Tannin
Senior Member
- Joined
- Dec 17, 2008
- Messages
- 209
- Location
- Huon Valley Tasmania
- Car Year
- 2007
- Car Model
- Forester
- Transmission
- Manual
Following on from this thread, I will soon be replacing various suspension bits in my faithful MY05 Forester. (Well, the bloke down the road who has been mending my cars since Mazda rotary days in the mid-1980s will, him or one of his lads.)
I don't want to do anything that will be awkward insurance-wise. In fact I'd prefer not to have a "lift" at all, I just want the car to ride higher. The way I'm looking at it, heavy-duty springs are just a slightly improved routine replacement for the worn out ones; where a lift kit would be a different matter.
The plan:
The car:
The usage:
My main priority is the ability to stand up to long-distance cruising on rough outback gravel roads - hundreds of kilometres of bad corrugations in a day, potholes, all the usual stuff. I also want to get a good long service life out of these bits - let's say a hundred thousand plus. The old ones have been good for 250 thou after all.
I expect, more or less as of right, to get decent highway manners and the usual effortless Subaru handling on gravel.
I would also like to get (1) a bit more ground clearance for deep sand, badly rutted 4WD tracks, and river crossings. (I spend a lot of time in outback Queensland where it's pretty routine to have to ford streams.) Even a half-inch would be of use. Every little counts. And (2) serious off-road ability at least equal to what I have now for those short stretches of very rough stuff that needs high clearance and lots of wheel travel. More than equal would be better, of course.
I mentioned a sump guard earlier. I've never had one, well, not since I smashed up the silly factory plastic one 150,000 kilometres ago. Because the rear springs have always sagged, if I'm going to hit anything it's always been a matter of clouting the tow bar long before I make contact at the front end. But that won't apply now, so what's the go for a sump guard? I don't think I need anything too extreme - I've driven 260 thousand without one, after all. But it would be nice to have something there.
My present plan is to simply take the car down to Greg and tell him to fit heavy-duty springs and whatever struts he thinks, plus other suspension work as he sees fit. That should give me maybe an inch of extra lift (above stock). I'm not after anything wild, just practical.
Am I on the right track here?
I don't want to do anything that will be awkward insurance-wise. In fact I'd prefer not to have a "lift" at all, I just want the car to ride higher. The way I'm looking at it, heavy-duty springs are just a slightly improved routine replacement for the worn out ones; where a lift kit would be a different matter.
The plan:
- Replace the rear springs with heavy-duty units, probably Kings.
- (Probably) Replace the front springs as well - though the factory ones seem OK still.
- New struts all-round.
- Replace any other worn suspension and/or steering components that seem to need it. (That will be up to the mechanic to judge. I wouldn't know a ball joint from a jock strap)
- Sump guard? (See below)
The car:
- MY05 Forester: base model, manual
- Age: 9 years; 265,000 kilometres on the clock
- Appearance: the rear suspension has been a bit on the low side practically since new. Well, as long as I can remember, anyway. I always have a lot of stuff in the back. Now it is lower than ever.
- Drives: sloppy as blackberry. (Or possibly some other thing starting with "b", sounds like "blackberry".) But was fine up until quite recently - last 5 or 10,000 k, I think. Now it is horrible. Corners like an old Volkswagon Beetle.
- The suspension: 100% stock ex-factory. Never been touched in 260 thousand k, bar new tyres and the odd brake pad replacement. This base model has standard struts, not the self-leveling ones.
The usage:
- Highway: lots.
- Gravel road: lots
- Bad gravel road: lots. (Corrugations, potholes, all the usual stuff. I don't like to let any of that worry me too much, just cruise on through it at a decent, often quickish, pace and the Subi will cope.)
- Mud: seldom.
- Sand: sometimes.
- Deep sand: I've been mostly avoiding it these last few years. I don't actally enjoy hard driving, I just like to get to nice places. But it would be nice to be a bit more confident venturing down certain tracks without having to worry about getting stuck.
- Genuine rough stuff needing 4WD crawling and lots of suspension travel. Seldom. But when we do want to get through a bad bit, it really, realy helps to have that ability there if needed!
- The load: nearly always well loaded-up with equipment. Only one (sometimes two) humans, but a heap of gear in the back.
My main priority is the ability to stand up to long-distance cruising on rough outback gravel roads - hundreds of kilometres of bad corrugations in a day, potholes, all the usual stuff. I also want to get a good long service life out of these bits - let's say a hundred thousand plus. The old ones have been good for 250 thou after all.
I expect, more or less as of right, to get decent highway manners and the usual effortless Subaru handling on gravel.
I would also like to get (1) a bit more ground clearance for deep sand, badly rutted 4WD tracks, and river crossings. (I spend a lot of time in outback Queensland where it's pretty routine to have to ford streams.) Even a half-inch would be of use. Every little counts. And (2) serious off-road ability at least equal to what I have now for those short stretches of very rough stuff that needs high clearance and lots of wheel travel. More than equal would be better, of course.
I mentioned a sump guard earlier. I've never had one, well, not since I smashed up the silly factory plastic one 150,000 kilometres ago. Because the rear springs have always sagged, if I'm going to hit anything it's always been a matter of clouting the tow bar long before I make contact at the front end. But that won't apply now, so what's the go for a sump guard? I don't think I need anything too extreme - I've driven 260 thousand without one, after all. But it would be nice to have something there.
My present plan is to simply take the car down to Greg and tell him to fit heavy-duty springs and whatever struts he thinks, plus other suspension work as he sees fit. That should give me maybe an inch of extra lift (above stock). I'm not after anything wild, just practical.
Am I on the right track here?
