I paid $480 for the sub frame shipped to the local dealer. I bought Moog lower control arms with bushing and ball joints installed from Rock Auto as well as tie rod ends and sway bar end links for another $260. Parts all in were ~$750 plus another $120 for an alignment. I did the work myself and it took around 8 hours, it's a pretty straight forward job, but time consuming.

 

You had to cut the left control arm????

 

SouthMainAuto just did a subframe replacement in a 2014 Outback - if anyone is interested, he put it in three videos (Eric O at SMA is always fun to watch)

 

Ha, mine rusted out, a 2011, at 83K miles. Local shop charged me $1600 to replace it with a factory Subaru part, included alignment, and a few other parts that needed replacing. I was shocked how rusted it was. No car I’ve ever owned, 35 years worth, has rusted at the frame level like that. Going to be hard to buy another Subaru down the line to be honest. I spent $800 a few years prior for something in the exhaust/converter near the motor that rusted clean away too. Not the muffler, the whole part that attaches to the engine. Guy said he’d never seen that rust before. So welcome to the club. $3K seems way high though. It’s time consuming, but not exactly difficult if you have a proper lift and all that.

 

Good price. The engine cradle itself is $600 OEM from subarupartsdeals.com - not all that expensive. South Main Auto YouTube channel has a video of the replacement process on a 2014 and it appears pretty straightforward and not at all hateful.

 

Brucey,

When the metallic grey paint on the tailgate of my 1990 Chevy S-10 pickup began flaking and peeling during the summer of 1996, I called GM Corporate and opened a case asking them to strip and re-paint my tailgate. Just my tailgate mind you, not my entire truck. You guessed it, GM also told me to go pound sand. Much later I learned there was a material defect in that particular paint color and model year which GM was never willing to publicly acknowledge.

Jeep Corporate stripped and re-painted my entire 1988 Cherokee during the autumn of 1993 when the hood and top of the vehicle began to fade due to the clearcoat failing (my first and last time owning a black-colored vehicle). I asked for them to strip and re-paint just the affected areas, but they offered to re-do the entire vehicle at no cost to me. Their customer service folks were fantastic to work with. That was my second Jeep and over the years, we wound up purchasing one more Cherokee and two Grand Cherokees.

After GM Corporate blew me off regarding my S-10 tailgate issue, I wrote the president of GM at that time and told him that no one in my family would ever purchase another GM vehicle as long as I lived. That promise continues to be true today.

 

Brucey,

When the metallic grey paint on the tailgate of my 1990 Chevy S-10 pickup began flaking and peeling during the summer of 1996, I called GM Corporate and opened a case asking them to strip and re-paint my tailgate. Just my tailgate mind you, not my entire truck. You guessed it, GM also told me to go pound sand. Much later I learned there was a material defect in that particular paint color and model year which GM was never willing to publicly acknowledge.

Jeep Corporate stripped and re-painted my entire 1988 Cherokee during the autumn of 1993 when the hood and top of the vehicle began to fade due to the clearcoat failing (my first and last time owning a black-colored vehicle). I asked for them to strip and re-paint just the affected areas, but they offered to re-do the entire vehicle at no cost to me. Their customer service folks were fantastic to work with. That was my second Jeep and over the years, we wound up purchasing one more Cherokee and two Grand Cherokees.

After GM Corporate blew me off regarding my S-10 tailgate issue, I wrote the president of GM at that time and told him that no one in my family would ever purchase another GM vehicle as long as I lived. That promise continues to be true today.

My 2001 metallic grey Suburban is rusted through in several places, so I guess they never improved the paint. And don’t get me started on the brake backing plates.

 

I get my cars Krown'd every couple of years. I touch them up with Fluid Film or Krown spray myself in betweeen times. Also diligent about washing the undercarriage every spring after the salt is gone off of the roads. Pic is of the undercarriage washer I pieced together. Now you can buy 1 off of Amazon. Krown was $139 for my new to to me '17 Outback. SE Michigan

 

I think this would be a challenging driveway job because of the rust. Getting bolts unstuck using heat and various solvents. Having the car on a lift with tons of persuasive tools seemed necessary to me.

