vanya gant

well, not quite, but very worrying.
STI V WRX. whistle from rear nearside window starts at 120. screams at above 130. passenger at the back says the window then starts to resonate, and alternately moves about 1 cm in and out at the top, and feels like it's about to blow out. seriously inhibits speeds above that, all not on HM british roads of course. can't open the window at those speeds because of the gale that then blows around, and the ear drums go as well. I can't spot any difference at all in the way the window sits on the rubbers either. Any ideas? thanks!

abetts

Yeah. Someone help Vanya out. Those German cops can get very fed up picking the bits of glass off the autobahn.

imh

Not to mention the bits of the rear passenger who gets sucked out
No doubt Justy will mention the non European thickness of the glass of these grey imports - which was what one dealer said to me to which the reply was "Subaru in Japan are selling unsafe cars then are they?"
"Well err.." Hmmm

Nic Doczi

Not exactly related but on my STI V 4 door, the nearside (lefthand) front window is much reluctant (than the drivers side) to fully close.

Is there a difference bewteen the two sides?

Nic

vanya gant

Not that i can see. had the car from new, now done 2500 miles, handles perfectly, not a scratch on it - so I can't see that it's bent....

clarence

Take a look at the etchings on the glazing, they should all have 'E' marks, meaning Euro homologation. It wouldn't make sense for them to hold inventory of 2 different specs of similar glasses that are fitted to the same bodyshells.
If the 'E' marks are there, then those telling stories about unsafe imports should shut up.
People just seem to go on that Japanese spec cars have bad brakes, tyres etc because they have a lower speed limit. Well, to my experience the Japanese expressway drivers drive as fast as we do in the UK on motorways, especially at night. If a Jap spec car can handle a cruising speed of 120-130km/h with ease, then there would be no problem cruising the motorways here at 70-80mph. People in Japan also like to tune their WRXs to the extreme, and doing 100+mph at night frequently.

adrian

Ive had 150 on the clock of my MY98 UK saloon with no problems. Don't Japanese spec models have thinner glass than British models?.

abetts

All the glass on my STi v.3 is "e" marked.

Being serious about the window prob. My car does not suffer from it at speeds up to 145 mph but I reckon it could be that Subarus are more prone to this than other cars because of the frameless windows. No doubt someone with better than my "O" level physics will correct me but I reckon it is due to the glass flapping around due to differential pressures inside the car and out..Bernoullis principle and all that.

clarence

It means that WRX and UK turbos use the same spec glass.
If it's a case of pressure difference, will turning on the fan and switch off the recirculation facility help?

John Cornwall

I have a 99 uk spec saloon picked it up in January , on my first attempt at seeing what it could really do just as the needle hit 155 mph the N/S/R window fell inwards over the rubber seal with one almighty whistle and rush of air. After realizing that it wasn't a blow out my passanger leaned back dropped the window and then closed it again which appeared to stop the noise and reseat the glass. I havn't been in a position to push it over a 130 clock speed since so i have no idea if it will happen again and am in no rush to try it . Adrenaline is definatly brown.

vanya gant

sound very similar to my experience - and same window too. Thanks all for your suggestions - I'll try various things out. And yes, no evidence that my windows are any different from the UK models. It definitely is very unpleasant when you're trying to concentrate on what's ahead and is so deafening that there's no way you're gonna push it the other side of 160........tried the opening-and-reseating trick to no avail. Identical problem.
so, anybody else also had this - and FIXED IT?

Mark McE

Not fixed it i'm afraid - it does seem generic - i've got a friend with a brand new turbo who's had it back to the dealer about 5 or 6 times to get the seals and door hanging adjusted with no success. I reckon it's down to the stupid frameless glass design. A lot of imprezas seem to make a nasty rattly noise if you close the door with the glass half way open so it might be worth having a look at the runners for the windows to see if they're either loose or made out of something too flimsy for the job.

Cheers, Mark.

vanya gant

thanks mark.

all i needed was a bit of victim support.
I'll play around with the (E marked and pucker) window, and see whether seating something within the door panel might just give it a bit more resolve in the don't-blow-out-at-ridiculous-speeds stakes. in the meantime I'd better observe the speed limit. ish.