struts, bearings & brake drums

I'm surprised people replace their car's wheel bearings so much. All my dealings with old Subaru cars has never actually needed new wheel bearings. There was a time I thought I needed some in the back, but if you have drums on the back, they tend to make a little noise from the shoes rubbing on the side of the plate that supports them. Try the brake peddle lightly to see if that noise you hear goes away or changes. If so, it's the brakes just making noises. As I remember, a trouble-shooting diagram in a Subaru service manual directed me to this and told how to try and quiet them. I know what the noise is, so it doesn't bother me.

Subaru's use ball bearing instead of roller bearings in the wheels. Roller bearing have to be torqued to a certain spec. and this makes them a bit more touchy than the ball bearing ones, as far as setting them up and them also have drag becasue of this. The ball bearing ones just ride freely on the balls and are not torqued except what the car puts on them from you driving it. Water getting into them could make them fail, but so far Subaru's wheel seals have worked real good on the ones I've had. When ever I mess with a so called sealed ball bearing, I always pry open the rubber seal and add a bit more grease as I think they come a bit lacking in grease. They usually just have a fine coating of grease, which might be how they are supposed to be, but not to my liking. I like a little extra grease. The rubber seal just snaps back into place.

KYB struts are good; pretty sure KYB _makes_ the OEM strut anyway. Shouldn't have any drive-ability issues after replacement, you might have a look to be sure every thing has been reassembled properly and tightened down. If everything looks OK, you might try swapping tires front to rear. If that doesn't help, try a four wheel alignment.

Rear wheel bearings aren't usually a problem, at least not on the previous generation soobies. Do you drive a lot of dirt/bumpy roads, especially (er. um) at speed? If so, this could contribute to early bearing (and strut) failure, especially if combined with bad struts. The only good way to check the wheel bearings is with the brake caliper _and_ drive shaft removed. Too much drag otherwise.

Pretty sure your OBS has disc brakes on the rear; the drum is the e-brake. Aftermarket rotors are quite inexpensive, and probably a better choice than turning the OEM ones. Be sure to service the calipers when the pads are changed. Rare for the e-brake shoes to need replacement, unless you make a habit of driving around with the e-brake applied.

Once the car is up in the air, it involves little extra effort to perform any needed service to the wheel/hub/brakes. The struts are a pain in the ass, but easier if you undo the sway bar first. The brake caliper (at least on earlier models) has to come off the first time due to a conflict with one of the lower strut bolts. Most people replace the bolt the other way, making subsequent service easier. Another time saving trick is to use a hack saw to cut thru the bracket where the brake line attaches to the strut, and use a large pliers to bend the bracket to clear the brake line. Bend it back into shape upon reassembly, and fit the retaining clip. Good as new, and far quicker than bleeding the brake caliper. Also less risk of introducing contamination.

Now that I think about it, the struts on the '02 WRX I used to have had the brake line bolted to the strut body. Yours are probably the same way, so the above is a non-issue.

Hope this is helpful.

ByeBye! S.

Steve Jernigan KG0MB Laboratory Manager Microelectronics Research University of Colorado (719) 262-3101