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Dr JonboyG posted:Bridgestone RE960as. Wet weather grip is almost as good as in the dry - I think I've only ever lost traction a couple of times in the wet since I've had them. I agree 100% with this. I've had RE960as on my car since November '06 and they have been amazing. They have seen two (going on 3) PA winters and all the bits inbetween. Snow, ice, torrential rain, cold, anything. They feel the same nearly all the time. They've also lasted the longest out of any tire's I've had before. I probably have close to 30k miles on them at this point. I will probably have to replace them before the winter is out though since they are getting closer to the wear bars, but so far I haven't noticed any decrease in foul weather performance though they are getting a bit more squealy when pushed as of late though. I'm probably going to replace them with the same thing. Nothing else on the market seems to stack up even after 2 years.
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Dec 5, 2008 06:48
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Dr JonboyG posted:
Because they are an OEM tire. Scores of people believe that the OEM tire is the best tire possibly suited to their vehicle. Very few actually realize that the OEM tires are the cheapest, highest margin, tire that they can get away with.
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Dec 5, 2008 22:48
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littlehulkster posted:The STI is faster, for one. Well, actually... http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/hot_lists/high_performance/evo_wrx_zone/2009_subaru_impreza_wrx_short_take_road_test/(page)/1 What they did to the 2009 WRX makes me really anxious to see what they will do to the 2010 STI.
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Dec 7, 2008 21:45
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Mat_Drinks posted:
Every car magazine sucks, there are no exceptions. Take a good hard look at your list and see what really is in there that would matter to anyone that wasn't tracking their car (the ability to put on 275s? seriously, honestly the fact that it has 18s from the factory is a big check in the 'con' box for me, i would destroy 18s in 5 months on PA roads). The upgraded diffs are nice, but the fact of the matter is the STI has continually gone up in price (deals not withstanding) where I could walk out of a subaru dealership with an '09 WRX and pay the same dollar amount that I spent on my '02 back in December of 2001 and get a substantially better equipped and put together car. I've also never come across a situation in the real world where the upgraded diffs would have made much difference. I got caught on a completely iced over grade on saturday and my car climbed it like a champ in all-season tires. I have yet to get my car stuck anywhere (and I've done some pretty boneheaded things that make me say that I should have.) Also, with the level that they upgrade the '09 WRX, I would hate to buy a current STI because you know they are going put a significant upgrade on it next to justify the higher price. bull3964 fucked around with this message at 17:19 on Dec 8, 2008 |
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Dec 8, 2008 17:16
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I'm using Trico Innovisions and they've seem pretty good for about a year that I've had them on. I should probably replace them fairly soon though. No matter what kind of blades you buy, they will likely wear out in about a year or so.
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Dec 8, 2008 18:43
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See, I've seen microedges recommended all the time, but I've never had luck with them. They always seem to leave a smeary film of water on the windshield that takes a few moments to clear basically giving you this sort of trail effect from the wipers.
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Dec 8, 2008 21:40
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Mat_Drinks posted:I really think that the AI Subaru super thread should refrain from too much of the sti v. wrx debate. Really, we're better than that, I think we can all agree that they're both awesome cars. True. I just find it amusing how a few little changes can make a car much more desirable. A year ago I was set on replacing my 2002 WRX with an STI, but now I'm just not finding it as compelling for the price premium. On another note, I think my car is acting out for attention. I bought a house back in August and from the time I started looking for one to now (since it's occupying much of my time doing work on it), the car has a mounting list of problems that I need to address. Before I started looking early this year., the acc belt on the AC pump started slipping. Oh well, I'll get to it. In early june, I was taking the wheels off from an autocross and busted off one of the lugnuts that the dolts at the dealership cross threaded at one point in time. Crap. I wasn't about to shell out what the dealer would want to replace it since it's all of a $2.50 part so I did it myself. It figures it was a back wheel. Had to take off the drum and move the abs ring to get access. Got it back together and fixed. Damnit, now my abs is cycling at low speed rolling stops. Either I damaged the ABS sensor somehow or the ring is out of alignment somehow. Too much to do, I'll take care of it later. A month or so