[Pawikan]

I also installed the Grimmspeed trails kit. I've had it on the car since mid November - installed by the dealership, along with my prinsu rack, sway bar, strut brace and adjustable endlinks. Only issue during install is that one of the strut extensions broke in half when tightening. The manufacture rushed replacement parts and the install was completed. I've put about 5k miles on the car since then, no major issues and mostly highway miles (and one camping trip with rooftop tent at the beach).

Unfortunately last night I had a major malfunction and car is currently in the shop getting looked over. Driving on typical streets at lower than typical speeds transitioning to a side street with a slight grade change, we heard a pop and clunk sound. From the pictures you can see the bent strut and the wheel is now leaning inwards at the top.

I'm interested to see if the strut extension or end link is damaged as well. Will send an update once I figure out what all went wrong.

This car has never seen any crazy speeds, off-roading (other than the beach) or heavy trail driving, and I don't ever remember hitting anything major in the road since having it and I am the first owner of the car.

I am not sure the best path forward as the dealership is not assisting further (they declined to assist me and said any damage would not be covered) and I have it at a local shop instead. The local shop has concerns about putting in a new strut with this kit (if not damaged itself), they would prefer built struts to install. I am leaning towards Flatout GR Lite, but they are 5 weeks out and can't wait that long. Any recommendations are welcome.

UPDATE: Shop called me and let me know that both front struts are bent, drivers side is just significantly worse. They stated that they think the issue is that the stock strut isn't built to handle the stress of the springs with extension. No other damage that they saw and the rear has no visible issues. I am trying to figure out a solution to temporarily get the car road worthy (if possible) to decide on a replacement lift kit.

 

[SilverOnyx]

My guess is that the elongated strut rod puts extra compressive strain on the strut because now the full compressive travel is not limited by other parts of the suspension, but instead the rod itself. Does that make sense? Unless there was a larger bump stop somewhere to prevent the normal full range compressive travel that expects the shorter rod.

 

[Pawikan]

My guess is that the elongated strut rod puts extra compressive strain on the strut because now the full compressive travel is not limited by other parts of the suspension, but instead the rod itself. Does that make sense? Unless there was a larger bump stop somewhere to prevent the normal full range compressive travel that expects the shorter rod.

The kit included a bump stop to protect the strut, but I guess it wasn't enough against the overall strain.

 

[Pawikan]

I worked it out with my wife to deal with the one car situation until the new kit comes in.

I had already spent quite a bit of time on here researching parts and kits, so it was just a refresh to see what the best option for my case was. I called or chatted with a few of the different manufacturers and vendors and ended up with the Flatout GR Plus kit. I was impressed with the customer service. When I contacted Flatout through messenger and they were quick and responsive with me. They had a lot of patience and took the time to answer all of my questions, which was great. I'll keep everybody posted through the repairs/replacement if anything new comes up.

 

[SilverOnyx]

Bilstein just came out with a kit for the Gen 5 and hopefully the Gen 6 isn't far behind.

BILSTEIN B8 TerraSport - BILSTEIN Off-Road

BILSTEIN B8 TerraSport direct fit shocks are designed to increase ground clearance and improve off-road capability for CUVs.

offroad.bilstein.com

 

[Pawikan]

Bilstein just came out with a kit for the Gen 5 and hopefully the Gen 6 isn't far behind.

BILSTEIN B8 TerraSport - BILSTEIN Off-Road

BILSTEIN B8 TerraSport direct fit shocks are designed to increase ground clearance and improve off-road capability for CUVs.

offroad.bilstein.com

I would have gone for that if it had been out for sure. I saw some old posts that said that they didn't have anything in the works, but that might have been 2 years ago.

 

[SilverOnyx]

I just checked and it's definitely not yet available for Gen 6, scheduled for release December 1st 2024.

BILSTEIN B8 TerraSport Shock now available for more vehicles and the Correct way to Install Video

The Correct way to lift and install a CUV using the B8 TerraSport on a Subaru CrossTrek

www.ovrmag.com

 

[Pawikan]

I just checked and it's definitely not yet available for Gen 6, scheduled for release December 1st 2024.

BILSTEIN B8 TerraSport Shock now available for more vehicles and the Correct way to Install Video

The Correct way to lift and install a CUV using the B8 TerraSport on a Subaru CrossTrek

www.ovrmag.com

View attachment 580039

That's awesome information! I wish I could wait for that, but I needed to get something going now to get back on the road. It might be something I swap over to if I don't like the Flatout GR Plus or it there is significant improvement opportunities over the GR when this comes out.

 

[Pawikan]

As a summary to those interested in the Grimmspeed Trails Kit - while it was a good kit initially, with the failure on only typical use and as a primary daily driver - I would recommend looking elsewhere, or supplement with an upgrade strut and don't use the stock strut.

 

[ArizonaOB]

Sorry to hear about your troubles. I installed the Grimmspeed Trails kit on my '21 over a year ago with no issues whatsoever. Like you, my car is used as a daily driver, has never seen any crazy speeds, off-roading or heavy trail driving

What did Grimmspeed say about the bent struts? Did they offer any theories as to why the strut failed?

Aside from the Grimmspeed kit, my car's suspension is stock. You stated that you also installed a sway bar, strut brace and adjustable end links. Is it possible those mods could have contributed to the failure? I'm not a suspension expert so apologies if that's a dumb question.

 

[Pawikan]

Sorry to hear about your troubles. I installed the Grimmspeed Trails kit on my '21 over a year ago with no issues whatsoever. Like you, my car is used as a daily driver, has never seen any crazy speeds, off-roading or heavy trail driving

What did Grimmspeed say about the bent struts? Did they offer any theories as to why the strut failed?

