Hey everyone, I'm new to both the Subaru world and Minnesota! I just recently got a 2005 Forester 2.5 XT. Whoever owned it before lowered it, but when I look at the rear it's higher on the right side than the left. I've been told that it's probably a strut but I just wanted to be sure. Can someone fill me in on the suspension? I know that it uses the WRX suspension but that's about all I know. Does it use struts on the front and shocks and springs in the back? Or struts all the way around. Thanks!
Springs support the weight of the car, not the struts...struts only dampen the movement of the springs. So it's probably not a strut, unless the perch is bent. It is fairly common for the left rear side of subaru's to sag more than the right. How much different is the ride height? If it is extreme (like more than an inch differences) it is probably a really saggy spring or broken spring. Can you remove the wheel and take some pics? And yes, the the 05 forester has macherson strut/springs on all 4 corners.
It's not more than an inch. Maybe a half or quarter of an inch is all. And I don't have a lift to use right now. But I will soon.
Compounding on what TMF said... It could be one of a couple other things; -Broken spring. With this you would probably notice a distinct noise when loading and unloading that spring. -Missing saggy butt spacer. If they used drop in suspension from a wrx, they likely shored up the rears with saggy butt spacers. Its possible one was left out. An easy way to check this is to see if there is more threads visible on the inside of the car where the struts mount on one side vs the other. -Mismatched suspension. Wrx wagon and sedan struts were different in that they had different perch heights. Its possible whoever lowered the car used mismatched struts. -Bad adjustment. Its possible the ride height is set incorrectly. This is only feasible if there are coilovers or ground control springs. Without inspection its difficult to say what the culprit is. These possibilities will hopefully give you some things to investigate.
If it is only a quarter to a half inch, I am willing to bet beyond a reasonable doubt that it is just the way the car is sitting, as it is a very common issue. You could try swapping rear springs, but some say it is even just the chassis that becomes uneven over time. Nothing to worry about in my opinion. Do a quick search and you will find tons of threads on this issues on NASIOC, from 2001 to 08+ https://www.google.com/search?q=nas....mozilla:en-US:official&channel=sb&gws_rd=ssl
