my outback has 57k miles on it and already needs the front struts and rack replaced (diagnosed today at the Subaru dealership). The car has been making a whining noise in the engine and has been clunking when making turns for the past week. I have also noticed it hasn’t been taking bumps as smoothly. They told me that both ends of the rack are leaking and both front struts are leaking. My husband did admit to hitting the curb on the driver side front tire pretty hard while making a u-turn about a month ago, but all other driving is pretty standard. Yes, we drive on dirt roads in the mountains a few times a year for hiking, but don’t drive in a manner that I consider abusive. Has anyone else had either of these issues? Did the u-turn incident cause this? (hard to believe that would affect both sides of the rack and struts)
Yes hitting a curb can do heavy damage to a car’s suspension and steering. Yes you should seek a second opinion on the damage and repair options.
Strut and steering rack failures are not common with Subaru so it’s likely that driving habits and conditions did them in.
I would be very concerned about more damage on this car. If the driving conditions and curb strike was severe enough to damage struts and the steering rack then I would be surprised if a lower control arm, sway bar, etc was not also damaged.
After the rack/struts are replaced this car really needs to go on the alignment rack.