r/SubaruForester

Ok forester friends, this is my question. I have an 2017 SJ forester, at ~100K now. It's nearing time for new shock/struts/LCA's, etc. Would adding a 0.5" spacer lift at the same time be nuts? I'm anticipating two answers: why lift at all, and what's the point of soo tiny-small a lift?

Use case is: this is my one vehicle - 35mi hwy commute each way to work on weekdays, rough FS roads on weekends to trailheads or fishing spots. That's why I bought this car. And it's really good at it. Already have fitted appropriate tires, stock size. Though it did fine on AS for a long time.

So, here's my thinking - Subaru gave the Wilderness an 0.5" lift, without changing much else. They hopefully gave that some real thought/analysis on compromising CV angles, vs mileage, vs travel, and other considerations, and they came to this conclusion. That 0.5" changes basically nothing in durability or alignment or enough mileage to matter. Granted starting year for wilderness was SK. But we're extrapolating.

My thought is that 0.5" all around will improve my angles and clearance a little bit, without needing any other changes, or compromising any longevity, or much hwy mileage, while otherwise stock. For a gain, that I may or may not actually ever need.... but margin is appreciated... with maintaining stock tire size (because I don't want to give up lowest gear ratio), or ever needing a spare-spare on top.

Know there's loads of experience out there in this community. Thoughts are appreciated. Would this be a good nudge toward going further? Or a "why I'd ever do that"?

Thank you so much. Community. I have read other posts. And Saw the life time fluid transmission. I would like to get some insight before making a design on whether to change to a new transmission or not.

I have a 2014 Subaru Forester with 280,000 miles on it. Recently the ac compressor seized up and destroyed my serpentine belt too for good measure.

Outside of the A/C not working properly prior to this the vehicle has been otherwise tremendously reliable. And it has my favorite feature… it’s fully paid off.

Is it worth keeping or is it time to invest in a new vehicle?

I've done lots of reading about how the head unit kills bass at high volume to protect the cheap speakers. I don't want to change the head unit or install a bass box. Has anyone here used a Kicker KEY200.4 DSP amp to solve this problem? I think I want to replace my front door speakers with high quality 6x9s along with this amp, installed by an audio shop. Thoughts?

I’m looking to purchase my first car through Subaru dealership and this is the deal I found. Is this a good deal? Good car? Already got approved from the bank for financing and very excited to move forward but just want some reassurance is this a good move! Thank you all!
Subaru forester 2024

was working on my 2020 Forester rear brakes. driver side went fine. Got to the passenger rear side, I took the wheel off, then got the pins off then was stuck with the 17 mm bolt. I was trying for an hour to break it loose but it eventually snapped. What do i do in this situation? it's my only vehicle I have and tight on cash. The top of the bolt and about 20 percent of it snapped off. How do I get this bolt out? would I be able to put back the old pads and drive it to my local mechanic? but how would I take this 17 broken bolt off?

End of last year I bought a used 2024 Forester Wilderness. My stupid/odd question is, how do y’all feel about it going through an automatic car wash?

The reason I ask is my car before this one was a 2008 Toyota 4Runner and several years ago I took it through an automatic car wash and side panel got ripped off of it. Came to find out it seemed like it had maybe been in a fender bender before I owned it which caused that side panel to not perfectly sit flat there. But since then I have been a bit apprehensive of automatic car washes.

This is the first Subaru I’ve owned (absolutely loving it). Also I know not everyone is a fan of automatic car washes, I’m not really either, but I do park outside under a tree 99% of the time and would like the option is at least easily rinsing the grim off of it every now and then.