Ok, so here's what happened:

Saturday, I take my car into the dealer because it's making a clanking noise in the driver's side front suspension. The dealer brings it in the shop, takes one look at it, and says "you've got aftermarket springs on there, we can't do any warranty work on it. You'll have to pay for all the labor." I said, "well, just check everything externally, and let me know if you find anything."

So they go and start making sure everything's tight, and when they took the wrench to the main nut on top of the strut, they snap the damn thing right off!!!! ***! :confused:

So the service guy comes out, "Sir, the nut snapped off the strut, we're going to have to order you a new strut. That'll be $333 plus installation, you will have your car back on Tuesday."

So basically, it went from a rattle, to needing full blown repairs because the dealer messed with it. So i basically, as nice as i could, threw a fit. So, I call the actual service manager this morning, and he said he's waiting to hear from subaru about the whole mess. But the way i figure it, for that kind of money, I might as well just go get the KYB/AGX suspension from TRi for like $70 more and have a whole new suspension.

note to self: fix everything you can yourself. subaru service sucks.

That is absolute bullsheet. (dealer's actions, not your story) Unless they can prove that the springs are directly linked to the demise of the bolt, they shouldn't be able to charge you. It sounds like some shaved monkey got in there with an torque wrench and tried to secure the bolt. They broke it, they buy it.

Good luck with your case.

If you put springs in your car, there is a moderate chance it was related to the noise. Subaru have no control over that.

If you removed the springs, whoever did the install may have overtorqued the strut nut already.

If you have aftermarket suspension components, taking the car to the dealer for suspension warranty work doesn't make sense (unless you could establish that it was a CV or bearing perhaps).

Glenn

Glenn : Question

If i have STi springs (or say springs that come in any other factory subie like P1, etc) on my car, should it make any difference?

i didnt think subaru warranted the performance suspension kit on the site it says sold as is for off highway aplication or something like that so even if you got the parts from subaru you would probly still have to pay right?

your probly better off spending the extry 70 buck n getting the better sturt

Originally posted by ProgWRX
Glenn : Question

If i have STi springs (or say springs that come in any other factory subie like P1, etc) on my car, should it make any difference?

I think the only time that the dealer will fully cover suspension is if you purchase the equipment from them and they install it. If this was the case, you'd have a pretty valid claim if there was a problem.

Dealers have started to realize that there is a lot of money in aftermarket parts. Anyone go to an Acura dealer recently? They have all kinds of aftermarket stuff. They have the gear that really can't hurt the car (like springs, etc). This way they can mark it up 100% and you can keep your factory warrenty for the after market stuff (just in case the new springs start to leak bounce fluid:lol: )

The stock struts are only like $99 MSRP. If they don't warranty it for some outlandish reason, just buy the strut and put it in yourself (unless you were going to replace them all anyway ;)).

Brian
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Well, here's the final word:

Subaru says that because i altered my suspension, there's nothing they can do. It will not be covered under warranty, and I will have to pay for a new one.

Solution: Thank you Chris at TRi, i can't wait for my KYB/AGX's!!!

(in the monster truck announcer voice) Wednesday! Wednesday! Wednesday!

oh well. guess it was a blessing in disguise....

The whole strut assembly does NOT need to be replaced. Just the upper strut mount which I got a price of $85 from the local dealership.

How do I know that? I broke a stud off with a hand ratchet when I was doing my spring install. The studs are pathetically fragile and only take 15 ft lbs of torque. I've tightened similiar bolts with an impact gun on domestic vehicles and never broke one.

I didn't buy the part I just repaired the old one by taking out the stud and welding in a new bolt.

Looks just like stock but A LOT stronger.

Chris

He said:

the main nut on top of the strut

So, this does NOT sound like the strut top hat threads.

The dealers have nothing to do with covering aftermarket stuff or not, there is nothing for them to "realize". Subaru provides the new car warranty, and the dealers administer it, with supervision of the Subaru warranty people and DTMs. It would be unfair of the dealers (to Subaru) to examine a car that has aftermarket suspension and then make Subaru pay for a warranty suspension claim.

It doesn't sound clear to me that the fault was due to faulty assembly or fault components from Subaru - like I said I bet whoever installed the springs overtorqued the nut.

But I'm also not saying the dealership didn't do anything wrong --- I know some dealers who make the MECHANICS pay when they break something on your car (this happened to me once with a reverse light switch - they took $34 out of his paycheck).

These are the joys of modifying a new car.

Glenn

Boy, I don't see any parts of the WRX suspension as being "pathetically fragile." We've had the suspension on and off a few times, and yes, Subaru specs a low torque spec for the top hats. But how much is needed, really? I don't think that anyone's top hats have ever come loose. Just my .02.

Kevin

Originally posted by gtguy
Boy, I don't see any parts of the WRX suspension as being "pathetically fragile."

