Best Struts for Subaru Outback- Top 7 Picks Enjoy Best Performance

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Strut is a part of vehicle suspension that connects the wheel to the vehicle to give it support. Usually, the function of struts involves absorbing the impact from bumps & potholes. Its role also allows the car to turn by the input of the driver & absorbing other road irregularities.

The Japanese automaker company Subaru uses an automotive nameplate for their two different vehicles & that is Subaru Outback. If you have a Subaru Outback with bad struts & are planning for struts replacement, our article can guide you through buying the best product.

Here, we bring you some best struts for Subaru Outback. We wish to find the best one for you.

Best Struts for Subaru Outback

So, here are our 7 researched picks of the Subaru Outback struts. Read them to choose the right one, and the buying guide with a proper installation method is waiting for you at the end.

1. KYB Front and Rear Struts for Subaru Outback– Restore Original Handling Characteristics of Subaru

The manufacturer company KYB produces struts for Subaru Outback cars to restore the controlling process them. KYB 334447, 334448 & 341276 models are suitable for Subaru, but the price varies from one to another. These shock struts have a dimension measurement of 12.17-13 x 6.50-7.31 x 5.12-5.77 inches. The weight of them is respectively 3.90 ounces, 3.26 ounces & 4.00 lbs.

Every shock struts have a seamless cylinder and a piston band with a Teflon coat. The manufacturer matches the cylinder with the piston band to ensure its positive seal & long-time activity. These shock struts contain a rod with a piston that is three times chrome-plated. The oil seal technology of the struts reduces the use of oil.

KYB struts feature a precise iron rod to retain correct wheel alignment. They are available in both black & silver colors. You have to spend around $275 – $370 to purchase them.

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Available On Amazon

2. Complete Struts Pack of 4– Restore Factory Ride Performance with This Set

Complete Struts brings a set of Outback struts for front and rear mount. It comes as a pack of 4 where you get two rear and two front passenger and driver side struts.

The struts come as an install-ready kit. You don’t need to mount the additional coil spring or bearing plate. All these kits come installed with the strut.

These struts will help control the vehicle perfectly. You will benefit from your expected riding performance.

Also, the struts help to ensure the perfect height of the car during the ride. So, with this strut set, you can enjoy an optimum level of riding experience.

Most Subaru lovers prefer to use Complete Struts front and rear strut for improved riding quality.

These are some of the best struts for Subaru Outback of the years 2005 to 2009 with the perfect fit.

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Available On Amazon

3. Complete Struts Pack of 2– Raise Your Outback with Exact Height with This Front Strut

This is another strut set from the Complete Struts. But this set consists of 2 front struts only.

These Subaru struts are ready to install in the car and enjoy the performance. You can install them quite easily without any additional toolkits.

The advantage of these struts is they come with a pre-mounted spring. The struts have a coil spring over the struts. So, isn’t it a great deal for people who don’t want to spend bucks on installation and installation on their own?

The exterior of these struts has quite a good paint finish. It makes the strut look premium and remains corrosion-free over time.

The struts will ensure you have the factory ride height. As a result, you will get back that new riding feel.

If you mount this strut with the sway bar end, then you can have the most out of your Sube.

For people who only need to replace the front struts, not the rear one on their Outback, this set of Complete Struts will be an ideal fit.

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Available On Amazon

4. Unity Automotive Set of 2– Trust-Worthy Rear Suspension Struts with Exact Fit

Unity Automotive 2-15920-001 is a set of 2 rear struts. It is a complete strut set for the Outback.

These struts are OE( Original Equipment) type of struts. And so you can get the exact fit for your Sube performer.

You can find the install ready strut here. No trouble for coil spring replacing and plate mounting. Get and install these ready struts on your own.

Unity Automotive has 50 years of experience in manufacturing aftermarket suspension parts. So, you can rely on these struts for their innovative type of suspension-making technology.

The top-quality struts provide a precise fit and improve the riding height like the new car.

Some users are so happy with these struts that the best 2006 Subaru Outback struts can be said to buy.

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Available On Amazon

5. SENSEN 101995-FS-SS– Comfortable Ride with the Premium Front Struts

Do you need the front struts? And if you don’t want to think of the budget rather the quality, these Sensen front struts are for you.