later, I was backing out of my garage and the car was acting like the emergency brake was still on. Before I could stop, I heard a pop and everything was fine. Ok.... Damnit, now I have a clicking like a card in bicycle wheels. I have enough time to get the car up on jackstands and check to make sure the wheels were rotating true and there was no play to ensure I wasn't going to lose a wheel bearing. Everything seemed fine. Too much to do, I'll take care of it later. About 2 months ago, I was leaving work, and the check engine light came on. Hoped it was bad gas and it would go away so let it go for awhile. No dice. Tried pulling the battery connection to clear it, it comes back within 10 seconds of turning the car back on. Damnit. It's not flashing so it's only an emissions code and the car runs fine otherwise. Too much to do, I'll take care of it later. Then I notice that something sounds louder. It almost sounds like more turbo spool. I check to make sure there are no obvious leaks, I can't find any. I'm currently operating under the hope/assumption that the other acc belt isn't too happy anymore and the additional noise I hear that I think sounds like a louder spool may just be the nosier belts. Car performs the same otherwise. This happened pretty recently so I haven't dealt with it yet. I also seem to have a shudder that comes through the steering wheel that's most apparent under heavy breaking, but I can also feel it at speed a bit as well. I'm guessing it may be a wheel balance issue and I haven't had a chance to swap the front and rear tires to see if it changes anything. Increasing tire pressure did seem to help some. Then, last week, as if my car was saying "You, yes you, I'm pissed at you." the damage done by the infamous loose front seat bolt came to a head and the bolt ripped and pulled through the seat rail. Now I have the left front corner of the seat being secured by a c-clamp while I spend $73 on ordering a rail. Sigh. Nothing major, just a ton of small issues to take care of at worst time of year. I do have an attached garage, but it's a little cramped to work in and isn't directly heated. It would be nicer if I could use my nice big level concrete driveway that I got with this house, but not when it's 20 degrees outside. Oh well, the car IS getting old. I bought it December 15th, 2001 (it was built in july), so I will have owned it for 7 years on Monday. Just clocked over 87,000 miles. It had 22 when I drove off the lot.
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Dec 9, 2008 06:55
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Yup, drum in hat setup is pretty nice. That is until you need to do something with the hub then it becomes annoying and in the way.
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Dec 9, 2008 21:03
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Little known fact, Subaru built cars with c-clamps in 2002. No, wait, no they didn't. That's just what's holding the front left corner of my driver's seat down. Also, the only way it's capable of doing that is by positioning the seat in a way that's completely uncomfortable to drive with my 6' 3" frame. Lets takes this apart and see what's wrong.  One of these things is not like the other, one of these things is broke.  A nice closeup of the carnage. You see, there's a problem with the left front driver's seat bolt on the 2002 WRX. It comes loose. There was a recall about it, but the recall amounted to putting loctite on the bolt. Suffice it to say, I never had the recall done. My bolt came loose once, but I tightened it again and never had an issue after that (years ago.) Well, I guess the damage was already done. The loose bolt allows the seat to rock a little which enlarges the hole bit by bit. I was driving to work a few weeks ago and POP, it pulled through. Finally got the part today. $72 down the drain from what could have been prevented by a $5 tube of loctite. This should have been a balls easy job, but the goddamn seat airbag connector kept refusing to come apart. After about 45 minutes of screwing with it (and slicing my palm open) I finally managed to get it apart. After I got the seat out, it took about 5 minutes to swap the rail out. Well, I learned my lesson.  Should stay secure from now on. So... 2. Slipping serpentine belts 3. Card in bicycle wheels clicking from left rear wheel 4. ABS cycling at low speed stops (likely related to 3.) 5. Burnt out parking light (low priority) 6. Slight shudder in steering wheel under high speed braking and slightly at highway speeds (gonna try rotating tires to see if it changes.) Working my way down the list. Monday marked 7 years with the car, it's starting to show it's age a bit.
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Dec 19, 2008 07:15
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The abs thing started immediately after I replaced a wheel stud on that wheel. So, it's entirely possible that some piece of debris got deposited on the sensor and is causing it to goof up. The clicking started a few weeks after that and immediately followed an incident when I was backing out of my garage and it felt like I had the parking brake engaged, but I didn't. It popped free on it's own though and I've had the clicking ever since. I'm thinking part of the parking break mechanism may have gotten jammed and popped free, and there could a piece of "something" brushing against the abs ring. I may have a chance to finally get it apart this weekend to check out.
