OB Lane Wandering

[jogosub]

Originally Posted by subaruserviceguy

If you are truely having an issue with your alignment and you can show the dealer that your vehicle is truely drifting an alignment will be covered 1 time under your new vehicle adjustment warranty which is 36 months or 36,000 miles from date of purchase.

I don't have an issue with that - but I yet have to go on an extended trip. This weekend I will drive to New Orleans and will see.
I can see an issue on freeways, where they have grooves in the concrete (like L.A.) but then, I would think, it has more to do with the tire thread than with the alignment. Or, like Long Beach freeway (in Calif), where those heavy trucks with ocean containers keep pounding the freeways and you have tire footprints in the concrete - and then, no matter what, your car is "wandering" from side to side.

[fun2drive]

For me it is a 100 miles since I live a considerable distance east of Pensacola. Doesn't make any sense to go to Mobile that is a 2 hour or more drive and Pensacola is already 90minutes or more. Going east of where I live there is nothing that compares with Anderson.
Either way I am happy to see they are willing to tweak the Outback (as long as it stays withing spec) where I need it...

[*Subie*]

dieselox...can you post your before and after alignment printout? Is the OB still tracking better? Thank you.

[boba8888]

First post for me here. My wife drives a 2009 OB, bought it new and we've been very happy with it.

This past Monday we went in for a service and I decided to borrow/demo a new 2013 OB from the dealership to go shopping while the 2009 was being serviced. I was excited as anybody to drive "anything" new!

We drove north on GA 400 from Cumming GA, much of that highway was resurfaced last summer and is for the most part a straight road. I experienced this strange feeling in the steering around 60 -70 mph and felt I had to correct my line, not often but enough to bug me. When I had to steer for any slight curve in the highway I had to always do small slight corrections to straighten it out. It definitely bothered me but blew it off thinking it was "this car".

When we returned to the dealer I didn't mention it all because honestly I was perplexed. To confirm what I had just experienced I went directly from the 2013 to our 2009 within 5 minutes of returning to the dealer. The 2009 tracked straight, no wander, felt solid and that is with the original tires at 55K ! (I know we need new treads!) I couldn't get this out of my mind till I came to this forum and it has been interesting to read others experience with this issue.

[DieselOx]

Originally Posted by *Subie*

dieselox...can you post your before and after alignment printout? Is the OB still tracking better? Thank you.

Yes, it's still great after 3k miles. Tracks perfectly, has good road feel in the steering wheel, and I've really forgotten about the wandering problem. That's the amazing part, before it was 99% concentration and both hands on the wheel, now it's just like any other car.

Top is before, bottom after. Sorry about the quality, but I think you can read it. The before values were like that from the factory, re-aligned at about 13.5k miles. This car was a beast in the wind from day one, and just barely acceptable with no wind.



toe-in acceptable ranges: front: -0.08° to +0.08° rear: 0.00° to 0.17°

[fun2drive]

I have my appointment set for the 26th and will be getting toe set. I can then finally report if that corrects the wander for my OB. I posted my alignment specs previously and you can clearly see slightly positive toe on both axles...

[*Subie*]

Our '13 OB would wander from day 1. I had the dealer check the alignment and the toe was out of specs in the left front and right rear. After correcting the toe, our OB is much better. I still feel there might be a little more room for improvement, but I will give it a few months to see what happens as the car is very new.

[jrb_nw]

I had a 2001 OB and loved it. In comparison, I drove my new 2012 OB for 10 weeks then traded it off last June. Since I drive a lot of highway miles (often 200+ mi) to customer server locations. I couldn't deal with the lane wandering - it was very tiring for me. Nor did I have time to try and get a brand new car properly setup, although I did try the 19mm rear bar to no avail. Still have it anyone in PNW needs one.

I'm suprised this is still cropping up on the 2013's. Except for this issue the OB is such a great car. For me it was disappointing - and I took a financial hit... but it was worth it for me to get into a good highway car again, even if not as versatile overall. I have recently driven it 750 miles in 12 hours. In the right car it is relaxing and a pleasure. Just my two cents. Good luck.

[JOEM]

Originally Posted by jrb_nw

I had a 2001 OB and loved it. In comparison, I drove my new 2012 OB for 10 weeks then traded it off last June. Since I drive a lot of highway miles (often 200+ mi) to customer server locations. I couldn't deal with the lane wandering - it was very tiring for me. Nor did I have time to try and get a brand new car properly setup, although I did try the 19mm rear bar to no avail. Still have it anyone in PNW needs one.

I'm surprised this is still cropping up on the 2013's. Except for this issue the OB is such a great car. For me it was disappointing - and I took a financial hit... but it was worth it for me to get into a good highway car again, even if not as versatile overall. I have recently driven it 750 miles in 12 hours. In the right car it is relaxing and a pleasure. Just my two cents. Good luck.

I took a $3000 loss on my 2012 and went to a 2013 same everything just a different color. It was at 50-60% better then the 2012 but seems to getting worse as time goes on. It is at 2600 miles now and notice the crappy steering coming back. What did you get to replace it? I was considering the KIA which was cheaper and a LOOOONG warranty.

[*Subie*]

I really feel (at least in my OB), that the factory alignment and tire pressure setting were the major reason for the wandering. The OB feels much better now that the dealer adjusted the alignment and I adjusted the tire pressures to 32F & 30R. The other factor that contributes to this feeling of wandering is the numb feeling my OB exhibits on center. The steering wheel will not completely return to center on it's own when coming out of a turn. Too much tightness with the steering box which *may* lessen with some wear. It feels like the steering has to catch up with the inputs at the steering wheel when making adjustments off center.

With all that said, I am not satisfied with the alignment as it was left by the dealer. They left slight negative toe at the front left and slight positive toe at the front right. See below:

Left front toe .09 (out of spec) After -.02
Right front toe .00 After .02
Left rear toe .13 After .10
Right rear toe -.05 (out of spec) After .05

I think the alignment could be better with emphasis on 0 degrees of toe on both the front left & right (or even slight negative toe) and 0 degrees in the rear as well. I will try to get the dealer to align it again. If they refuse to, I will get it done at a private reputable shop (probably a better idea anyway). If that's the case, I will call SOA and log a complaint for reimbursement.

As far as the steering, I am going to mention it to the dealer on my next visit. I will ask them to check it or maybe re-torque it. The symptoms of the tight on center steering are very obvious. This may lessen with some miles as some other members have reported.

The tires on my car were delivered with almost 40 psi. Not only was that wrong but completely unacceptable (and that is the fault of the PDI department). I can understand over inflating the tires until delivery to the customer to avoid flat spots...but the PDI department did not do their job which makes me wonder about my dealer's integrity as a whole.

My OB has ~ 1500 miles on it now. This is our first Subaru and due to this experience buying another in the future is questionable. It's a shame because so far, other than the steering issues, we really like the OB. Anyone that buys a new car shouldn't have to go through this. I understand that not all cars are perfect (even when new), but there is an underlying similarity here with the common complaints regarding the steering of the OB.

I don't think all is lost with the OB (ours or all the others with steering complaints). But, SOA seems to be leaving it the hands of unhappy owners to figure out the solution...NOT GOOD...especially 1st time owners that are now here after being loyal to other brands.

Dear SOA,

Get a solution to this common complaint and give it to your dealers as a TSB for all the OB's that have left your factory already. For the OB's you're going to build in the future...get the alignment right and be sure the steering isn't so tight. Get a message to the dealers to perform the PDI's correctly which includes checking and adjusting the air pressures in the tires as needed per specification.

Sincerely,
Unhappy 1st Time Owner