Most of the time I only have myself plus 1 passenger in the car and it feels fine. When I have 4 people in my car it occasionally makes a sound like the tyres touching the bodywork when I go over a bump in the road. I went to the pub this lunchtime and I was going to have 5 people in the car but the rear wheels were so close to the bodywork with 3 people in the back that I didn't feel that it was safe.

Is this normal ? Or do I need some new springs ?

 

Are the wheels standard?

 

sound like a good excuse of not giving lifts.

As slowboy asked, Are the wheels standard?
If they are bigger then it's something you might have to put up with. If they are standard then you might have worn springs.

I've got 17" on a MY99 car and have not had this happen, cars done 36k miles. 17" as standard mind you.

Adam

 

Yes, the wheels and tyres are standard. The car is an MY99 with 16" wheels. I take it that most imprezas can actually carry 5 people plus luggage without scraping the wheels on the bodywork...

 

The only thing I can say is to take it to a Subaru dealer and have a word with them.
Scraping on 16" sounds a bit strange to me.
As said prev' i've got a my99 and only take a max of 2 in the back, but the other day (stupid i know) i put 10 blocks 2 bags of sand and a bag of cement in the boot. Did not make any scraping noises, but it looked bloody nice, lowered it by about 3" at the back.

Regards Adam