Sensen’s struts of this pack are a pair of front struts for Subaru Outback.  Sensen is an automotive manufacturing company making premium and high-quality auto parts.

These struts will exactly fit your Subie lover and provide you the premium riding comfort.

These struts have certification test approvals from ISO and global Intertek. And for this, Sensen strut tends to be a little expensive, though. If you want something premium, the price literally gets high.

The powder coat finish of these struts will bring a visible quality difference in both performance and appearance.

And the unique feature of Sensen struts is the NOK seal from Japan. It makes the strut leakage-free and gives your suspension parts a longer span of life.

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Available On Amazon

6. SENSEN 7560-RS– High-Quality Rear Struts Set without Coil Spring

This version of Sensen is a set of 2 rear struts. If you want to install struts for the rear wheel, this 2 pc set is for your 2005 to 2009 Subaru Outback.

Sensen smells premium quality. For 30 years, Sesen core company has been manufacturing high-graded suspension parts.

Sensen 7560 rear strut model comes with two struts for the rear driver and passenger side. These have excellent quality powder coating finishing. It helps them to be free from any rust, dust, and engine corrosion.

You can get your Subaru Outback riding smooth and flexible without off-road bumps. Again, Sensen struts have the ISO test approvals for the quality performance that make them reliable to use.

This strut set does not include the spring coil mounted over it. So, if you are expert enough with the suspension parts replacement and need the Subaru Outback suspension upgrade, try this rear set of Sensen’s strut.

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Available On Amazon

7. Marketplace Auto Parts– Premium Coating Rear Strut  Set for Subie

Marketplace Auto Parts brings you a budget-friendly rear strut set. You get 2 rear struts for the passenger and driver side.

These struts may not have so many customer reviews, but these come with excellent quality install-ready struts.

The struts coil spring and bumper come already mounted with the struts. So, this makes your strut replacement so easy and fast enough.

You can get superior riding comfort with these struts. And the powder-coated finish on the struts makes them resist any rust or corrosion.

The special design of these struts makes them choosable for Subaru struts with outstanding factory riding height restoration.

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Available On Amazon

How to Select the Top Struts for Subaru Outback?

Let’s help you in choosing the best Subaru Outback struts. Here, we mention some significant facts that you must check in the struts before picking for your Subie performer.

Why stopping? Keep reading to know!

Check for the Vehicle Fit

When you select struts for your Subaru, you need to check the vehicle fitting. The struts have to be compatible with your vehicle.

Be sure of this from the struts’ feature. You can also see your vehicle manual to get the correct recommendation for the struts.

If you buy the wrong size strut for your vehicle, it won’t benefit you; instead, it will gradually damage the suspension parts. Also, it will increase unnecessary costs later.

Front Struts or Rear?

You must decide what struts you need-the front or the rear one. Mostly, people get benefitted from the struts in front and shocks in the rear. But if you want to install struts for the rear wheel, you are welcome.

Check the struts –if these are for the rear wheel or the front wheel for a precise fit.

Choose What Type of Strut You Need

In general, you will get three different types of struts in the stores.

The first one is the oldest one-pneumatic struts. This type of struts contains oil for compression. And this used to be mounted for the obsolete model suspension parts.

The second one is the gas-charged tube. It is powered by both gas and oil. And mostly this comes without any spring coil over it. You may need to buy the spring coil separately or use your old one.

The third one is the pre-assembled coil spring-covered strut. This type is so prevalent in the modern era. These install-ready struts are easy to use and super fast to install.

With these types, all the hours of the installation process have been diminished. So, why don’t you? Pick any strut that comes pre-installed and install yourself to save your bucks.

Never Compromise the Quality

While buying struts for your Subaru, never compromise with the struts’ quality. Remember the function and purpose of buying your Subaru struts. For some pennies, don’t take the risk of bringing an enemy to your suspension parts.

Never Buy the Old Struts!

From our research and analysis, we can suggest it is a big no to buy old struts. The appearance of the old strut may seem fair. You may not know how much damage it will make to your suspension parts and cost you more than buying a new one.

It would be better not to buy the old ones unless you personally know the buyer.

Warranty Service & Other

Some companies provide warranty service and other support from the stores. This service may not be for a lifetime, rather for a limited time. But this clarifies the reliability and quality of the parts.

You can choose any with the warranty service or technical support.

