SF5 Forester control arm mounts = Factory ALK?

[n2x4]

Hey guys,

I was reading up on lowering my Forester and take a look at the stock Forester rear control arm bushing/mount:



Looks an awful lot like the expensive whiteline pieces, and after doing some reading it looks as though they are the same, but with stiffer bushings installed. Thought that was interesting!

[93forestpearl]

That is there for the taller ride height of the Forester and Outback. I've noticed those before and though how I could have saved myself $170 by using those with stiffer bushings instead of the whiteline kit.

[n2x4]

Yep, I was reading about the three different lift pieces the forester suspension used. They actually suggested that those mounts be removed for Impreza ones if lowering the Forester, not knowing that they had the advantage of anti lift if they kept them!

I actually posted a wanted thread on the forester forums to try and get some spare ones. I have some poly bushings that would work great.

[jamal]

sort of, but not really.

The forester mounting point and the whiteline mounting point are both lower.

The forester bushing is meant for a forester, which also has subframe spacers. Because of that, the angle to the front bushing is different between the two. On the whiteline the bushing is angled upward to line up with the front mounting point.

The actual downward spacing on the two is also probably different. Whiteline put the stock geometry into some fancy program to determine what to change in order to do what they want to the geometry. That is, remove all of the anti-lift/dive from the front suspension.

The whiteline alk also moves the mounting point outward. That adds a bit of static caster. The stiffer urethane bushing reduces flex, which adds dynamic caster. Plus, it's a stiffer bushing, so the control arm moves quite a bit less and there's better feel in all conditions, especially braking.

I'd higly recommend a whiteline sport alk, which takes all sorts of things into consideration that the forester part and imitations do not. I really like mine.

[SemperGuard]

http://bbs.legacycentral.org/viewtopic. ... hlight=alk

You get the anti lift effect, without the caster and stiffer bushing. Though considering the age difference, it would probably be stiffer than what's currently on the car.

[Threshld1]

I had this same question when i removed my lift kit on my 97 outback. I took out all the 30mm subframe spacers and left the rear TCA caster blocks in. It handled like complete garbage and i promptly took them off. The outback blocks are 30mm lower vs the whiteline 20mm. And Jamal is correct with the whitelines also moved outwards to increase your static caster, outbacks are not.
Personally having tried this i would suggest against using outback caster blocks without the subframe spacers (lift kit pieces). It also put a lot of un-needed pre-load on the front TCA mount bushing. So much where you cant get the front bolt in without the rear unbolted.

[Adam West]

+1 for the Whiteline product if you can afford it. You do get what you pay for...