Aside from the Grimmspeed kit, my car's suspension is stock. You stated that you also installed a sway bar, strut brace and adjustable end links. Is it possible those mods could have contributed to the failure? I'm not a suspension expert so apologies if that's a dumb question.

I'm not a suspension expert either, so I'd have to defer to others. I don't think there is anything specifically wrong with the Grimmspeed kit, I think the issue is with my stock struts being able to handle the loads. It's possible that the other items contributed and added to the stresses. The adjustable end links were added to try to relieve the stresses, so if anything maybe it was the sway bar and strut brace, but I'm not an expert here. This was something I planned to replace at some point down the road with something like what I am installing now (or the Bilstein which I unfortunately won't be able to wait for). The fact that it is both of my front struts makes me think it's a design issue, using the kit long term with stock struts. I will say that roads where I live aren't amazing, but by no means something the suspension shouldn't be able to handle.

Have you seen any flex or bending in your struts? This was pretty catastrophic, but now knowing the passenger side is also bent, I'm sure the drivers side was bent for some time and then failed. If I knew to look, I might have caught it before it put the car out of commission until replacement parts were available.

 

[SilverOnyx]

I just looked at the lift installation video for the crosstrek and on that one there's new bump stops for the rear but not the front. Were there front bump stops in yours?

 

[Pawikan]

I just looked at the lift installation video for the crosstrek and on that one there's new bump stops for the rear but not the front. Were there front bump stops in yours?

There were 4 bump stops included in mine, for front and rear.

 

[Pawikan]

https://www.grimmspeed.com/content/install_guides/Subaru%20Lift%20Kit%20Instructions%20Rev%20C.pdf

Here are the instructions to the kit installed - looks like the crosstrek uses same instructions and should have installed them on the front as well.

 

[ArizonaOB]

I'm not a suspension expert either, so I'd have to defer to others. I don't think there is anything specifically wrong with the Grimmspeed kit, I think the issue is with my stock struts being able to handle the loads. It's possible that the other items contributed and added to the stresses. The adjustable end links were added to try to relieve the stresses, so if anything maybe it was the sway bar and strut brace, but I'm not an expert here. This was something I planned to replace at some point down the road with something like what I am installing now (or the Bilstein which I unfortunately won't be able to wait for). The fact that it is both of my front struts makes me think it's a design issue, using the kit long term with stock struts. I will say that roads where I live aren't amazing, but by no means something the suspension shouldn't be able to handle.

Have you seen any flex or bending in your struts? This was pretty catastrophic, but now knowing the passenger side is also bent, I'm sure the drivers side was bent for some time and then failed. If I knew to look, I might have caught it before it put the car out of commission until replacement parts were available.

I just had a look. It's tough to tell for sure with the dust covers in place, but both front OEM struts appear to be just fine. Certainly I see nothing like the pics you posted. I'll keep an eye on it going forward.

Fingers crossed that the Flatout GR Plus works for you.

 

[Pawikan]

Update: I got the Flatout Suspension GR Plus in and over to the shop for install. Everything was swapped out in about a day and I have the car back. I was able to talk to the mechanic and asked about the failure mode on the previous setup and he stated it was an installation error. The strut extension was no longer connected to the top of the strut. It was disconnected under the top hat. The spring was being held in place by the weight of the car only and when I hit any pumps, was wildly moving around and subsequently the strut broke apart.

When looking at the strut extension part, the threads were not damaged, no indication of failure of the piece at all. In fact, and surprisingly, it doesn't look damaged at all, but was fully disconnected. It looks like they didn't use any thread lock and didn't fully thread it on and it backed out and then the strut was moving free. The strut was fully disconnected and in pieces which made the removal difficult. They had to clamp the spring together during removal to remove everything - which they were not happy about.

No other damage to the car fortunately and the other side was in a similar situation, but still had at least one thread still engaged. I'm not sold on the kit, but feel that the real failure was due to install at the dealership.

A couple of notes:

I'm not sure what to do about this when it comes to the dealership. They didn't offer to help and basically told me to figure it out... Do I have a case I can prove? Would I get anything real from the hassle? I'm not sure it's worth it...

Flatout Suspension: I had an absolutely amazing experience. Customer Service was great, answered lots of questions, made changes to my order, expedited and then helped me do some adjustments when I got everything back from the shop. I cannot recommend them more.

 

[SilverOnyx]

It's interesting that the strut extension broke during the initial installation, a new part was rushed to you, and then this happens. It just seems like the whole strut extension thing is iffy from an engineering standpoint.

I'm surprised a dealership was willing to install them in the first place.

 

[Pawikan]

It's interesting that the strut extension broke during the initial installation, a new part was rushed to you, and then this happens. It just seems like the whole strut extension thing is iffy from an engineering standpoint.

I'm surprised a dealership was willing to install them in the first place.

It was a learning experience for sure... I went with a temporary cheaper option and ended up paying for it in the long run...

 

[ArizonaOB]

For what it's worth, I've had zero issues with the Grimmspeed Trails kit, but I installed the kit myself and made sure to follow the instructions, including thread locker where it was called out and tightening the strut extensions to the specified torque.

Anyway, good luck with the Flatout kit!

 

[Devilhog]

Sounds like to me someone left a few strut nuts loose, or didn't use new Nuts. Most strut nuts that hold the top mount to the strut have either Nylock or another retaining method (not sure what subaru call's those pinched metal bits on nuts lol). As a Subaru Tech and fellow enthusiast have to say it was probably installation error on both accounts.