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Dec 19, 2008 16:06
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I'm not so sure that my shudder is a wheel bearing as there are no other symptoms. I've had the car up on jacks and grabbed the wheel and tried pulling it in all directions and there's zero play in it. So, while possible, I'm not convinced. I was able to affect the severity of the issue by adjusting my tire pressures a few weeks go. The tires are over 2 years old at this point, so it's very possible they've come out of balance or lost a wheel weight at some point. I'm hopeful there will be some changes when I put them on the back of the car.
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Dec 19, 2008 18:25
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nm posted:I orginally read you statement as a card in the spokes from the front wheel. Ah, no, it's a rear wheel (right actually, not left like I said before). The clicking happened after I replaced a wheel stud and had resistance backing out of my garage. i'm thinking a piece of the parking brake came apart and is clicking on the ABS ring. Same with the abs going off at low speed. I was monkeying around back there when I was replacing the stud and the sensor may be fouled somehow. This started happening immediately after replacing the wheel stud. I just hope it isn't damaged, damaged. The instructions actually called for removing it when replacing the stud, but I gave up trying to get it apart and managed to replace the stud without removing the sensor. I just hope I didn't damage it because then I STILL have to get it off and pay the money to buy a new one. The shudder I can feel in the steering wheel. It happens during braking from higher speed, but it's also present in some form when driving at higher speed too. I had it diminish somewhat when I increased tire pressure so I'm hoping its simply tire balance related. Could be alignment too since it's been about 2 1/2 years since I had one done (tire wear is fine though.) I don't really notice any other handling issues.
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Dec 19, 2008 21:34
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littlehulkster posted:That's because RE92s are pieces of poo poo that can lose traction on dry pavement. If you get a good set of all seasons you can do just fine. Yeah, some of the more decent all-seasons like the RE960as don't differ that much from the performance snow tires out there (like the LM-25 or the Wintersport M3). The latter have better tread clearing designs to get though the deeper snow and slush, but you aren't going to get much of a performance gain on ice until you step up to a dedicated snow like the WS-50 or Revo1. Those are just a little too compromising for me. It was 2F Sunday night with flurries and it's going to be 67F tomorrow. I drove out to my parents house in soaking rain (we got nearly 2 inches in a 24 hour period) in the 50s on Christmas Eve (but it was 23 degrees F when I left their house last night.) In two weeks, who knows what the weather will be like. We may have 8 inches of snow on the ground by then or it could be sunny and well above freezing. Sometimes the best compromise for safety is actually a compromise across all weather conditions.
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Dec 26, 2008 17:34
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Ran to Autozone tonight and had them pull my CEL that showed up about 2 months ago. P0031, looks like my front 02 sensor is shot. I guess I shouldn't be surprised since the car has 88k miles on it now. I'm just glad it wasn't something more nebulous or serious. It sucks that I got to shell out about $150 for a new sensor, but oh well.
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Dec 27, 2008 09:00
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So, what's the latest word in brake pads that will see mostly street and about 10 or so autocrosses a year? Looks like my front brakes are just about shot. I've previously had Carbotech Bobcats up front and they seemed to do the job well, but I was wondering if there have been any other new pads on the market since then that would fill the role better.
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Dec 27, 2008 20:46
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Keep in mind that it can be more than just the brakes that are causing shudder at high speed braking. I was having shudder as well until I rotated my tires and then it was greatly diminished. Never underestimate the effects of a tire slightly out of balance.
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Dec 30, 2008 18:44
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Add me to the list of people that were going to get an STI next but can't justify the price increase anymore after the upgrades the WRX got. I'm not saying the 10k in increased value isn't there, it's just I'm having trouble coming up with a situation in my over 7 years of WRX ownership where I would have thought to myself "drat, I wish I had a helical front differential" or "crap, these brakes can't overwhelm my street tires." The power though, the power is something I use on a daily basis. I am really impressed that a WRX costs the same today in dollar amount as mine did 7 years ago and is better equipped to boot. In reality, they are actually cheaper than ever after inflation. Switching gears (no pun intended): The Good: My new pads (Hawk HPS) should be arriving today so I should be able to replace my front pads and hopefully that will make some of the other issues I'm having go away (weird rubbing noises that vary with vehicle speed.) My hopeful theory is their low level is causing them to be loose in the caliper somehow and causing all kinds of funky resonance issues. The Bad: The roads are likely going to be too lovely by the time I get home tonight (or before I leave for work tomorrow) to bed the brakes in so I may have to wait to install them.
