We have owned this 2005 Subaru Outback for a couple years now. A little over a year ago, we started getting a grinding noise when we would turn at slow speeds. We were told by a Subaru dealer that we needed new bushings and an upper control arm bearing. After getting a second opinion, we noticed the front passenger side axle boot appeared to be leaking and had the axle replaced. I was told that the bushings looked fine. The noise did not go away unfortunately. So we looked into replacing the driver side axle. After consulting with a Subaru dealer, my mechanic was told to loosen the engine mounts, shimmy around and re-secure. Amazingly enough, this made the noise go away, but only for a couple months. Now the turning noise (grinding) is back, but we now have vibration when the gas pedal is depressed (more significant at higher speeds). It has progressively gotten worse over the last month. I had the mechanic check to make sure everything was tight, but the vibration continues. Could this be the engine mounts, bushings, what? It does not give us a feeling of well being traveling at high speeds. Thanks for any help in advance.
This sounds to me like you need to have at least one of the CV joints replaced.
It may be cheaper in the long run to just replace a front axle or perhaps even both front axles, rather than just replacing CV joints.
As a follow up. I did have the left axle replaced. Doing so got rid of both the turning noise and the vibration. I was hesitant (and still am) that it would get rid of the vibration. I assumed this was related to the engine mounts. The mechanic said he adjusted the mounts again (as directed by a Subaru dealer). We’ll see if the vibration reappears or if the axle did the trick. Thanks for the response VDCdriver.
My pleasure!
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