How To Replace Subaru Outback Front Struts

Wanna thinking of replacing the struts yourself?  Read further because we are going to help with this.

If you need to check the 2005 Subaru Outback strut replacement process or the 2012 Subaru Outback front strut replacement, read this. The primary installation method is the same as long as you are mounting the pre-mounted spring coil struts.

10 easy steps for the replacement as follows-

Step-1: Take out the Front Wheels

As we show the front strut replacement method, you need to take out the front wheels to access the struts.

You can start with any one side, left or right. Take off the lug nuts and then the wheel.

Step-2: Lift the Vehicle

Use a jack stand to lift your vehicle. It is needed to have exact access to the struts and also mounting.

Step-3: Get Access to the Strut

As you take out the wheel, you can see the strut mounted behind the brake calipers. There are two bolts behind the calipers on the bottom of the strut. And two/three bolts on the top mounting of the strut.

You have to take out these bolts to take out your old strut.

Step-4: Take out the Bottom Bolts of the Strut

Take a 17 or 18mm socket wrench to take out the bolts. At first, take some paint or marker and mark from the strut’s knuckle to the caliper. It would help to set the right angle on which the strut will be towards the caliper.

Take out the two bolts from both sides of the struts. You will need a hard push to loosen the bolt nuts here. And you need to hold on to one end and loosen from the other end.

If possible, use any bolt extractor gun to fasten your work and decrease the toiling.

Before that, take out two bolts from the brake hose behind the strut. Just remove the two cable lines behind and tighten these two bolts again. Then, loosen two strut mounting bolts right behind the brake caliper.

Step-5: Take out the Top Mounting Bolts

Now, time for taking out the top mounting bolts. For the 2005-09 Subaru Outback, the top mounting bolts are accessible under the front engine hood.

So, open the engine hood on the front. on the same wheel side, look at three bolts holding the top’s strut.

Use s 15mm socket wrench and loosen the nuts. Then take out the nuts.

Don’t take out the three nuts at a time lest the strut should fall all of a sudden.

Leave one nut. Then, take someone’s help to hold the strut from beneath, or you can hold it with one hand and take out the last nut pc with the other hand.

Step-6: Remove the Strut

Take out the strut from beneath. If it gets stuck due to rust, spray some rust penetrant over the mounting knuckles then carefully take it out.

Take out and store all the mounting nuts clean them properly to install the new one.

Step-7: Install the New Strut

Now, your new strut installation time comes if these are pre-assembled, no need to loosen or tighten any nuts on the strut.

Just insert your new Subaru strut behind the caliper up to the top. Set it in the right position and insert the bottom nuts to keep the strut hold in place. Don’t tighten the nuts now.

Step-8: Tighten the Top Bolts

When you can see the strut set correctly in the position, tighten the top mounting bolts.

Use the same right bolts that you loosened. Or, if you want can buy new mounting bolts and tighten them.

Step-9: Tighten the Bottom Nuts

Now, come down and start tightening the bottom four nuts. Use a jack lift to set the strut on the correct position, as you marked at first.

Then, tighten the two nuts in the same way you loosened them-holding on one side and tighten on the other.

Don’t make the mistake of inserting the wrong nuts. Insert these bottom two nuts correctly for the upper and lower bolt holes behind the caliper side.

Step-10: Insert the Cable line Nuts behind the Strut

Now, set the cable line behind the strut as it was at the time of unmounting. Then, install the wheel.

And your strut installing on one side is completed within half an hour.

Repeat these 10 steps and install another strut on the other side.

Tips to Follow

Some tips for avoiding any injuries or mess

• Use hand gloves in this installation process.
• Always spray rust penetrant before loosening the nuts for easy takeout.
• After installing the struts, take your vehicle to any mechanic to check the wheel alignment for safety.
• Always have a test drive.
• Do this work when the engine is cool enough to avoid burning your hands.
• Replace both strut front or rear at a time instead of one for better performance.

Frequently Asked Questions(FAQs)

Bottom Lines

Riding your Subaru Outback with the proper struts will give you a super comfortable ride. On the contrary, driving with faulty struts will give a frustrating ride and damage other suspension parts.

So, you can check the 7 best struts for Subaru Outback reviews mentioned here. The complete buyer guide and the descriptive installation process will make you crazy to buy and try yourself.

Power up and balance your Subie with our exact fit quality struts.