I'm not saying the entire suspension is fragile just those studs. Like I mentioned earlier, I've used an impact gun on similiar studs on the domestics I've worked on and NEVER had one break.
Originally posted by gtguy
yes, Subaru specs a low torque spec for the top hats. But how much is needed, really? I don't think that anyone's top hats have ever come loose. Just my .02.
Kevin
Check out this (http://www.i-club.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=79770) thread. The guy had one break on him while driving! Yeah, I suppose they don't need to be that stong. :rolleyes:

Chris

My question is, were they trying to loosen the nut that broke or tighten it? If they were trying to tighten it, were they using a torque wrench to make sure it was at the proper torque or was it just some grease monkey reefing on it with a breaker bar? There are torque specs for pretty much every nut and bolt on a car and if they tried to over tighten it and it broke THEY should fix it regardless of you aftermarket springs.

no, it was a torque wrench. and they were testing how tight it was when it snapped, so they were trying to tighten it more. hm...scary.

One guy? Anything could have accounted for that, including too much torque at some point in the process. He seems to be the only one. Other people have broken them gorillaing the studs, which isn't really Subaru's fault.

I can't begin to tell you how many times I've swapped suspensions in Subarus (along with rao and Kyle :D). We use hand tools, not impact stuff, and everything is fine and dandy.

You can break ANYTHING if you impact wrench it hard enough! :lol:

Kevin

Did you put the springs on the car or did you have them put on?

Originally posted by gtguy
One guy? Anything could have accounted for that, including too much torque at some point in the process.
Yup, anything could have accounted for that. Including weak bolts. You said you never heard of someone having one come loose and I gave you an example of one BREAKING.
Originally posted by gtguy
He seems to be the only one.
Really? The only one? Maybe the only one on this site but there are A LOT of Subaru owners that don't belong to this site.
Originally posted by gtguy
We use hand tools, not impact stuff, and everything is fine and dandy.
I was also using handtools and I broke one.
Originally posted by gtguy
You can break ANYTHING if you impact wrench it hard enough! :lol:
Of course, but like I said I busted it with a hand ratchet, no impact tools.

Look, you obviously are going to defend Subaru to the end. I'm not, I'm not a brand loyalist. I call 'em like I see 'em. *I* think the studs are too weak. You aren't going to convince me otherwise and vice-versa. I'll leave it at that. :)

Chris

I'm not defending Subaru to the end, at all. I am saying that on this board, people turn aberrations into widespread problems. Witness the concerns about the glass WRX transmission that have gotten out of hand.

15-20 lb/ft is surprisingly low for a bolt that holds on a strut, no question. But with a hand torque wrench set to spec, those bolts won't break, and I, the original Gorilla Mechanic, should know. (grunt, grunt!) And from the way that I drive, I know that they hold the strut assembly on just fine. :D Hence, I would not call them "ridiculously fragile," which was my initial contention.

I agree that we should agree to disagree.

Kevin

One possible reason for the bolt to snap off so easily is incorrect torque applied during initial assembling. I believe the engineer should be wise enough to put in a durable parts. I believe the assembly line torque ratch might be over-spec, and cost the bolt to be deformed permanetly.
We won't be able to know if this is the reason, untill more car are sampled. I suggest that people with suspension noise post their car's VIN, and MFG date, then may be we will see a pattern going, and might be able to pinpint which batch of cars are having problem.
Anyway this is just my guess to the problem, there might be a design fault afterall.

Care to mention the dealer, NoSaabs? Just curious, as a fellow Delawarean. You may have seen some of my stupidity in that Tri-State Forum;)

It can't have been the top hat, otherwise they wouldn't need to replace the strut. So discussion of those snapping is not 100% relevant.

The strut nut itself I think is 34 lb-ft, or something like that.
It definitely sounds like it was already over-torqued. Checking them with a torque wrench can be a bit iffy because they tend to just turn even if they're torqued... dunno why.

Glenn

NoSaabs,

Sorry for the bad luck. Based on what you and others have said, it doesn't sound like Subaru is responsible, but it sure as hell sounds like the dealership is accountable to some degree. Regardless of warranty, you took your car to them to have it fixed and they broke a part. THEY broke it. THEY should pay to replace it. Period. Take 'em to small claims. It is not costly ($20 filing fee, I believe). It will take some time, so just buy your replacements now but look forward to a refund from a settlement.

My understanding is you don't need a lawyer or anything like that. It sounds like a very open and shut case. Bottom line is you took them a part that was intact and they broke it. There's very little chance of them arguing that point, so dealership (not Subaru) is responsible. Q.E.D

Good luck!

Originally posted by DoubleD
Care to mention the dealer, NoSaabs? Just curious, as a fellow Delawarean. You may have seen some of my stupidity in that Tri-State Forum;)



sure, the dealer was matt slap subaru in Newark. they were the only dealer in the area that had time to look at my car on that particular day, so that's why i brought it to them in the first place. never again though.