.  

Rick

[idosubaru]

1 hour ago, SUBARU3 said:

 OK...I looked at Primitive racing and sadly, I cannot justify the pricing for these. Over $300 for springs alone, but struts and other assembly components pushes this to over $1000 for just the rears. This is a great car and a daily driver, but the car alone is worth only a few thousand, even with the condition and low mileage. What are the other options for a "good quality", (Not junk) complete strut assembly that I can have delivered ready to install? I want to simple level the car. Car has 106K on it.

 

Thanks!

Presumably the car was level when new - so $70 KYB struts should get you right back to where you were.  At most add in $30 for new Subaru springs. That’s $100 per side.

aftermarket assemblies should be substantially different sizes than stock. So either way, if you’re looking for something other than stock - you could still need spacers or different springs. But that’s a different topic  

ive bought custom springs for a little more height.  Ground control used to sell springs and they were not very expensive though I don’t recall the price.

Some Subaru’s have readily available spacers too, which just slide onto the top do the strut for a small bump. I know they exist for the front and imagine they do for the rear  

 

The aftermarket strut options are tough.  I’ve seen new mounts fail in a day, new mounts balloon upwards such that I wouldn’t trust them more than to limp around locally, and complete new assemblies float so bad I can’t believe anyone would tolerate it.  I’m not very discerning in my “ride comfort” at all. I don’t even care how it rides, my roads are atrocious, gravel public roads, as long as it’s tolerable I’m happy - and some of the new units are awful.  I’ve had people bring me their subarus after a local shop tossed on the complete Monroe or Gabriel or whatever assemblies.  Hard to imagine they could drive that bad except that I’ve seen it. I guess there are some that are tolerable but there’s too many issues and I don’t trust longevity at all enough to try any out. 

Edited August 28, 2020 by idosubaru

[idosubaru]

It sounds like we might be conflating two topics here - needing new struts and raising the vehicle.  Which is it or is it both?

Are we sure ride height is due to struts?  Usually it’s springs, could it be bushings?

If it’s just raising the vehicle then new Subaru springs should do it.

At that point most people would install new struts with new springs.

Alternately you could try spacers. I’m not recommending these and often I think they’re like $30 but here’s an illustration which I think fits your vehicle:
https://www.amazon.com/spacers-Subaru-FORESTER-IMPREZA-Leveling/dp/B076KWYF34

But if the struts and springs are a quarter century old I think I’d start there. 

[SUBARU3]

  I thought that the lowered rear posture was most-likely from worn springs and or struts. This is strictly a road car, but a firmer rear might not hurt.  This is a TX car, so no rust and it has only 106K on it. I guess I'm hearing that I should just renew the struts with KYB, retain the old springs and maybe redo the soft parts of the assembly. If it's that easy to compress the rears, I can do that I guess.

[GeneralDisorder]

The springs set the height and trust me - they ARE NOT bad. That's just the way these cars were. They look like they sag in the back because the rear wheel arch is physically lower on the body.

Changing the struts will do absolutely nothing to the ride height. That is all set by the springs and with 106k...... changing them for another set of stock springs won't do anything. They don't wear out. 

GD

[SUBARU3]

 Are the Outback wagon springs able to be used on the AWD sedans? Will that add some height?

 

[idosubaru]

1 hour ago, GeneralDisorder said:

The springs set the height and trust me - they ARE NOT bad. That's just the way these cars were. They look like they sag in the back because the rear wheel arch is physically lower on the body.

Changing the struts will do absolutely nothing to the ride height. That is all set by the springs and with 106k...... changing them for another set of stock springs won't do anything. They don't wear out. 

GD

I agree - though tolerate me for a moment - Isn’t it commonly discussed that there are some Imprezas that appear to sit lower than stock in the rear after 20 years. this has caused many “saggy butt” comments, threads, spacers and swaps over the years.  What does that mean? 

I concur and am often the one replying not to replace springs - if these are original subaru springs on an average daily driver with no weird history then springs seem unlikely.

I’ve seen bad Subaru rear springs cause a bump steer (don’t know the correct term), the rear of the car jerks to the side over bumps at high speeds, and they didn’t make the car sit noticeably lower.  Those have also had a donkey load of miles over 200K and were treated like work trucks more than DDs. 

some legacys around that 95 era were recalled or had a special service call due to rusting springs that would fail early but that’s clearly not what’s going on here and I’m almost positive was front struts only. 

