Who has purchased strut replacements from Subaru recently?

[Huskymaniac]

I recall reading that they may have done a fresh manufacturing run recently such that the age and storage may not be as much of a concern.

So, if you did order struts recently AND you took note of the manufacturing date can you please post your date of purchase, the manufacturing date and what vendor you purchased them from.

I may need new struts and will further investigate the source of my squeaking noises this weekend. If I conclude that the struts are the source of the noise I'm not sure if I should buy new mounts too. There is little to no corrosion on my car. Even the plastic bits seem to be in decent shape. Most of the issues have been with rubber parts, leather and sensors.

[Green1995SVX]

The rear upper mounts are prone to rust even on cars that look fantastic otherwise. A former member here named Nubs had a 92 Teal that was absolutely flawless, and he had collapsed rear mounts from rust. The way that they're designed makes them very prone to this. They hold moisture and "junk" above them.

[dcarrb]

I've replaced rear struts and rear upper mounts on my silver SVX within the past couple of years. New parts came from Subaruparts.com in both instances. As noted here before, the left mount failed when I was making a turn about 250 miles from home and I knew from the sound and location of the racket that it couldn't have been much else, and upon removal both mounts (or what was left of 'em) looked as if they'd been salvaged from the bottom of the sea. The car is otherwise corrosion-free, but it spent its early years in snowy climes, whereas the teal is a lifetime sunbelt car.

On another trip, also a couple of hours from home, I hit a deep depression in the roadway at speed and the rear suspension bottomed hard, the right-side strut having blown.

Both times I drove home without incident, taking care to check my speed and mind curves and pavement irregularities, as the car was porpoising like Flipper on meth.

I looked for some sort of date stamp or code on the struts and packaging, but found none. Delivery was quick.

No troubles since.

dcb

[Huskymaniac]

Originally Posted by dcarrb

I've replaced rear struts and rear upper mounts on my silver SVX within the past couple of years. New parts came from Subaruparts.com in both instances. As noted here before, the left mount failed when I was making a turn about 250 miles from home and I knew from the sound and location of the racket that it couldn't have been much else, and upon removal both mounts (or what was left of 'em) looked as if they'd been salvaged from the bottom of the sea. The car is otherwise corrosion-free, but it spent its early years in snowy climes, whereas the teal is a lifetime sunbelt car.

On another trip, also a couple of hours from home, I hit a deep depression in the roadway at speed and the rear suspension bottomed hard, the right-side strut having blown.

Both times I drove home without incident, taking care to check my speed and mind curves and pavement irregularities, as the car was porpoising like Flipper on meth.

I looked for some sort of date stamp or code on the struts and packaging, but found none. Delivery was quick.

No troubles since.

dcb

Ironically, my car spent the first 14 years of its life in TN and northern GA! It spent one unprotected winter here in upstate NY before Krown opened a franchise near me. It got rust-proofed before last winter and will probably get the same treatment this year. So, I hope the rear mounts are OK. And it is the front where I am getting noises. For some time there has been a faint knocking or clunking sound I notice only at slow speeds on bumpy roads. No one has been able to find anything obvious as to the source and some people here suspected the strut. Now that noise is accompanied by a rubbery-squeaking noise. I'm going to check out all the rubbery bits again but, if it is a strut, I would like to look into my options. I actually like the stock ride.

[Huskymaniac]

According to this thread, Probe inserts should fit the SVX which may mean that Mazda MX6 struts might also:

http://forums.probetalk.com/showthread.php?t=1701159979

[Huskymaniac]

Well I got under the car today and the noise definitely is coming from the right front strut. I can feel the vibrations from the squeak in both the strut mount and the spring. The mount looks ok so I am assuming it is the strut. I will get a professional opinion this week but it looks like I will be buying struts. I need to decide which ones. It looks like the Probe struts being a direct fit was a myth. The Konis apparently leak sometimes. It is unclear if the oem struts are really old or if there was a recent manufacturing run. And then there are these new aftermarket sources people have been talking about. Opinions?