Hi all,

My standard Subaru rear struts are knocking...had them on for about 4 years, and will never put them on again - rubbish struts.

Also, my Whiteline rear ARB is about 6 years old and is so rusty it's awful - another brand I will be avoiding and will never buy again, it was rusty after only a few years.

Can I please have some recommendations for my 2007 STi? I'm running standard springs / top mounts.
KYB perhaps?

The rear ARB would have to be something decent and good quality.....
A package that will tidy up the rear end nicely.

 

So you bought rear KYB shocks?

 

No not bought anything yet.

 

get some bc coilovers , they are well priced and work well , in reality when you get coilovers a rear arb becomes a much less significant mod it’s hardly noticeable , so options are put original non rusty bar back on , buy new ££ , or get some where to powder coat your old bar , white line and perrin i believe are the same company , i swapped a rear arb on a fsti on to another fsti with coilovers fitted i did not notice a difference , as the coilovers were doing such a good job in the first case

 

Maybe look to have the ARB blasted and then powdercoated. Pretty common for Whiteline paint to be abysmal, mine are the same and thats what I was planning on doing.
If you are looking to replace then I would look at SuperPro or Cusco.

If its just the rear shocks knocking then you could also remove them and do the grease mod if you were after a cost effective solution. Knocking rear shocks on WT cars are pretty common and its due to insufficient grease internally from memory.
Alternatively you could look at coilovers. If it's primarily a road car I would avoid fitting BC's or any of the coilovers that are made in Taiwan, they are very stiff and crashy AF on our UK roads. I'd look for a set of Bilstein B14's if you are thinking on coilovers as a replacement. Pretty sure Chevron Motorsport do a custom spec'd set for around £1k thats specifically for road cars if thats affordable?
Pedders also do a spring / shock kit too, I haven't had any experience with them or much knowledge on them but Im sure @WUZ has and may have some input.

 

You said my standard struts had them for 4 years. So did you not buy them?

 

Did you buy your current inverted rears, new, 4 years ago? How many miles have they lasted?
If you don't like inverted rear struts - Subaru/KYB are the same thing (they really need more than 40mm of rear bearing), then change to non-inverted rear struts with external bump stops.
KYB ultra sr non-inverted rears:
324030 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/KYB-Rear-...QAAOSwWrxcAOs~
324031 https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/KYB-Rear-...AAAOSwJUtdfJjk

 

You're lucky, mine started rusting within 3 months. I've had WL rack bushes fail in 6 months, pairs of droplinks which had totally different qualities, and the classic failing top mounts. I really don't know why anyone would buy Whiteline twice.

 

Yes new, bought standard Subaru ones / fitted 4 years ago, and lasted approx 35k miles.
3 year warranty now expired.

 

Wow that's bad, I'm never going near anything from Whiteline ever again. If I recall, it's not like it was cheap either.

 

The only good thing is they replace without quibble in uk

 

Where you buy them from? Subaru direct? I know the rears are known for knocking.

 

The garage got them in, but yes they were genuine brand new Subaru rear struts. I had the same with my 54 plate Blob STi back in 2006, but was lucky enough to still have factory warranty on the car so they were replaced by a main dealer FOC.

It's incredible that even still today Subaru have done nothing to improve the rear struts and the knocking issue. This is why I will be buying aftermarket this time, not ideal, but genuine Subaru struts are only fit for purpose for a short time / mileage.

 

The Subaru inverted struts are made by KYB. Subaru are black, KYB are gold.
If you buy them under the KYB numbers, they are significantly cheaper, but you'll have the same issue, eventually.

KYB 321004
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/KYB-Rear-...0AAOSwNydbYGDd
KYB 321005
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/KYB-Rear-...AAAOSwAEhbYGPC

They sometimes come with a 5 year guarantee
KYB 321005
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/KYB-Kayab...cAAOSw-YZa0mAm

 

As @Dreep said, I have fitted 5 sets of Pedders to 03-07 STi's over the past few years and all of them are still running fine on the cars without issue (some have had only 15K on them in that time, somehave had nearer 30K so not conclusively trouble-free as not high enough miles) so looking promising.

The Chevron revalved options are to put it mildly - AWESOME! - but might be put of your budget?

Most of the existing issues with the rear is around grease condition in the shock which is why the regreasing option works well (for a short time before regreasing is needed)

Wuz