That sucks about that low mileage car. Honestly if it's not terrible just sell it.

That car from NH... I wouldn't. I spent the $3k and then ended up spending another $2k for wheel bearings and calipers all around. The car has a rust issue. My son's 2008 Forester has nothing like this.

 

Happened to me too. 2011, 150k mi. ~$485 for the part ordered on November 30 came in today (was told to expect it in March). Local Auto Shop class will be doing the work for me, good times!

Damn thing came in on a full sized pallet, in a cardboard box the size of the pallet (48"x42") with a wooden truss to keep it in place. Severely overpacked 😁😭😁

 

I have a 2012 outback 2.5 in NEPA with 125k miles. Lots of salt here. What I've been doing is as I tear into stuff I take a wire wheel on an angle grinder and or a drill, and a needle scaler for tight spots and I remove all the rust I can get to as best I can, then I clean it really thoroughly finishing with acetone. Then I spray a rust converting primer on it. Then I spray a couple light coats of undercoat on it. I did the drivetrain fluids and timing belt so I had it kind of apart in the spring and did the whole front end.

I did a lot of the rear end last year when I did the struts and brakes. I pulled the muffler and cleaned out around there as well. I will be going back and getting the spots I missed. It only adds an hour or two to whatever else you're doing. I even hit any little bubbling I see on the body paint. I've done this on other vehicles and it holds up very well.

I also clean the undercarriage with a pressure washer in the fall, then allow it to dry. Then I will pull my skid plate, do an oil change, and coat the whole undercarriage in Fluid Film. I got almost all of it with 2 cans, three would be better especially getting the nooks and crannies. Throughout the winter I will also rinse the car off with my house at the house as soon as I can after a snow event. I hate seeing the salt caked on my car. The rinsing doesn't seem to affect the fluid film, I was under my Outback today and it still had a healthy coating of oil under everything.

I estimate I put like 2-4 hours a year into stripping, treating, and painting rust as it is done when I have things disassembled working on other stuff. Then about 2 hours to wash and coat with fluid film, then perhaps a total of 2 hours rinsing it total over the winter. So eight hours of work in a year and my car looks cleaner than any 5 year old car around here. I hope to drive this car a long time I'm quite fond of it.

 

We don't have that issue down here except from beach driven cars that don't get washed. Salt and magnesiums eat metals.

I have an 01 VDC that spent it's first 10 years in Boston before it came to TX and it's solid. 06 BAJA that spent a lot of it's life in snow country between CO, ID and ND before TX and it's solid. An 11 Outback that had 212k miles on it when I sold it last year lived in TX all it's life and not one bit of rust.

Cleaning the undercarriage also depends on the type of water used. Hard water just adds to a salt problem.

You either do what's necessary to prevent it, or expect high costs to repair it. With thousands moving from the northeast to here, I see a lot of rust infected cars that require an abundance of repairs to the suspension, framing and body. All brands included. Some are just too far gone to justify putting money in them.

That quote you got is pretty high unless it includes all the parts attached to the front subframe and suspension.

 

I had a body shop weld mine. It cost about $1000. It worked fine for a few years, but now it's going again. I'm going to replace the frame over the summer, DIY.

If you have problems with the front frame, check the rear axle as well. I found that the two lateral braces were as bad as the front frame. They're easy enough to DIY, but if you don't catch them you will have weird steering effects.

 

There are quite a few coatings you can do on the underside to seal and prevent it from getting worse.
The oil film is one, there are wax underbody coatings, you could strip the paint off, have a shop do a quick acid dip on it to remove any surface rust from the factory and then enamel it inside and out.

If I wanted to put wayyy too much money, I'd have a shop strip the paint, do an acid bath, reinforce all the welds, I'd give it to a bedliner shop and have it given the same coating they do for truck beds on the outside, and paint the inside passageways. Then I'd coat it inside out with wax. Or powdercoat using some really hard stuff if the rest wasn't feasible. It'd probably outlast the car.

