specialx

As you may or may not be aware the STI 7 onward original equipment rear shockers are prone to failing causing horrible knocking and banging noises coming from the rear of the car. Most Subaru dealers will replace these units under warranty (if you have some left) but they seem to use the same part so as you have probably already guessed in a few months they can fail again! The main problem we have found is that no major manufacturer’s are currently producing an aftermarket replacement for the STI models, this leaves coilovers as the only real replacement option, now coilovers are great but they are not for everyone due to their harder ride etc so we have been hard at work to develop a viable fix for this fault. We have reversed engineered a number of the offending shockers and found the fault!

This is where you come in we would like to ask all scoobynet users with an STI7 onward vehicles and mainly STI 8’s & 9’s who have come across this problem whether or not our fix would be appropriate or applicable for them.

In a nutshell we can recondition your faulty shockers or exchange them for £100 + vat per shock. Opposed to coilovers you will find that £200 for a complete fix does work out to be more cost affective and keeps the normal ride comfort you are used to.

Would this be something you are interested in? We are aware that if your car is under warranty you may not be bothered but if you are now out of warranty you should be!

The reason we say this is if interest is good we will invest money into the tooling and get the modification parts made in bulk thereby enabling us to honour the price.


Looking forward to your responses


Ads & The Scoobyclinic team


(also posted in Traders & suspension so not to miss anyone )

BlueSimon

I dont seem to have the problem with my STI9 (05sti?) two questions:

1) In your opinion, is the fault inevitable on all vehicles?

2) Is you fix perminent (ie normal shock/spring life)

Simon

MickeyWRX

yeah i just had my rear nearside shocker replaced at my 10,000 service last week on my MY05 WRX PPP, is this likely to be a reoccuring problem then?

scoobchrissy

iTrader: (1)

Yes !

siggy

cheers scoobyclinic
I have ver 8 sti. Just out of warranty so no help from subaru.
what do i do next??

bigknd

Same happened to my nearside rear shock on a MY06 STI. Dealers now have an uprated part which was fitted to both rears on mine (17k) so if your's go make sure you have the uprated ones fitted.

Specialx - I'm sure that theres a market for your replacement shocks for cars that are out of warranty

NeilP1

my uk 05 sti knocks bad

Aquanaut

Is this a very low speed noise?

Something is irritating me from the nearside rear - Help

T5NYW

iTrader: (4)

And they're dıfferent to the 01-04's!!!!!


Sometımes feels lıke you have thrupenny bıts for wheels on tıght turnıng/reversıng.

Most reckon average lıfe ıs about 15K mıles but not notıcable on the front but perhaps just tooo heave to notıce and are fubared

Tony

siggy

It is weird that it is only a slow speed knocking noise when the car is put through its paces there is no knocking!!! thats when the dampers are working harder!! there are threads on here saying graphite grease is whats needed!!!

MSM

MY03 STI PPP - had both rear shockers replaced twice under warranty, car now out of warranty & problem has returned. it appears to be worst at low speed. the last set were supposed to be the revised version from subaru.

ru'

Had (one?) replacement on my 05 wrx (NS rear) already, at next service (1,000 miles to go) I will need both replacing - the knocking is more pronounced when the shocks are 'warm'.

I hope they have uprated ones (i.e. fixed, fit for purpose) for the 05 WRX as well as the STI - anyone know?

Goon

Had this on my 02 STi, count yourselves lucky that most dealers are aware of this now, when I had the issue they were scratching their heads.

I sold the car because of this issue in the end, I'd say £100 to get them rebuilt was a good deal, I would have paid this originally just to keep the car on the road.

Sad state of affairs when an independant supplier is in a position to do what an offical dealer should be offering.

The Gaffer

Hi,
just a few points to clarify your questions.

We have had to go down this route as we have not been able to offer our customers a solution for their knocking shocks. A few after market warranties have stood on but only paying for one side.......???? The customer paying for the other, unfair we think, even more so when the units fail again in less than 10 months and the warranty company says go back to Subaru, we have paid once and we are not paying again, only to find all manner of doors closed at the main dealers, Oh its a Maltese import, sorry, Oh we didn’t fit them, take them off, we will take a look if they are faulty we will have to send them back and see what Subaru say, this could take 12 weeks, not a solution, especially they are going to supply the same unit again, it hasn’t exactly got the best track record.