[idosubaru]

9 minutes ago, SUBARU3 said:

 Are the Outback wagon springs able to be used on the AWD sedans? Will that add some height?

 

They raise it 2” in the rear and may look raked and increase CV angle. But yes 95-99 outback 

Edited August 29, 2020 by idosubaru

[idosubaru]

How positive are you it’s sitting lower than jt should, or say, when you first got it?

can you post a picture?

although maybe it doesn’t matter if it’s sitting low?  You want the rear raised, that’s the bottom line right?

if so and you don’t need struts -  could you go with the spacers?

XTs have notably incongruent front to rear wheel arches too that do the same thing - can give appearances that it’s off particularly with suspension changes. 

Edited August 29, 2020 by idosubaru

[SUBARU3]

1 hour ago, GeneralDisorder said:

The springs set the height and trust me - they ARE NOT bad. That's just the way these cars were. They look like they sag in the back because the rear wheel arch is physically lower on the body.

Changing the struts will do absolutely nothing to the ride height. That is all set by the springs and with 106k...... changing them for another set of stock springs won't do anything. They don't wear out. 

GD

      I appreciate your feedback...I would be pissed if I spend the time and money and it looked the same!

Just weird, as I don't remember it looking low, but then  again, I never looked that close. So if I wanted a "visual" height increase, would Outback springs/struts fit? (Or would that be too high and look weird)?

[SUBARU3]

5 minutes ago, idosubaru said:

I agree - though tolerate me for a moment - Isn’t it commonly discussed that there are some Imprezas that appear to sit lower than stock in the rear after 20 years. this has caused many “saggy butt” comments, threads, spacers and swaps over the years.  What does that mean? 

I concur and am often the one replying not to replace springs - if these are original subaru springs on an average daily driver with no weird history then springs seem unlikely.

I’ve seen bad Subaru rear springs cause a bump steer (don’t know the correct term), the rear of the car jerks to the side over bumps at high speeds, and they didn’t make the car sit noticeably lower.  Those have also had a donkey load of miles over 200K and were treated like work trucks more than DDs. 

some legacys around that 95 era were recalled or had a special service call due to rusting springs that would fail early but that’s clearly not what’s going on here and I’m almost positive was front struts only. 

 No rust anywhere on this car. Texas ...no salt and DRY!

[idosubaru]

OBW struts in legacy is common. Its a 2” lift.  You can find a picture and see what the rear clearance looks like.

[SUBARU3]

6 minutes ago, idosubaru said:

They raise it 2” in the rear and may look raked and increase CV angle. But yes 95-99 outback 

 Wow...2" might be a lot!

 

[idosubaru]

5 minutes ago, SUBARU3 said:

      I appreciate your feedback...I would be pissed if I spend the time and money and it looked the same!

Okay so you are only interested in the height. Not struts at all. Got it. 

Id just install some spacers.

[SUBARU3]

[idosubaru]

3 minutes ago, SUBARU3 said:

 Wow...2" might be a lot!

 

Yeah I think you’re right.  I hate to make assumptions but I don’t think that’s what you’re after.  

I lift most of mine and have helped folks do exactly what you’re asking - OB struts on 95-99 legacy sedans, but I’d guess it’s more than you want, it’s likely to look the same as now except too high instead of too low, there could be minor alignment issues due to the lift changing wheel location and cv axle wear due to higher angles with no body spacers of the OB.   Not a big deal and us lifted folks wouldn’t flinch but it just doesn’t seem like the best solution in this case.

 

[SUBARU3]

[SUBARU3]

 It could also be just the optics on this car, as like was said, the opening on the front wheel well is so much larger.

[idosubaru]

Good pic - looks like what a general disorder said, and exactly what happens with XT6s like I said earlier.  The larger wheels make it more obvious. As the tire diameter increases the gap difference becomes a larger percentage of the total. 

A rough illustration: 

imagine the gap is 9” and 10”. The front is just over 10% more than the rear.  Small percentage.  If you increased tire diameter 8” then the gaps would be 1” and 2”, and the front is now 100% more.