[Caprononi]

So I need to replace my front strut assembly. Do I need to replace the back set at the same time? Also, there's some rattling around my front right wheel when I go over rough spots in the road. Something is loose and I need to get her jacked up to investigate, any ideas on what it could be?

 

[DoubleDingo]

I'm no authority on struts, but if it were me I would get new struts and mounts front and rear. You may get by with the old mounts in the rear, but the fronts would be good to be replaced. I recently did this on mine and the ride improved a lot, more than I expected it to. Mine had clunking sounds too, but on mine it may have been due to a loose sway bar end link nut that I found after replacing the struts. Either way, when I removed the left front strut I saw that it was completely shot and leaking, the other three were not leaking but the car sat goofy with the blown strut. Check for sales on struts, I was able to save a couple hundred dollars after finding an online sale through Pep Boys, and then doing an in store pick up. The mounts I got through Jackie the Subaru parts girl on here. Locally the front strut mounts alone would have been $200 for the pair.

 

[Loscaldazar]

Struts sets can be replaced separately (that is you can replace the front set and do the rear set at another time).

In my experience, the rear struts go bad on forester's first, but that may be related to how much you stick in the trunk. I'd always do all 4 at a time regardless.

Clunks are hard to track down over the internet p), but If I had to take a guess, it's usually a sway bar end link or the bearing in the strut mount wearing out if it does indeed sound like it is coming from a front corner.