... 09 Forester Limited and have wind noise coming from my driver side door... wind noise in the 2011 loaner Forester that was given to me was worse than mine... I'm beginning to believe this is a design issue in all the 09 and up Foresters. So frustrating and disappointing.
Until 2008, Foresters had frameless windows. People naturally pushed on the corner of a window to open and close the doors. Who would think to reach down and push on the door?
This pushing on the corner of the glass leveraged and loosened the frameless windows in their door tracks and front gussets. The windows no longer pressed tight against the rubber seals. There was wind noise from the windows at speed. People then expanded the window seals by pressing vinyl tubing into their folds.
In 2009 Subaru redesigned the Forester. One of the changes was framed windows, with metal window frames that pressed tightly against the rubber seals.
This is the design issue that you speak of. It was meant to eliminate the wind noise from loose window glass.
My 2008 is still free of wind noise at high speed. I am the only occupant, and have never touched the window to use the door. The glass still presses tight against the seals.
However, tire noise was a problem when new. After 3500 miles I sold off the OEM Geolandars and replaced them with Michelin Primacy. That solved that problem.