So i just swapped the STI tranny, brakes and suspension into my car.... the car that i pulled it from was totaled... front end collision.. my car rides like complete ass. If i take it around some hard corners i notice that my right rear tire rubs on my fender.... so im thinkin, okay so ill just roll them... I get to lookin at the gap between the tire and the fender and the left side has way more gap then the right. So i lifted up on the right fender and it stayed at the correct height. Then i pushed down on the trunk and it stayed down... I was pissed... so im think that somethin is messed up but i dont know what... shouldnt we have noticed when we bolted the stuff on... everything went on great. Is that something that they should have seen when the car got aligned??? Any suggestions as to what could be wrong?
well I think its the new 6 speed, I hear they are really crappy, second gear I believe is the problem. I've heard them called the "glass trans" I however have a great fix for you. I've got a stock wrx 5 speed that is a far better unit. if you want I might even consider trading my "lightweight" 2/1pot brake setup. lemme know if you are interested
Obviously shocks are bad. (there's a small chance springs are bad, but you'd see it If these weren't new - a good idea would have been to pull things apart before install and check if struts are in good shape. If suspension is STI - probably you can rebuild those. More suspension details pls.
So...the STI suspension(from the wrecked car) went on your WRX, correct? Notice any bent parts? At the very least, the whole car should be checked by a mechanic and the car should get fully aligned.
STi is completely and utterly non-rebuildable. sounds like seized shafts, or possibly leaks that already drained all teh hydraulic fluid.
What year STi was the donor car? Many times camber bolts are needed to correct the differecne withthe struts. That brings up another point. Has the car been on an alignment rack yet?
well it doesnt matter what the prognostication is, simple and plain your struts no longer work, i suspect because there is no longer any pressure in them, as you push down it stays down, push up stays up. You need new struts. scratching your head about what made them go wrong is unnecessary. I'll tell you what went wrong: they died in whatever accident killed the rest of the car.
It has to be a 04 because the 05+ has different front struts. The knukle is thicker where it attaches to the strut and the bolts are spread out more. Trust me I know. Been trying to find a good strut and only one company makes them for 05+ STi (for $2k).
I think it was an 05, 1_sic_rex did a complete suspension/drivetrain swap (no motor). All the way out to the lug nuts. (5x114.3 ftw!)
Zak - shouldnt the spring help in having the strut pop back out though.... I do believe youa re correct in your diagnosis on dead struts...
Ah I see. OK so he swapped everything then. Good luck finding anything but stock struts, $2k struts, or coilovers for it. I so wanted some adjustable struts but noooo no one is making them affordable.
Suspension woes? Dead strut, I wager. You should check your right lower balljoint too, I hear that these are the indicators of that same problem (sorry, couldn't resist). But seriously, take the car back to the people who did the alignment, they obviously didn't look under the car at all. In the meantime, I'll trade you the whole swap for my stuff, it all works. And better yet, I'll do it straight up, you won't have to pay me a thing!
AHEM.... STi struts are well known for their issues with stiction. At this time, I don't feel there is any reason to believe this is due to a bent strut (or any external mechanical issues). The STi struts can get pretty bad... At one point, I could get the suspension to stick in a place due to this issue. The symtoms are not always the same (I have been through 5 different struts), but they are similar and I have personally experienced about 3 different manifestations of the issue. Buy coilovers..... Buy Ohlins..... Buy a new STi strut.... (listed in order of ultimate cost!)