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Jan 27, 2009 16:52
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Fantastipotamus posted:Anyone else with an '07+ and the Subaru "traction control" feel like it's hinderance? When you're going at slow speeds, and you turn, you tend to understeer, so you gas it to bring the back end around and pull the front in line.. Well the car then realizes your tires are spinning and puts the brakes back on for you Believe I know how rewarding (and fun) it is to steer with the gas pedal in bad conditions, but lets think about this for a moment from a safety perspective. If your fronts are slipping to the point where you are understeering, that's just a sign that you need to slow down even further. Yes, you can correct the angle of the car by causing a slip condition in the rear, but at that point you now have 4 wheels that have no traction. Yes, it may be controllable, yes it may be your current instinct, but it's not really the safe response to the situation. Inexperienced driver instinct will also tell them to gas it in the same situation (hey my wheel is pointed in one direction but i'm not going there i should stab the gas to really tell the car to turn), but without the TC, they would be likely to swap ends or go sideways into a curb. Alternatively, instinct may tell them to jab the brakes too which could also cause the rear to swing around. I suspect the TC would react to that modulating braking pressure to keep the back end from coming around and allowing the fronts to dig in and grip again. Just realize that the main goal of TC is to not let you upset the attitude of the car suddenly. Yeah, it can be annoying when you are looking to hang the back end out there a bit around slick corners, but it's really just trying to get you to slow down overall and keep you from spinning the car.
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Jan 29, 2009 00:25
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effectively helping you continue to understeer. Oops.
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Ok, time to play "How hosed am I?" or maybe "How badly is the dealer going to bend me over?" I have noises. They may be getting worse, or maybe a better description is they change once and awhile. I had hopes that once I changed my front brakes, the noises would magically vanish, but I knew deep down that they wouldn't. The first thing to understand is there is virtually noise when there's no load. If I'm coasting in neutral with the clutch out or in gear with the clutch in, the only noise I hear is a very subtle scraping/rubbing/friction sound. If I rev the engine in neutral or with the clutch in, everything sounds fine. The noise is directly proportional to speed. When I'm accelerating, the scraping/rubbin/friction sound is worse. Occasionally, there will be a buzzing/ratcheting type of sound that comes in and out. If I'm just maintaining speed, it flutters in and out as the car goes in and out of load. When I'm under a deceleration load, the friction sound is greatly lessened. However, I have a TICK TICK TICK TICK on deceleration. It, too, is proportional to wheel speed, but the speed of the tick doesn't seem like it corresponds directly to the speed of any part I can think of. At 10mph, the tick is about once per second and goes faster as the speed is faster. It doesn't matter what gear I'm in, the frequency of the tick stays with speed only. Like I said, put it in neutral or push in the clutch and it stops. The tick is a rather recent phenomenon, it only started in the last week. The rest has been going on for months. Otherwise, everything is fine. No weird vibrations, transmission feels just the same, there's nothing else amiss. So, wheel bearing? Front differential? Transmission? Something else? Before I take it to the dealer, point at the car, and say "Make it quiet!", I would like to know approximately how bad I will be hurting.
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Jan 30, 2009 04:59
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8ender posted:I'd be leaning toward a wheel bearing. Does the noise change in volume if you turn the wheel hard left or right at speed? Nope, it pretty much remains constant. The only influence on the noise at all is speed. The wheels themselves feel sold, no play at all if you grab them and try to wiggle them. How much does a dealer charge to do a wheel bearing job?
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Jan 30, 2009 05:04
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Car is due to go into the shop tomorrow. Of course, tonight something changes on the way home in relation to the noises I mentioned before. The something that changed is this, I have a gear oil leak coming from the very very back of the transmission. I can't see the exact origin, but it's dripping from the crossmember that goes directly underneath where the rear axle comes out of the tranny. So, guesses? Friction noise, constantly varies, clicking on deceleration load, and now gear oil leak from the rear of the transmission. This is going to be expensive, isn't it  ?