The fault manifests at first as banging / knocking when moving slowly, turning slowly and / or reversing, it eventually gets worse knocking all the time. A temporary cure is to pack in a little more grease, but it doesn’t last long, in fact the grease causes dirt to stick to the leg, some of it getting past the scraper seal and aggravating the problem further.

We have spent a lot of time researching this problem and thank our customers who have been very patient putting up with the noises whilst we came up with a solution.

This thread is aimed at finding out how many people are interested in this fix so we know to go ahead with the tooling involved, if it’s a go then it will take about 12 weeks before we receive the components.

Hope the above answers your queries.
Many thanks
Kev.

Scoobybits

great idea kev get on with it .

BlueSimon

Stupid question, but have you approached subaru uk with your 'fix'?.

Simon

dr jim

iTrader: (1)

im intrested, having spent £800.00 for new shocks and top mounts and still being the same as before i will try anything!
Can you tell us what you have actullay done to fix the problem? i have stripped my old struts and i came to the conclusing that there was lateral play in the damper which would give a intermitent knock the only way i could see fixing this was with a longer sleeve inside the strut leg to minmise lateral movement.

scottish_jim

yep, I've got the problem again. i have a 52 plate STi7 and had the rear shocks replaced post warranty but they've gone again. I think thay lasted about 12 months. I'm a bit miffed to say the least.
Does anyone have a definitive reply from Subaru? I was thinking of writing to them.

Goon

Don't waste your energy, you'll get nowhere with them unfortunately, been there, done that.

zoney-WRX

i had my shocks replaced on my05 sti when it was 6 months old now the shocks they put in seemed to be a bit more chunky than the original 1s while i was talking to the service manager about the problem he said subaru had had the shocks redesigned so the problem didnt happen again

so far i havent heard any noise from them and all seems well

Stevesbluewrx

iTrader: (4)

Is this just a fault on STI's and not WRX models too?

I've had a strange clonking noise on my car for ages and dealer have said three times there is no fault? My car has just hit the 45k mark but I have taken out an extra years warranty to be on the safe side.

I am not faulting the main dealers as they are great and are very helpful. But the noise is driving me mad! I mostly hear it if it's been raining or cold.

Steve

blueangel

I should say not,I have this problem on my old 93wrx,every ferkin little pothole or lump at low speed,and its a big knock from the rear,and its not the spare rumbling about,cos there isn't one(reduced weight/lighter car)
Its up on the ramps at 2pm today!

davedipster

Inverted struts only m8. So sti's and 05 on wrx's.

dipster

jacksdad

I've got a knocking on the rear nearside. 05 wrx. Going into Subaru dealer next week under warranty. Will let you know the outcome.

StiDoc

I`ve had both rear struts and shocks replaced in August ( MY04 Sti ) and so far so good. They also replaced the front near side top mount as that area was knocking. The dealer told me they had "never" had any problems with the front suspension before. Unfortunately the front near and off sides are now both sounding like a bag of spanners at low speed and I`m guessing they`ll suggest replacing the shocks at the front as well ( another £1000 or so later - don`t even ask about it still being under warranty, v. long story).
I`d be very interested in a cheaper and more reliable solution from someone who seems to care more about their customers that just how much cash they can screw from them and how much of their time they can waste. If the guys at Scoobclinic can sort the problem I`ll be first in line ( despite having the 3 hour drive to get there ).

keep us posted

T5NYW

iTrader: (4)

BTW as soon as your Warranty runs out thıs ınheırent problem "common fault" wıll be yours so get ıt sorted well before ıt does.

But at least Scoobyclınıc repaır bıll wıll be far less

IMHO

Tony

drsuess

yep id be very interested

WRXewl

iTrader: (1)

Another interested person here as my knocking sound is only at low speed when pulling up to a junction etc when its a bad road surface

SirFozzalot

I would be interested.

Had both rears done on the warranty and the nearside one is being done again shortly (highlighted on service a week before the warranty expired , although no knocking yet).

scoobyduo

I would be interested .