 

I just sold a 2005 Impreza Outback sport. My mom bought it new and then it became my third car. I’m in CT and it was always driven in winter and the underside was solid. I sold it to a guy in Maine. He came from Bangor 6 hours from me, he said all the cars in Maine are rust buckets. I hope Subaru didn’t start using cheaper materials.

 

sub frame is easy to replace in these cars as you do not need to support the engine

 

I had an 06 Chevy Silverado and the brake lines rusted out when it was less than 10 years old.

The rear bumper also completely crumbled to dust.

I called my local GM dealer to see if either was covered under warranty (the brakes especially) and they politely told me to pound sand.

I would say any vehicle driven in the salt belt either needs rust protection, regularly cleaning, or both.

 

Had it replaced on our 2011 this summer at around 160K. We live in NJ and lots of winter trips to VT skiing. SOA not interested at all in discussing this safety issue. As many others here have replied, I've never had this happen on any of our other vehicles in 45+ years of ownership. Along with other issues (CVT, Steering Rack, Wheel Bearings, etc) this will most likely be our last Subaru. It's too bad, the Outback is the perfect vehicle for us other than the less than stellar reliability...

 

My car came from NJ with 140K on it. Sub frame is intact 14 years old and 179K on it. When it comes time I will drop it and change it myself.

 

 

Today I went in for routine maintenance and what I thought ws a steering fluid leak. 2013 Outback. Same problem. 92000 miles. It turns out it it more than a leak. It has been serviced by the dealer annually. I kept up with every bit of maintenance. I am in tears. I can't really afford this repair,either. One of the selling points of this car was the superior undercoating. I live on the Eastern Shore of Virginia on a saltwater creek on an island so I was concerned about rust and took the Subaru spraycoating into consideration when buying the car. . Why was this problem not detected earlier? This must be a structural steel problem. I am more than willing to get a class action together because I am so heartbroken. I had a high degree of trust in Subaru. It will take a month for the parts to come in as they are out of stock everywhere. I can't drive it in the meantime without risk.

 

As it happens, I found out today I have the same issue and replied to you a little while ago. I also discovered a recall Alert from 2013 about this issue and it is a known defect. Subaru should not have ever sold a car where it wasn't fixed. They are subject to a fine, to begin with and I should say they have other legal obligations to the owner.. I bought my car reconditioned so they had two opportunities to fix it.

 

If your car is in the VIN range called out on the bulletin, and the recall hasn't been performed, then you shouldn't have issue getting it covered. It says that letters went out to the owners, so if the owner at the time opted not to bring it in, that may be what happened. The recall also says that not all vehicles in the VIN range are impacted, so it may be that if your vehicle is in the range and the repair wasn't completed, that it wasn't impacted? I'd bring it in and see what the dealer says, or maybe better, give SOA a call and see what they say. (they've been helpful to me when I have reached out)

 

I checked the VIN and it is not in the ramge. How could Subaru not have noticed this severe rust in my previous two visits in the past year?

 

The front subframe is KNOWN to rust out if not oil-undercoated annually since new.

I have attached a video by Eric at "South Main Auto" which shows the process of replacing it. (not that I am suggesting you try it )

 

To follow up I did have my front subframe replaced along with shocks struts and control arms.
That was in February. It's clunking again...
I'm taking it back in today....

Sent from my SM-G781U1 using Tapatalk

 

I just found this 2011 3.6r new Hampshire what did you do?

 

Original owner of a 2013 Outback SAME ISSUE and only 48,000 miles!!! I am devastated!!! Needs a new cradle, control arms, and power steering lines... I opted to purchase a new vehicle and am going to have the outback repaired for our daughter.

 

Why doesn't everyone keep mention the miles like that erases the 11 years the vehicle has been around. Rust isn't tires- has nothing to do with milage.

 

^ You can do all of that work yourself.

The subframe can be removed without supporting the engine

Mine is a 2010 with 185K on it and next year it is getting a new from Subaru sub frame

 

^ air compressor and Astro Thor gen 1 will do the job nicely, just remember to disconnect the steering rack from the sub frame