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Feb 5, 2009 01:44
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Oh, hey, wow. Look at this. http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1249894&highlight=gear+oil+leak+rear Describes my problem to a T, including the leak. I think my center diff has failed. Estimate on cost to fix? Hmm, looks like people were quoted $1200 or so to fix. Not horribly expensive, annoying none the less though. bull3964 fucked around with this message at 04:37 on Feb 5, 2009 |
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Feb 5, 2009 04:07
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Diff is being torn apart as we speak. So far my running tab is $130ish for an hour and a half's amount of diagnostic work for tearing it apart.
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Feb 5, 2009 16:55
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Those fuckers claim that I need to replace the entire transmission. They said that to even get the center diff off involves dropping the transmission and it's 8 hours book labor. I'm pretty much livid at this point. I need to find a local shop that will do the work that the car needs, not just shotgun replace. The best part is, they want to use a salvage transmission with 52k miles on it which only has a 100 day warranty. gently caress that noise, I have no idea what may have been done to that transmission before it became "salvage."
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Feb 5, 2009 21:42
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Lando posted:Scour NASIOC for someones tranny that was swapped. The thing is, there's no reason to replace the tranny. Even if the center diff imploded (which I'm pretty sure it hasn't since I can still drive the car) the chances of it taking out anything else inside the transmission are minimal at best. They have not provided a good case why I should replace the entire transmission rather than just removing the rear extension housing and rebuild the center diff. Even if the labor was the same for both jobs, all the parts that make up the center differential total to about a 3rd of that $2800, new. As far as I know, he didn't even drain the gear oil to see if there were chunks of metal in the general transmission case. The diagnosis seems to be a "transmission make noise, replace transmission" even though the car clearly exhibits signs of the center diff binding on full lock turns and the gear oil is leaking from the extension housing. I mean, I can make a diagnosis that if a car has a flat tire, and you replace the car, it will be fixed. That doesn't mean it's the right course of action though.
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Feb 5, 2009 23:16
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Really, what it boils down to, is time. They can charge me 8 hours labor to swap a tranny because that's book time. We all know that a skilled person can do it in 3. That difference is pure profit. Meanwhile, removing and rebuild the center diff may also be 8 book hours, but it may take them 6 hours to do in reality. My labor costs are the same (but the parts costs are way less), but they lose out on those 3 hours that they could be charging someone else for. Then, lets factor in the fact that if they swap the transmission, they have a perfectly good transmission that they can fix and sell or put in someone else's car, also for a profit. The whole situation is so transparent. Goddamn am I angry.
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Feb 6, 2009 00:47
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ab0z posted:Is this a subaru dealer or independent shop? Dealership. I haven't been able to find any independent shops that specialize in subarus.
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Feb 6, 2009 01:48
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ab0z posted:Sorry if I missed it, but what year is your car? '02 with 90k miles on it. Lando posted:Dude get on nasioc into the MAIC area and ask for a reputable local shop. Theyre prices are usually a lot cheaper too. I've been a member of Nasioc forever and I do know most of the people that run really modified cars in my area. They pretty much all have to do their own work. We have good parts vendors, but no one to really install them. It just kills me. http://bull3964.googlepages.com/transfer_case_detail01.jpg This is where the transfer case interfaces with the transmission. All of my problems (99.999% sure) are on the other side of that wall. How exactly are fragged components there going to hurt the rest of my transmission? There isn't enough space for any major pieces to get to the rest of the gears. If there was any more damage in the rest of the transmission, it would have been the result of the center diff seizing hard and locking up, hurting the actual gears themselves. That really hasn't happened. I have had some instances where there has been noticeable drag, but nothing violent enough to break gears.
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Feb 6, 2009 04:34
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jamal posted:for 8 hours of dealer labor you can buy an entire used 5-speed and have a competent shop swap it in. Call Andretech in Gaithersburg, MD. They're possibly the best subaru transmission shop in the country. It's my DD and I have no way to get the transmission out of the car. A shop 225 miles away might as well be on the moon. Besides, I don't need a whole new transmission, that's the issue. My center diff is fried, that's it. If I can just find someone to replace the center diff and not want to replace the rest of the transmission, I will be golden.
