Before I entered my 2nd season of RallyX, I decided to upgrade my suspension. Based on that experience, here is a little how-to for those interested. When you get into it, it’s really not that daunting of a task but I can see how some people might be intimidated. All you need are the right tools, the right info, and some time. Let’s get started.

2000 Subaru Impreza 2.5RS

First things first – always make sure you have some wheel chocks and good jack stands available. You’ll also need to rent or buy some strut coil spring compressors, as you’ll need to use your stock top hats to make this work. My first upgrade to the suspension setup was a set of ’98 Outback (not OBS) struts and springs. This setup offers a substantial lift from stock, as you can see in the photos. I did not notice a significant camber problem with this setup; however, the rear caster (position of the wheel within the wheel well) was slightly off, affecting tire size. The largest tire that can be fit with this setup (without the caster issue) is a 26" – 26.5" tire.

Suspension Upgrade

Tools Required:

  • Haynes 2000-2006 Subaru Legacy & Forester Repair Manual (89101)
  • Jack
  • Jack Stands
  • Wheel Chocks
  • Lug Wrench
  • Strut Spring Compressor with Lock Pins
  • 3/8" Ratchet
  • ½" Ratchet
  • ½" Breaker Bar
  • 19mm Socket
  • 17mm Socket
  • 14mm Socket
  • 12mm Socket
  • 10mm Socket
  • 19mm End Wrench
  • 14mm End Wrench
  • 12mm End Wrench

Optional Tools:

  • Impact Gun (Electric or Pneumatic)
  • Angle Grinder (Electric or Pneumatic)
  • Your Best Friend

So let’s get started!

Step 1

Begin by chocking the rear wheels, setting the e-brake, and making sure that the vehicle is in gear.

Step 2

Suspension Upgrade

Crack the front lugs and jack up the vehicle by the center crossmember. Once the car is jacked up, take your jacks stands and place them under the frame rails as far forward as you can and lower the jack until the body is resting on the jack stands. I always leave the jack in place, just for some added security. From here, you can remove the front wheels and begin the real work.

Step 3

Disconnect the front sway bar. This will allow the suspension to droop, providing ample travel needed to disconnect the front struts. Depending on how you are disconnecting the saw bar you’ll either need 12mm or 14mm socket and end wrenches.

Step 4

Once the front sway bar has been disconnected from the control arms on both sides, we can begin focusing on the actual strut removal. You will need to disconnect the brake hose from its bracket on the strut. Us rally guys will usually take an angle grinder and cut the bracket so that we can avoid having to bleed the brakes. If you do not have access to an angle grinder, you’ll have to disconnect the brake line and make sure that you bleed the brakes later.

Step 5

Unbolt the ABS sensor from the strut housing and steering knuckle, making sure to replace them after you have reinstalled the new strut assembly.

Step 6

Now it’s time to start removing the strut. The strut is mounted to the steering knuckle by two 19mm bolts, one of which is your camber bolt. An impact gun will work best for these, but if you do not have one available you’ll need a 19mm socket (attached to a breaker bar) and a 19mm end wrench.

Step 7

Once you have removed both bolts you can turn your attention to the three mounting nuts up top, which you can access from the engine compartment. These are 12mm nuts, which are fairly easy to remove. I would suggest having a buddy hold the strut down below while you undo these. Once you have removed these you should be able to wiggle the old strut out.

Step 8

Subaru Upgrade Suspension

Now that the strut is out, it’s time for the fun part: compressing the springs. This can be very dangerous if not done with care, so please make sure to that your spring compressor has lock pins that keep it on the coil. You’ll need to compress the spring on your old strut first. Once you have done this, use an impact gun and a 17mm socket to remove the center nuts on the strut that hold the top hat on. Please make sure that the coil spring is compressed enough so that the spring perch and top hat can be rotated. This lets you know that there is no pressure on them from the spring and they are not going to fly off once you remove the 17mm nut.

Step 9

Once the nut is removed, remove the top hat and spring perch and set them aside. Then you can release the tension on the spring compressor slowly and evenly on each side, and then remove the spring compressor.

Step 10

Now it is time to duplicate this process on the Outback strut assemblies, with the exception of releasing the tension on the coil spring. Once you have the center nut off the Outback suspension, remove the top hat, leave the spring perch in place, replace the Outback top hat with your stock or upgraded Group N top hat, and reinstall the canter nut. Now you can release the tension on the coil spring until it is again resting against the perch. Once this is done, just reverse the process and you’ve got one side done.

Step 11

I would set your camber to full negative when reinstalling. To do this, make sure that the center mark on the camber bolt is towards the engine, perpendicular to the ground. Repeat this entire process for the other side, and the fronts are done.

Step 12

The process for the rear struts is the same as the fronts. Disconnect the sway bar, remove the brake line and abs sensors, and follow the same set of instructions outlined for the fronts. You will need to remove the rear seats to gain access to the top strut mount nuts, but aside from that the process is fairly straightforward.

Subaru Impreza

One Tip for the Rears

Since the rear top hats do not have a bearing that allows them to rotate, please note the relationship of the top hat to the lower bracket and make sure when you reinstall the tops hat on the new struts that they are in the same orientation.

Good luck and leave comments below should you have any questions!