Squealing belt?
 

I turned on my car earlier tonight after it sat for two days and as soon as I started turning the wheel, I heard a squealing coming from under the hood. I assumed that because the belt got cold that it got loose (I put these belts on like two weeks ago), so I figured that I needed to tighten the belt that the power steering is attached to. I tightened it a lot (it seemed to me), and it seems that the squealing has gotten better, but it still squeals during low speed turns at the extremes in either direction. Am I right to assume that the belt still needs tightened? And when will I know that it's tight enough - is there anything I can check without testing it out?

TIA...

Do you have the factory main pulley?
It could very likely be the rubber dampener on your main pulley has separated.
Pop the hood, rev it at the throttle body and watch the pulley for movement forward or backward. If it moves you need to replace it before it separates completely and tears something up.

If it isn't that and you think the belts are just loose, the rule of thumb for belts is tighten them enough that when you grab it and twist it you can only twist 1/4 turn.

Mine squealed alot until I replaced them and put them on tighter than before. My power steering would bind up because they were loose but doesn't anymore since I tightened them. Doesn't squeal at all anymore now.

Well, I tightened that p/s and alt belt pretty darn tight today and it seems to have made the squeal go away. We'll see tomorrow when I fire up the car with the belt cold.

An old trick I used was to rub a bar of soap on the belt grooves to stop stubborn squeaks.
Ivory works best ;)

Ivory soap
 

99.99% pure!! It floats!!

It works to stop the squeal but if you need to do that then it's a sign of a bad and/or loose belt.:)

You're right there ... it was really intended for the older style v-belt ... but you do get that fresh summer scent under the hood. ;)

The belt is brand new Subaru OEM. I had a similar problem when I replaced the belts only the A/C Belt squealed instead. At a Subaru meet last month, a guy there much more knowledgeable than me let me onto the fact that the belt was loose and helped me tighten it. I figured this one was loose as well because it squealed while under load like the A/C did when the clutch first engaged.

I figured that the belt needed tightened again due to it being worn in (it's been about 500 miles since I replaced them).

New belts tend to stretch very soon after they are installed and need to be tightened ... so that's probably the fix.