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Feb 6, 2009 07:36
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jamal posted:so the car is completely undriveable? No, it's not undrivable. However, I'm not sure how far to trust it now that I know what the problem is. If those gears DO decide to go haywire and completely give up the ghost, the center diff could freeze up completely and then I likely will have a mess on my hands outside of the transfer extension. I'm pretty much limiting my driving right now to "getting it to the place where it's going to get repaired." I have my doubts that it would last 4 hours of highway driving. I'm fine till the end of the weekend, but I'm not going to continue to ask my boss to pick me up on his way in to work past tomorrow. The bigger issue right now for drivability is it has started leaking gear oil out between one of the exhaust hanger bolts that's attached to the transfer extension. I haven't been able to determine the rate of the leak yet, so I'm a little leery of it running too low and actually doing damage to the transmission proper. I have half a mind to just buy a new drat 2009 and park my 2002 until it warms up and I have time to yank the transfer extension off myself and just take it somewhere to get rebuilt. Fortunately, the dealers are helping me there as well as no one has anything other than a few sedans in stock.
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Feb 6, 2009 07:51
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jamal posted:
It's gone beyond that I think at this point. I think there's moderate to major damage to the transfer gearsets. The warning signs were there, but I didn't heed them and thought they were something else. Back in May of 2008, at an autocross, the car bogged down hard coming out of a turn. At the time, I thought one of my calipers decided to hang on me after hard braking and I wrote it off as a 'one of' thing since I couldn't find anything wrong and it didn't do it again. Then, I would get intermittent light clunks on some types of low speed turns, usually when coming off the brakes. Again, I wrote it off as a sticky caliper. Back in August, I was backing out of my garage and the car bogged for a second as if I had the parking brake on. This was like a week after I replaced a wheel stud on the right rear wheel. From that point on, I had a very light deceleration click. I was too involved in getting my new house purchases sorted and moved for the remainder of 2008 to give it much thought. I figured that I got something in the parking brake assembly loose when I replaced the stud and some spring or something was rubbing where it shouldn't. It didn't get worse so it turned into "when I get to it." Then, about a month or so ago, the noise got suddenly louder and different on the drive home from work. About that time, I started thinking it was a wheel bearing or CV joint. That's what I made the dealer appointment I did for today, but then yesterday I got the gear oil leak and all the pieces of this tale fell into place tracing back almost a year ago now. I'm calling the dealer that rebuilt my 3rd and 4th gears and replaced my clutch at 30k miles to fix a synchro grind and to address a clutch TSB. They did it under warranty without so much as blinking an eye. I avoided them this first round because: a) I though it was something like a wheel bearing or CV joint, not transmission related. b) They were bought by a larger dealership chain I can't stand awhile ago. I have heard that most of the original people are still there though, so hopefully they will be ok to deal with. They were always to go to dealer for enthusiasts before they were bought. I'm going to call them up tomorrow and explain the situation. I am going to tell them my center differential is shot and making a ton of noise (as well as leaking gear oil) and ask them if they will repair just that and how much it will cost. Other indications around the web is that it should cost around $1200 parts and labor. I can live with that. I'm going to be sure to stress that I'm not interested in replacing the transmission as I don't think that's the cause and be sure they will do the work I want before driving out there on sat and dropping off the car.
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Feb 6, 2009 08:17
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Ok, some slight hope. I called the other dealership today and explained the issue to them. The guy I spoke to was more familiar with the center diffs in automatic versions of cars, so he couldn't on the spot give me a typical repair cost. However, that at least acknowledged that they do, in fact, rebuild center differentials there rather than swapping out whole transmissions. The guy seemed rather amused that the other dealership just wanted to swap the transmission. He asked me what they did to diagnose it, and I told him that I honestly didn't know since they never tore anything apart. They didn't even drain the gear oil to see if there were broken bits in the fluid. I guess he could have done the stethoscope trick, but I'm not sure if that would be definitive enough to say "replace whole thing" when the operation of the transmission seems just dandy. So, we'll see what happens. They can't have me in till Tuesday so I'll have to make due in the meantime. I have an appointment first thing when they open at 7am. I don't have to be at work till 9:30 (and can stretch it anyways, if necessary). I asked the guy if they would be able to give me a course of action in the first 2 hours or so of having the car and he said they would. So, I'll be there to talk with them directly when they are looking at it. If I like what I hear, I can rent a car and leave my car to get repaired. If I don't like what I hear, I can just drive away. Guess it's time to stock up on gear oil.
