Blown Shock / Strut Club - Original,OEM units
 

Gentlemen:

Had an interesting install yesterday. Went to Edge Motorworks in Dublin to install a set of Hotchkiss springs. Got a call from the shop... the driver-side/right-front strut was blown.

Odd.
Because the car was a 2013 model, bone stock, and had only 17,000 miles on it.

Symptoms of the things I've noticed in the last month...
1. Driving and cornering to the right... car twitches up front at speed
2. With strut housing removed (and dust boot removed) fluid coating everywhere

Good news is that I've got documented proof (photos and work order time stamp) before my springs went on that the strut was blown. But I am curious if you guys have had similar issues? It seems to be almost common on the Forrester forums and some WRXs.

Going in for warranty service next week...

That's very odd. My 2013 has 19k and I have been lowered for the past 3k and everything is fine. Good luck with the warranty, which shouldn't be a problem.

Sounds like a fluke. My 2013 has 96k km's on it, has been lowered on Swift Sport springs for almost a year and zero signs of leaking.

No kidding guys. I was as puzzled as everyone else. But then again, unless one takes apart their suspension, it's a hard one to spot because the dust boot hides everything.

I thought it was just my driving... but definitely the car being twitchy I thought was odd.

Mine are were definitely fine when I installed the springs, haven't looked closely since but no drivability issues either.

Both of my rear shocks are gone at 40k miles. I didn't even bother to look seriously at the fronts, as I am planning on aftermarket replacements anyway. I do a fair amount of short track driving/instructing, and 3 days on a long track. This probably overheated the stock shocks and caused the failure (well, that and -25°F temperatures frequently last winter).

Thanks for everyones replies. Subaru of Livermore, CA pulled the strut, confirmed it was leaking and replaced under warranty.

As far as aftermarketing springs... if the drop is mild, it's the Service Advisors call on warranty work. But expect resistance.

my rear shocks died at 10000 Km