Rear struts on a 1990 L sedan

[FundamentalyConfused]

So I finally went out and got myself my first Subaru for my daily driver. It's a 1990 Legacy L sedan AWD.

The car itself is in good shape for having 288k miles on the body, nothing majorly wrong with it that I can tell, but it needs some new rear struts and probably mounts.

I've been searching around for some rear mounts and I've come to the conclusion that if I want to get anything at all I'm going to have to go OEM. There is a possiblity that I could find the mounts at my local parts store, they have lots of old obsolete parts. Does anyone know what the monroe number would have been?

Both rear struts are toast, the passenger side one bounces freely and the driver side one makes a grinding sound when it comes to the resting position, kinda like rusty metal grinding. In my searching for new struts I keep finding prices of over $100 each for KYB and Monroe however I found a PAIR of Gabriel struts, right numbers too, for less than $100!!

Should I avoid the Gabriel's or would they be suitable for daily driving? I don't plan on beating this car very hard or very often. I don't have the $ needed to get the Monroe's or KYB's. I don't think I'll have the $ to get the mounts either.

I'd rather not buy any salvage yard stuff, there's nothing close enough to me with those kinda cars in them. Does anyone have any good options for me?
Thanks for your help.

[Legacy777]

Welcome to the BBS.

I would highly recommend you replace all four struts if possible. Replacing just the front or rear struts can cause the car's balance to change and give you unpredictable handling. I had a set of Monroe struts on the front of my Legacy and KYB's on the rear. The KYB's were stiffer and when pushing the car around corners the rear end would lose grip and step out. Once I put the matching set of KYB's on the front, the handling was much more predictable and neutrally balanced.

If you can swing it, I'd suggest the KYB's. The part #'s for your 90 are

FL - 235064
FR - 235063
RL - 235068
RR - 235067

You can use the 92-94 Legacy struts on your 90, which may be a less expensive option. If you use the 92-94 KYB front struts it tends to "jack the front end up". From the research I've done in talking with KYB, the strut perch mount is raised about an inch or so, which causes this. If that's a huge concern, you could run the 90 front struts with the 92-94 rear struts. There may be some slight difference in damping between the 90 & 92-94, but it shouldn't be much.

Search online with those part #'s and see where you can find the best prices. Tirerack usually has pretty decent prices.

You can play with KYB's parts catalog and look at the part #'s yourself if interested.
http://showmetheparts.com/kyb

As for the rear strut top mounts, they are probably going to be a dealer part since the 90-91 MY's had different springs. You can try posting in the parts shed. Someone may have a set that is still good that will work for you.

[crisco]

where are you located? i have some replacement struts that came off my 93 legacy that were new about 5 years ago and 50,000 miles ago. (grey KYB-2s)

[FundamentalyConfused]

I live in Michigan.

Monroe says to change your shocks & struts after 50k miles. How many miles can you put on the KYB-2's before they need replacement?

Crisco would those be just the struts or the strut, spring and mount?

[crisco]

i have the whole assemblies. let me get you some pics

[FundamentalyConfused]

I don't think I'll be able to use the mounts from a 93 but the struts would be cool.

[crisco]

thats a good point.

[Legacy777]

Depending on use, I've seen struts wear out between 80-100k miles. KYB is a much better strut, so I would expect a longer life out of them. Based on my experience I wasn't very happy with the monroe struts.

[FundamentalyConfused]

Would bad rear struts be giving me a feeling like the rear end is going to roll over if I take too hard of a curve at higher speeds?

[crisco]

possibly - also could be from missing/worn sway bar/bushings. but worn struts would definitely do that too.

[FundamentalyConfused]

Has anyone tried Mevotech rear sway bar links? Here's the link.

http://www.jcwhitney.com/mevotech-non-e ... 939y1990j1
I don't think I've ever seen one like that.

[crisco]

it looks identical to the stock ones on mine... but yours is earlier and so you have a different kind - your are more like stright rods i believe.

those c-shaped ones have been used on almost all subarus from 1992 or 1993 until 2007.