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Feb 6, 2009 19:03
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dreggory posted:I'd like to stay somewhere around $100/tire but I don't know how feasible that is. I think you are going to have a hard time finding anything that's not junk in that size for $100 /tire. For a good modern UHP All-Season, you can get the Goodyear Eagle F1 all-season for about $149 /corner and even though they're all seasons, they will trounce those ancient ES100s in even perfect summer conditions to say nothing of wet. For a summer only tire actually in the pricerange, it looks like you can get some Falken FK-452s for $101 a corner in that size. Other than that, I'm not seeing anything that jumps out at me until you get closer to $200 a tire. bull3964 fucked around with this message at 20:16 on Feb 6, 2009 |
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Feb 6, 2009 20:12
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dreggory posted:
Can't really say because I haven't run them. I would imagine they would be similar to my RE960as (which appear to be about $180 in that size) and mine have about 30k miles on them at this point. They are getting close to the wear bars, but aren't quite there yet. I know some people also like the General Exclaim tire as well. I don't have any personal experience with it though. Those Falkens, last time I checked, were generally well regarded as a daily driver summer tire with good rain performance. You will have to source those from a different vendor like Vulcan Tire though since Tirerack doesn't carry Falkens. With tirerack, it's simple. You do a search for installers on the site, choose one when you complete the order, and they drop ship the tires to the location. You just setup an appointment to get them installed.
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Feb 7, 2009 01:12
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So, I'm at the other dealer now. No diagnostic fee this time around. They the pinion gear is likely shot along with whatever is shot in the center diff. $1600 max labor plus whatever parts they need. I know i could go cheaper routes, but this doesn't seem too bad, plus I'll feel better about this repair than a used transmission.
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Feb 10, 2009 15:19
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Well, my mood has changed considerably. They split the case. Oh the horror. The exploded center diff contaminated the rest of the tranny with metal shards. All of my bearings were seized, they were just chewing through their races. The fact that the rest of the transmission hadn't failed was just a matter of time. So, the tranny is 100% hosed. My clutch is shot too, but I guess that's not too surprising considering there's around 60k miles on it. So, I'm doing my part to stimulate ye old economy.
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Feb 10, 2009 22:29
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TurboLuvah posted:Jesus. How the hell did this happen again? The VC just gave way. At first it was gradual, but then it was catastrophic. I had a handful of instances of binding though out last year and every time I though I was having a brake problem with my brakes hanging up. Eventually, it just came apart in the transfer case in the back of the tranny. It basically splintered and broke up. That contaminated the rest of the gear oil and the metal pieces worked their way into the rest of the bearings. If I would have recognized the signs of the VC going out last year, i probably would have gotten away with just getting it replaced for a grand or so. But, I put off getting it looked at until it disintegrated fully. They had to hammer out my rear driveshaft because the heat fused it to the transfer case. The rubber seal around it was melted. But the real reason why I was leaking gear oil is one of the transfer gears migrated enough that it actually wore a hole though the side of the case. Keep in mind, up until a few days ago, the biggest symptom of all of this I had was some slight friction noise under acceleration and deceleration and a ticking sound under deceleration. They spiraled out of control quickly near the end. The noise worsened on weds of last week and it started leaking gear oil. That's when I took it to the first dealer who barely looked at it and said "We aren't going to bother cracking the case, pay us $2800 + labor for a used tranny with 52k on it." I wanted evidence though before I went willy nilly replacing the transmission. I didn't drive the car again until Monday. I drove it to work then out to my parents house which is near the other dealer I was going to take it to. Basically work is on the way so there wasn't any more driving than necessary. I met my dad for dinner on the way home last night. When I was leaving the restaurant, I backed out of the parking space and there was a hang and then a BANG sound like a gunshot. After that, I would get hard banging/knocking from the transmission along with binding whenever backed up, made a sharp turn, or had load going up a hill. I debated whether or not to tow it to the dealership at that point, but I figured the damage was done by that point and drove it the 5 miles to the dealership this morning. They had the tranny out of the car within an hour of me dropping it off. I saw the nice spikey drain plug (it looked like shredded razorblades. At the time, they thought all they would need to do is rebuild the center diff and replace the pinion bearings. They also took me on a tour under