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’15 Subaru legacy. Rear suspension creaks and pops when moving up and down. Popping sounds metallic although creaking is most noticeable. Very noticeable in reverse or if I put some weight on the trunk. Sometimes goes away all together, other times sounds horrible.
Replaced sway bar bushings, endlinks, and rear lateral link – no luck. Brakes ruled out as well. Struts/shocks look good. Could it be the strut mount? Any thoughts?
Dealer can’t find it despite trying their best.
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Can you get someone to compress the suspension as you were doing while you poke around under the car to try and isolate where it is? It really sounds like a bushing, so I would start there – there are a bunch of them – the swaybar ones you already addressed – take a look at the trailing arms and lateral links as well as the spring seats and strut tops. You can hit the bushings with silicone spray to try and narrow down which one is the culprit.
Thanks, great advice with the silicone.
I should’ve done one part at a time, a did a bit more – lubricated the rear strut mount and lower connection to the lateral link. Noise went way down. New problem is getting the dealer to find the problem with less of a noise! Hopefully they’ll either replace the strut or at least reseat it.
Update:
Dealer has now replaced:
Rear lateral link
Rear strut
Sway bar bushings
Sway bar endlinksSame noise. Subaru master tech, head tech, and I can’t figure it out.
Problem is intermittent, most noticeable when loading/unloading suspension as shown in video, and noticeable in reverse. I’m questioning if the silicone brought down the noise or if it was coincidence with this intermittent problem. So frustrating!
Any other thoughts or suggestions appreciated!
can you isolate which side? there are still a bunch of bushings back there – the trailing arms and the upper control arms have a few each… also the mounting points for the rear differential…
deff sounds like rubber bushing riding on something… yea gonna need a buddy to keep bouncing it while your under it looking and pin point spraying some kind of lube.
almost sounds like a spring creaking in its pocket…
my friend had a 2013 legacy… less than 40,000 miles paint was failing (clear coat peeling) – subaru blamed him and wouldn’t do anything about it, drivers seat lumbar broke, and sunroof leaked – be prepared….
I had a friend bounce on it while under there spraying silicone. Nothing changes the noise. It is on the right rear.
I’d swear it’s coming from the rear lateral link or a component connected to it. Thing is, the dealer replaced the lateral link, the endlink, and the strut!
Is it possible the bushing was torqued in the air when it should have been on the ground? I wouldn’t think it’d make this kind of noise.
Here’s a better video:
[URL]https://youtu.be/Hyp6AjdfiuM[/URL]
hmm great video, but lets back pedal a bit here. was this noise present on the car since new? how long after you bought it? hit any potholes that could have bent something out of whack? Ive heard a similar noise on the frotn end of cars with severely worn and dry ball joints and on s10 ZR2 4×4’s that have been driven a bit hard love to crack the frame and creak and groan which is why i asked if youve hit any potholes or curbs etc.
No noise at new. Started pretty suddenly at 25,xxx miles.
No major potholes that ring a bell – I care enough that I’d remember. I’ve visually inspected the ball joints and sprayed them down with silicone. I don’t feel the same vibration near the ball joints that I do with the lateral link (and trailing arm for that matter). Starting to wonder about the subframe. I’ve got my 5th dealer visit for the problem on Monday…
Take a few minutes and try to create a set of EXACT circumstances near the dealership that can reproduce the noise. When get there, make sure you have time and insist someone goes for a ride with you. Show them how and where to recreate the noise. Even if it isn’t the person that will ultimately be fixing the noise, that way someone will know how to recreate it. If you have to write it down so you don’t forget.
Finally replicated the noise CLEARLY for the head tech. He is super frustrated. He also replaced the trailing arm last time (didn’t know that). He’d swear it’s the strut into lateral link, as would I, but both have already been replaced. The only part that hasn’t been replaced is the upper control arm. Here goes nothing!
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