bottoming rear suspension on 07 Spec B wagon

[Stiff]

Hi All

Just recently got myself an 07 Spec B wagon (73,000km on odo) and have just joined this forum. The car is great except that when travelling the other weekend on a country road at about 110kmh I hit a dip in the road and there was a loud bang towards the rear of the car. The shock thru the vehicle fell like the rear suspension had bottomed out. Is this normal? There were 2 adults an about 15kgs of stuff in the back at the time. I've never owed a Subaru before and dont know a great deal about them. A friend recommended this particular model to me and the car seems to have plenty more performance than the 13 yo Hyundai it replaced.

BTW Great Forum!

[jslayz]

Perhaps a bumpstop has been removed in the rear.
Even if t did bottom out, shoud be a rubber stopper to stop it being too harsh.

Oh yeah, welcome!!

They are great versatile wagons.

J

[bigBADbenny]

It's your ride height, alignment and tyre/rim width in conjunction causing your rear tyres to contact the guards.
Solutions:
saggy butt spacers for the rear strut tops
Whiteline rear camber kit for the rear upper arms kca399
Roll guards, trim plastic guard trims
Replacement springs
Tyres and or rims with less width
Whiteline rear lateral arms kta124
Coilovers (adjust ride height)

It's worth fixing, the ECU "heard" the sound as knock on my car!

[jslayz]

It's your ride height, alignment and tyre/rim width in conjunction causing your rear tyres to contact the guards.
Solutions:
saggy butt spacers for the rear strut tops
Whiteline rear camber kit for the rear upper arms kca399
Roll guards, trim plastic guard trims
Replacement springs
Tyres and or rims with less width
Whiteline rear lateral arms kta124
Coilovers (adjust ride height)

It's worth fixing, the ECU "heard" the sound as knock on my car!

Rear tyres touching guards is a rubbing sound.....not a bang.....

Suggest get car off ground and inspect.

[Robbks]

the spots where the rear bump stops touch the rear suspensions arms are shiny on my car.. they obviously touch a lot
get a reasonable bang too, and 200KG over the rear wheels is enough to do it with a reasonable bump, don;t worry about it.

[Mat04]

How big was the dip in the road? Sure it wasn't a pot hole. I would be taking the car to the nearest service center and getting it up on a hoist to check for damage. Could be sway bar end links breaking, tire hitting guards, bump stop missing and metal to metal contact has happened, or worse the diff rubber mounts have let go and the diff is just floppig around on sloppy bolts.

[bigBADbenny]

Well with 18 x 8.5 +35 its definitely a BANG.
The ECU thought so too.

OP didnt state fitment so indeed: bumpstops or guards, the fix is the same.
Shiny bits making contact will confirm so inspect & verify with a torch FTW...

It's your ride height, alignment and tyre/rim width in conjunction causing your rear tyres to contact the guards.
Solutions:
saggy butt spacers for the rear strut tops
Whiteline rear camber kit for the rear upper arms kca399
Roll guards, trim plastic guard trims
Replacement springs
Tyres and or rims with less width
Whiteline rear lateral arms kta124
Coilovers (adjust ride height)

It's worth fixing, the ECU "heard" the sound as knock on my car!

Rear tyres touching guards is a rubbing sound.....not a bang.....

Suggest get car off ground and inspect.

[Stiff]

Wow - great response!! Thanks heaps everyone for the suggestions. I think I will get my mechanic to look underneath His daily drive is a Forester GT to hopefully he'll know what to look for.

BTW what are 'coil overs''? Also I've read the word 'Pinks' a few times...are these springs or struts? I'd be keen to increase ride height if it fixes the bang, but don't want to muck up the vehicles handling with is bloody amazing

[bigBADbenny]

Google it at your peril
Can you post a pic of your car from the side and one of the rear springs so we can peep your setup?
Or side pic & color of rear springs...

[Mat04]

Pinks are springs which are lower than factory height. Coil overs are a complete spring strut replacement which allow you to lower or raise the car to a height that you desire.