the car and showed me my clutch and flywheel to let me come to a decision on whether or not to replace them. Well, I left for work and they proceeded to split the case, at which time the full extent of the damage became apparent. So, my choices are (well, were), source a used tranny myself for $600-$800 and get it to them, take the used tranny that they could get for $1900, or put a new factory warrantied tranny in for $3500. All plus labor (which was mostly spent at this point since they removed and split the tranny.) The first one was problematic since I would have to find one, negotiate the deal, and have it shipped. Rentals aren't cheap. By the time I got all that sorted out and paid shipping, it just wasn't worth it to try to source one myself and get it to them. Ultimately, I went with would be the unpopular choice around here. The new transmission. I am paying out the rear end, I know. But the fact that the work and part is warrantied for a long period and there are no unknowns about what was done to it before hand ultimately won out. The used only had a 90 day warranty, so it could poo poo the bed at day 91 and all the money would have been wasted. Yes, I know it is technically possible to source a transmission and have it installed at an independent shop for under $2k, but it's not very easy to get that all lined up when you only mode of transportation you rely on is all tied up and you don't know any good independent shops that can handle subaru drivetrains. I do still plan on buying a new 09 (or 10) WRX later this year. I'm just not planning on getting rid of my 2002. I figure, especially now with a new clutch and tranny, it's probably good for another 7 years of duty as the second car. I'll get a nice set of winter tires for it and it will be my foul weather monster. The funny thing is, the outcome is exactly what the first dealer wanted to do (replace the tranny) but I don't feel the least bit guilty about losing my poo poo with them. They didn't treat me with respect and really didn't "diagnose" the issue. The labor to split the case was nominal on top of the R&R labor and well worth the possibility that all that would be needed was a few parts. The fact that they completely discounted that possibility and just pushed the 'new (used) tranny!' from the getgo left a bad taste in my mouth. Also, they tried the hard sell on committing to replacing my clutch before everything was apart. At least with this dealership, he called me over and showed me the wear on the part and let me make my own decision. bull3964 fucked around with this message at 00:01 on Feb 11, 2009 |
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Feb 10, 2009 23:56
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TurboLuvah posted:You said it had 60k on it. Might be worth a try to call SOA and POLITELY (don't be a dick it will get nowhere) see if they can do anything about it. Tell them you like Subarus and this is your xth Subaru and you plan on buying another 09, and see if they will work with you at all. I've had very good luck with them and problems right around warranty expirations. The clutch had 60k on it, that's because it was replaced at 30k under the shudder TSB when I had it in for warranty work on my 4th gear synchro. The car itself has 90k on it, well outside the warranty. I autocross the car and I didn't heed all the warning signs that the diff was failing. This is my own fault. I'm depressed and annoyed that my pocketbook is taking an extreme hit right now, but life will go on. What's done is done and there's really no other logical choice at this point other than repair the car ASAP. bull3964 fucked around with this message at 00:37 on Feb 11, 2009 |
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Feb 11, 2009 00:34
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Fun times, I was supposed to get the car back today, but after they put the tranny in and went to reinstall the rear driveshaft, they found that the transfer case basically gnawed away at the end of it so they couldn't reuse it because it is full of gouges. So, they had to order a new rear driveshaft that won't be in till tomorrow morning, so I'll have the car back around noon tomorrow. The good news, at least, is they told me they would eat the $600 cost of the driveshaft since they didn't catch it earlier.
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Feb 17, 2009 16:44
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| # ¿ May 10, 2024 03:51 |
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Woohoo for getting my car back finally. Holy crap does the clutch feel different. Actually, the clutch itself feels about the same as far as how it grabs, but the slave cylinder is what feels different. That got replaced with the transmission and this one is about 10x lighter in feel. I'm used to the clutch feeling like a bench press (it's been like that since new), but this one feels like most of the other cars I've driven. I wonder if this means I have a newer transmission revision in my car. Does anyone know if they have a stock of original 2002 tramissions sitting around new for when a new transmission is called for on a 2002, or do I have the equivalent of the 2004 transmission in there now with it's slightly wider gears? The dealer couldn't tell me, they say they just order by VIN. I find it hard to believe that subaru would keep making all revisions of a certain transmission though unless they just have a ton in stock.
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Feb 19, 2009 00:34
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