[BlueGryffin]

I'm having problems with rear suspension noise on a recently purchased 2009 FXT. Clunking, sounds like herd of galloping wild horses everytime I go over rough paved roads. Body is veering, wobbly when passing semis and feeling uncertain steering when hitting real rough patches, being thrown around a bit. (no vibration in steering though) Took to my mechanic for overall inspection (been using same 5 yrs, worked on my old 2004 FXT I sold and owns a 2004 FXT!) and he said rear upper control arms are bad. Side to side movement in rear tires when moved by hand up on the lift.

So I call the dealership (high volume place in Wisconsin, who wants to keep their reviews clean :wink2: ) emailed them the mechanics repair list and they said, sure come back up and let's inspect it again. Now I live 2 hrs south in Illinois, (yes it was hard to find a 2009 FXT with low mileage in my area) so after driving up, I left in a rental car Dealer paid for and assurances they would get back to me next day. Talked to repair manager next day, nothing inspected yet but he's very dismissive about anything needing to be done on 2009 suspensions at 93K, says you wont have problems till much later. (Typically true?) Reminded him there's a fairly new U Haul hitch welded to frame in rear, possible added stress, who knows what was towed and lots of suspension noise. 1 hr later calls to say, absolutely no problems other than "normal" wear. I counter with "whats normal wear" and he says well, there are no problems. For test drive he says clunking noise is just noisy tires. They are fairly new (lots of tread left) Continental EXTREMECONTACT DWS 06. I talked to the tech there and he's telling me "flexure" is normal and different from looseness. And the noise is just transfer of body noise through a softer suspension on the 09 than what I'm used to in my 04. I got him to agree to talk to my mechanic later. My mechanic says there should be NO movement in rear tire when moved sideways. He saw movement at the ball joint area when only using hand not pry bar pressure. Major clunking noise is NOT tires.

Sorry for long story, here is my quandary. I know what I will be faced with when I go back is having to assess the rear suspension myself with their mechanic in tow. Please answer this:
Should there be any play in tire when held at either top and bottom or on each side and moved by hand. Should any rear suspension component be able to be moved by hand and create play in the ball joint. Is any play considered normal "wear&tear" or sign of bad bushings, control arms? Any other test I can do to get them to assess this correctly? Either in the bay or driving it?

Thanks for any advice, ideas!

 

[ciscobear]

I would trust your mechanic. Yes the SH is very sloppy in the rear standard as it is.. Get some poly bushings for the arms one time. As you said, you don't know what was hauled before and at your mileage probably has some wear indeed. No you shouldn't be able to move those arms by hand so easily either. The only ones I can get twisted are my trailing arms.

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[BlueGryffin]

Are poly bushings a performance part?

Hey ciscobear, thanks for the advice and suggesting poly bushings. I thought those were performance bushes and wear out quicker and create a harsher ride. Now I don't want a marshmallow ride either! I was happy with the ride on my 2004 but they have softened 2009 up quite a bit.

I was talking to sales manager about getting my car back and taking it to a Subaru dealer in my area for a THIRD opinion. I asked if he would accept the 3rd opinion as a "tie-breaker". Sales manager now has suggested he have service replace the rear upper control arm and ball joint to "make me feel better" lol. Hes willing to go 50/50 with me on the repair (with their discounts for parts) He should have offered me that before with my mechanic so I wouldn't be doing all this traveling and stuck with rental car. Hes calling tomorrow with an estimate. Of course it will be stock Subaru parts but they should last me another 100K as I don't plan on using that hitch :grin2: I think you had a typo, training arms was trailing arms right?

Any other ideas for tightening up the rear suspension?

 

[ciscobear]

Yes thanks. Trailing indeed.

So far I've done the diff inserts and 20mm rear sway. So far the 20mm rsb, has been the biggest bang for buck. Really got rid of some of that rear slop.

I have some upper subframe inserts, waiting on the lower ones now. That's the next step. These are by superpro.

The poly bushes I've checked out aren't supposed to be hard, the rating supposed to be similar to the rubber counterpart. I'll be going with pieces from siberianbushing.com.



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