Wrenchin... Adventures under the hood... Put em here.

[Cisco Kid]

Maybe slow down on slush/ice/mixed? Sounds to me any car would act like that in those conditions. But I wasn't there.

[snowaddict91]

I have a Subaru driving dynamics question. Driving my fiances forester on patchy snow and ice was uncomfortable. Dappled sunlight, so one wheel on wet bare pavement, one on hard ice, one in slush and so on. Anyway, in those areas the car was unsettled. Felt like it was overly aggressively shifting power around to each wheel or something, and basically like it was starting to break loose. This on straight sections being very steady on the throttle and steering. On fully iced over sections, it had reasonable traction, I could brake hard without ABS coming on, turn and accelerate harder than necessary, generally it felt good when all 4 tires had similar traction. I've mostly driven true 4x4s in conditions like this and never felt handling like this in those. So what's causing it? 2014 forester, manual, Nokian wrg4's in good shape, around 500 pounds of people+gear in the car.

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Rear alignment issue maybe? The wife's Rav4 had a rear axle issue that manifested itself like this before we discovered what the problem was.

[Mustonen]

Rear alignment issue maybe? The wife's Rav4 had a rear axle issue that manifested itself like this before we discovered what the problem was.

Yeah, I’d check that out before getting too deep into the weeds. I had something similar with my car, and turned out one of the rear wheels was pointing ever so slightly out. But when the weight of the car settled over in a turn the track/line would change slightly and it felt like it had a lot of oversteer.

It was just a little bit, and the alignment shop didn’t think it was the issue I brought it in for (they were all bajiggity that my tire size was slightly out of spec - half a cm taller than stock), but driving it after was a night and day difference.

[claymond]

Good call on rear end alignment. I'll start with the basics and get it checked. Definitely think I was in the weeds in my head about awd systems, VDC, stability control, and other things.

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[Touring_Sedan]

Good call on rear end alignment. I'll start with the basics and get it checked. Definitely think I was in the weeds in my head about awd systems, VDC, stability control, and other things.

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Maybe I'm reading too much into our OP, but I think you already have a guess. You said you usually drive true 4x4s which means something closer to a truck and probably at least 1K lbs heavier. A Forrester is a car and will likely never feel the same as a heavy vehicle, especially when each wheel is on a different surface with different resistance.

[jamal]

I would start by looking at tread depth, alignment, and the conditioning of suspension bushings. The rear bushings on the front control arms especially tend to wear out and crack and tear.

Also are they aftermarket winter rims with a different from stock offset? Subarus run very high offset wheels, +48-55mm. Going less than that, moving the wheels outboard, adds scrub radius, which gives uneven deep snow and slush more leverage on the steering to pull the car to the side.

As far as the awd system goes, a basic manual subaru can't do a whole lot to actively change torque splits. The front and rear diffs are open, the center is a viscous lsd. The vdc and traction control can brake individual wheels to limit wheel spin or straighten skids.

- Close look at all the tire tread can also give you an idea of whether there's an alignment/suspension bushing issue. If the tires are showing feathering/uneven wear, then yeah there's something going on. If the tires are worn evenly and the car seems to drive straight and handle normally on dry pavement there probably isn't a huge issue.

[claymond]

Cool thanks everyone. I'll crawl under and see if any bushings look obviously bad, and when we get home get the alignment checked. It's on the stock wheels. I'll let you guys know when I find out more.

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[Cocximus]

Are there any sawzall blades that can cut a 10.9 control arm bolt? I am fairly certain the bushing sleeve is seized to the bolt and I have to cut it out.

[MontuckyFried]

Are there any sawzall blades that can cut a 10.9 control arm bolt?

Yup. The Milwaukee "Torch" metal blades will rip through that like buttah.

I had to saw through my entire control arms thanks to a wicked seized ball joint. My Torch blade did the trick with shockingly little effort.

[Cocximus]

The torch blades barely scratch it 10.9 is tough. I wonder if the carbide blades are better.

I'm going to try to get to it with a 7" angle grinder with the shield. This would be easy if I could just oxy-acetylene the bushing, but I don't want to piss off the strata.

[Buzzworthy]

Well fuck. Heard a loud bang going over a big bump. This drivable 23 miles home?




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[dannynoonan]

A bungee cord might do better at holding onto the pieces as they flex around?

[Buzzworthy]

I have a Lowe’s next door here. Thank you for that, I’ll stop in.

[Norseman]

Buzz, I got a pair of stock Tundra leaf packs in my storage unit. They're yours if you want to figure out a transport method.

I'll text ya.

[Buzzworthy]

Buzz, I got a pair of stock Tundra leaf packs in my storage unit. They're yours if you want to figure out a transport method.

I'll text ya.

Dude that’s quite the offer!!
Unfortunately I don’t have that kind of time as commute to work everyday so this fix will be urgent.
If I can’t find a fix immediately I may hit you up.

[Touring_Sedan]

Dude that’s quite the offer!!
Unfortunately I don’t have that kind of time as commute to work everyday so this fix will be urgent.
If I can’t find a fix immediately I may hit you up.

This guy has done me well and is down the street.

https://www.autosaversutah.com/

[Buzzworthy]

This guy has done me well and is down the street.

https://www.autosaversutah.com/

Thank you very much for the recommendation. I’ll be calling first thing tomorrow. I have one other place I’ll call too.

Bob, you do this kind of repair at your shop?

[The Reverend Floater]

Thank you very much for the recommendation. I’ll be calling first thing tomorrow. I have one other place I’ll call too.

Bob, you do this kind of repair at your shop?

I'm guessing that's a yes. It's actually a pretty easy job, save the occasional stuck bolt. But Bob is not a mere mortal like us--he can probably will a stuck bolt to unstick itself.

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[gravitylover]

Why does my idiot Dodge minivan chow through motor mounts in 10k miles or so? This is crazy, I've had about 30 cars over the years and only replaced the motor mounts on my old Willys because I had a (really) bad landing on an inadvertent off-road launch. This stupid thing eats them up and we can't figure out why.

[anotherVTskibum]

Why does my idiot Dodge minivan chow through motor mounts in 10k miles or so? This is crazy, I've had about 30 cars over the years and only replaced the motor mounts on my old Willys because I had a (really) bad landing on an inadvertent off-road launch. This stupid thing eats them up and we can't figure out why.

You could probably get a machine shop to make solid mounts for you, but it would probably make riding in the van less pleasant.

[Cisco Kid]

According to chryslerminiva.net , they all do that. If you replace them all at once they last longer so some say.

[fatnslow]

Why does my idiot Dodge minivan chow through motor mounts in 10k miles or so? This is crazy, I've had about 30 cars over the years and only replaced the motor mounts on my old Willys because I had a (really) bad landing on an inadvertent off-road launch. This stupid thing eats them up and we can't figure out why.

What brand are you using and are you replacing all of them ?

[claymond]

Update on the Forester handling. I got under it and looked at things, jerked on control arms, and really checked out the tread wear. All looked and felt good. Took it to a mechanic and they said alignment looked good. Seems like it may just be a car vs truck thing. Next time it snows I'd like to find similar patchy conditions somewhere safer than a 2 lane with no shoulder and pitch it around some to see if it really is breaking loose or not

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[Cisco Kid]

Or you could drive at a speed that is comfortable for the given vehicle and conditions. But I wasn't there.

[Touring_Sedan]

Maybe slow down on slush/ice/mixed? Sounds to me any car would act like that in those conditions. But I wasn't there.

Or you could drive at a speed that is comfortable for the given vehicle and conditions. But I wasn't there.

That's twice you weren't there.