Subaru Forester

We bought a Forester a year and a half ago for the all wheel drive. We live in northern Michigan and needed something reliable. It was our first all wheel drive car and we didn’t really know what to expect. The first snow fall we were ready to take the care back to the dealership and give it back…you couldn’t drive over 40 miles per hour without the car feeling like it wanted to slide out of control. It felt as if the back end wanted to come around. It was only a couple of inches of snow. Relatives who have had Subaru’s and also live up north said that something was wrong with the car because that’s not how a all wheel drive handles. We only had the car for a couple of months…so took it in and was told it needed to be realigned. About two months later the car started doing the same thing again…as long as the roads were clear it handled pretty good…once roads got wet with snow or rain it felt like it wanted to slide. We took it in again…out of alignment again and tires were wearing funny. The third time I took it in I was told, “you just have one of those cars that need to be realigned every 3000 miles”…plus, the new tires they had just put on a few months ago were going to need to be replaced. We told them we have lived in Michigan all of our lives and have never had a car that needed to be realigned every 3000 miles or one that needed new tires every six months. Anyone know what could be causing the problem with our car? We do not feel safe in the vehicle… HELP

Was this a new car when you bought it, or was it purchased as a used car?
If the tires are wearing out in 6 months, please describe the wear patterns on the tires:
Are the tires wearing in the center of the tread, or on one or both tread edges?
Is there a rippled pattern worn into the tread?

Who is giving you this opinion that the car needs alignment every 3k miles?
Is it the folks who sold you the car, or an independent garage, or a tire shop, or…?
Has a qualified mechanic inspected the suspension for damage?

If this is a used car, what is the model year, what is the odometer mileage, and what brand/model of tires are mounted on the car? The last detail is just as significant as the others because–AWD or not–your traction is only as good as the tires that are mounted on the car.

???

Sounds like this car may have been wrecked.

What’s the year and mileage of the car?

Over the web I don’t know how much help any of us can be, but at this point the first thing I would want is to see the wear on the tires, and have an independent reputable shop do a 4 wheel alignment inspection and to see all the results on paper.

The only cars that need to be aligned every 3000 miles are farm trucks.

You need to pay much attention to tire rotation and depth of tread. Check the tread depths on all four tires. Alignment slipping that fast is unusual. If the tread depths are significantly different start with 4 new good tires, I like michelin, and make sure you rotate as prescribed in the manual.

If the alignment is out every 3k miles and the tires are developing odd wear patterns then something in the suspension is worn or bent; or the chassis is out of whack due to a collision.

I have seen a few cars suffer very shaky handling on damp roads due to a steering rack fault although this is somewhat rare and not high on the suspect list at this point.
This problem should not be difficult to sort out but continuing to throw tires and alignments at it is not the answer.

OP: you have lots of good answers above, please respond. I have a 15 Forester and it is great in the snow, no alignment needed.

@volzwagon should come back and let us know the year. If this was a new car a year and a half ago…it would make it a 2014 or possibly a 2013 that still had not sold.
The purchase would have been in Oct/ Nov 2014 and I’d wonder if it was in an accident while the dealer had it, and was fixed on the cheap.

I would contact a good independent alignment shop and have the vehicle checked out. 3000 miles is bull in my opinion. Something is wrong and the dealer just doesn’t know what they are doing, or they are hiding something.

Yosemite