[aesthetic.rake]

What a difference an inch makes... (there's a twss joke in there somewhere..)

Before loosening the arms...
Drivers

Pass

After loosening up the arms and bouncing around on the rear bumper for a minute to settle it...

Drivers

Pass

Before whole car

After whole car

Subtle, but, it makes a difference. She's ready for her alignment! It's hard to believe some rubber bushings could keep the weight of the entire back of that car up but it do.

Evidently, this wasn't enough weight on the suspension to really compress it to where the bushings wouldn't bind up. For any of you who are going to do this job in the future, don't tighten the arms until the full weight of the car is on the wheels. Front and rear. I think it makes a difference. Fortunately, the Outback has enough ground clearance to get under it without having to put it on blocks. When I did the LGT, I remember now, I had to set the car on blocks and get under it that way. 12" of wooden blocks actually. It was.. scary.

I think the project is done as far as I'm taking it and what I'm doing with it. The rest is alignment and windshield. Yesterday I buttoned the diaper up before calling it a day. I knew I had the bolts for it somewhere...

Now I get to clean..

 

[johnre]

Is the H6 any heavier [than the 25i] really?

Yes, according to www.cars101.com - it amounts to about 200 lbs. over the NA and 100 lbs. over the turbo if you compare models equipped with AT. Looking at the 2005 models:

	Manual​	Automatic​
Outback 2.5i	3310​	3355​
2.5i Limited	3365​	3410​
XT	3415​	3480​
XT Limited	3500​	3565​
LL Bean	-​	3600​
VDC	-​	3630​
3.0R sedan	-​	3545​

And I'm not sure (@traildogck may know) but I think I heard that the H6 uses different coil springs up front because of this difference.

 

[Transtar]

And I'm not sure (@traildogck may know) but I think I heard that the H6 uses different coil springs up front because of this difference.

It is a stiffer front spring at the very least. The H6 spring is one of the "OEM" upgrade for the springs. I'm still trying to track down how different the rears are. Been looking at trying to stiffen up the rear and would love to hear the difference @aesthetic.rake found while driving it. Was planning on putting in stiffer springs and a thicker RSB, but if the bushings give a really good bump then I may just look at doing what was done here (and bite the bullet for an aftermarket RSB).

 

[aesthetic.rake]

Well, just got the car back from the alignment shop. The guys down there were nice enough to let me drop it off without having an appointment and they squeezed it in when they could. Unfortunately, I think I'm taking the car back to them.. the steering wheel is just a little too far off straight for my tastes. I feel bad about being so neurotic about it, even though they went out of their way to get the car in when they didn't have to, BUT, the steering wheel being straight is like, the only part the end user really notices of an alignment. You know?

Anyways. Wow.

The new suspension under that car has done wonders. We used to liken the car to a boat. She just sort of.. lumbered or floated down the road. The reverberations of bumps felt long after the bump was in the rear view. Now though, there's dampening. The car feels much more planted. It doesn't feel floaty at all like it used to. Splashy, we used to call it, but she's nice and tight now. It feels stiffer than it did. I suspect the new struts will take some miles to break in before I can really comment on that but, it's worlds better than it was.

I'll get the wife in the car this weekend and get her perspective on it.

 

[thesubie_broketheforum]

What'd she think of it?

The splashy feel seems a feature of the 2013 Outback. At least there is body roll--maybe that's all I mean. Tempting reading about sway bar swaps and such...

 

[aesthetic.rake]

What'd she think of it?

The splashy feel seems a feature of the 2013 Outback. At least there is body roll--maybe that's all I mean. Tempting reading about sway bar swaps and such...

She's a bit peeved that I let her drive it clapped out for so long if that's as good as it could have felt. She took it south a ways to pick up a box that was bigger than could fit in her Lexus and she was impressed. Of course, she's not going to trade her Lex for the Outbean or anything...

She echoed many of what I said about how the car drove vs how it drives now. The splashy-ness is gone. The car feels planted. Nowhere near as much body roll. She said "It doesn't feel like the car is going to tip over around corners anymore." She said it feels great and how she imagines they feel new. She also kinda complained that it was a bit harsh but I do think the struts need breaking in. There's less than 50 miles on them so far.

I do think Monroes are a bit softer or maybe less rigid than KYB's. I installed Monroes on the 09 we did a few projects ago and it felt a little more... "luxurious." This is the second car we did with KYB's and I felt the same both times.. the KYB's feel a bit "sportier." Personally, I'd rather the Monroes but I don't think anyone could go wrong either way. I feel like I made a huge mistake when I did Whiteline bushes and s402 Bilsteins with STI pinks on our 05 LGT. I turned what was a great highway cruiser into a rigid, stiff, NVH monster. Sure, it handles fucking fantastic but it rattles your teeth out over the **** roads we have here.