[FundamentalyConfused]

So the C-shaped ones are probably a revision of the design.

The OEM Subaru store shows something that looks like a front stabilizer pin but has only 1 bushing.

Would it work on my 90? Would it be better performance than the stock replacement?

I'll probably buy from the OEM store because they're cheaper there.

[FundamentalyConfused]

This rear end swinging around is really starting to bug me. I'm really considering buying those Gabriels in the rear ASAP and then try to get some for the front. Just the rear mounts and struts alone is pushing my budget hard.

This is going to be a difficult juggle for the priority list with my piss poor budget.

[Legacy777]

Those C style anti-sway bar mounts won't work on your 90. They're not really any better than the drop link you currently have. The reason for the change was because the newer sway bar mounts, links, and lateral links are cheaper to manufacture.

Does the whole body feel like it's rolling or just the rear?

[FundamentalyConfused]

Just the rear from what I can tell. It feels more so when making right turns.

I know for a fact that the rear struts need changing. Getting the parts is going to be a slow process because of my budget. Do you think if I replaced the links that would help cut down on that feeling like the ass end is swinging out and wanting to flip?

I'm not sure when I'll have the $ for the struts & mounts but I can handle the links without an issue, they're $12 each.

[ciper]

Someone found an inexpensive round bushing that could be used to fix up the rear links. If I remember correctly you need eight of them and 4 had to be shortened by 3mm. They were yellow polyurethane

[FundamentalyConfused]

I found out why it felt like it wanted to roll over. The rear tires were low, the driver side tire was very low. After I aired them up that took away the ass swing and roll over feeling.

[Legacy777]

Glad you found the immediate fix. Keep an eye on the tires as you may have a leak.

If the existing links look good and have the rubber bushings in place, replacing them with a new link won't likely make a big difference.

[FundamentalyConfused]

In searching for a somewhat cheaper and more readily available rear strut mount I saw that there is a somewhat suitable replacement to the OEM but it's from a newer WRX, i think, and requires hole modification.

What newer mount would I be able to use with the least amount of modifications?
If I changed the mount could I also use different struts than stock?
If I were to go that way would there be issues with bolting up the knuckle to a different strut?
What change does it have on the handling with just a mount change?
Does it change the ride height?

I like my cars to have some clearance. The snow in Michigan can get bad and I can remember quite a few years where I needed every bit of clearance my Cavalier had to offer to get through some drifts.

Thanks for the help.

[Legacy777]

The 90 MY has a tapered rear spring. If you were to change to the newer mounts, you would have to change springs as well.

I have heard that the 04 STi's had rear tapered spring, so those mounts may work.

I'd suggest checking out the suspension sticky in this forum as there are some threads that can give you some more info.

Here's two I'd suggest reading over.

http://bbs.legacycentral.org/viewtopic.php?t=22419
http://bbs.legacycentral.org/viewtopic.php?t=2153

[Omega79]

From what I understand the 04+ Imprezas all have the tapered rear springs which would allow you to use those mounts, you may need to slot one hole. I know you can at least use 02-03 Impreza struts with the only issue being the brake line mount being a little different. They are a little bit cheaper.

Your rear sway setup will not accommodate the c-links (I have a pre facelift set of rear control arms/trailing arms and sway setup on my post facelift because it's all I could find for cheap). If the links themselves aren't bent don't sweat it. The bushing on the upper portion that ties to the frame is unlikely to be worn out, the bushings on the bottom of the link where it goes through the arm ARE likely to be junk. I discovered that Ford shock bushings work perfectly as a replacement. You can get them in the HELP section at pretty much any autoparts store, come 2 to a pack so you'd need 2 packs to do both sides.

[FundamentalyConfused]

Would this work on my US Legacy?

http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/moreinfo.php?pk=2484940

[Legacy777]

From the US catalog, it appears that KYB only makes the front mounts for the 90 Legacy, and they are - SM5361


I couldn't tell you whether those mounts will work. Do they list a vehicle applicability?

[FundamentalyConfused]

It shows up in rock auto under my car listing.