The AUSubaru.com.au Forums

I have an old Subaru Outback. My wife convinced me to buy a new Toyota as the new family vehicle. Amen !

An update. I got another set of the Michelin XM2 tyres. The old ones have done 56k km, and I could probably keep them until 60k km. What I noticed, though, is that they easily pick up nails. Over 2 years, I had two puncture repairs. My previous tyres Dunlop LM703 were hard, and I never had problem w...

I got Michelin XM2 (and it is coming to an end of its life now). About a year has passed since that comment, but my XM2 tyres are still coming to an end of their life :D . It looks like I will be getting 5k km more thus bringing the mileage to 60k km. And, what's more, the tyres keep a good wet gri...

I happened upon B & R Automotive in Salisbury, close to me. They do a great job... Is the said B&R Auto specialising in Subaru ? My colleague highly recommended Misch's Mechanical in Salisbury (they fix all brands). They have a cult of followers on Facebook. I gave them a try by asking to replace a...

My wife wants a new car. She wants a "proper 4WD", so that we could go where we could not go with my Outback. In particular, sand paths through Coorong, and "4WD tracks only" in Lincoln (Coffin Bay) National Park. We would go to the national parks rarely, and I would use the car mostly for commuting...

Silverbullet wrote:All-drive are pretty good, Subaru specialists yes but not as knowledgeable on the older gen stuff like Steve was.

Are you saying that Steve left, but the mechanics stayed ?

Bridgestone Turanza Serenity Plus looks like a good tyre, however it is not available in the SUV size for me.

Teos are very quiet, very smooth and pretty precise. Bloody brilliant tyre. I checked via carsales.com.au -- the Toyo Teo Plus appeared in my size. However, I got Michelin XM2 (and it is coming to an end of its life now). I read a comment somewhere that if the price for Toyo and Michelin is the sam...

The new tyres to consider:

Bridgestone Ecopia EP850
General Grabber GT

I hope this is the right forum for the wheel bearings. One of my wheel bearings went bad. I decided to use a mechanic highly recommended to me by my colleague. The quality of work seems OK (how do I know ?? -- the wheel bearing is under the wheel, I cannot see). The guy charged me $157 for the front...

Yes, Benny, you are right -- two shops told me that the tie rod ends had a slop. Anyway, this guys know what they are doing. The car handles better now and drives smoother. I attribute it to the wheel alignment (the previous one was done 2 months ago when changing tyres), new oil, and possibly adjus...

yarney wrote:$220 for boots that's over the top:mad: if you got the inner rods done that's good:)

I specifically asked -- this price did not include anything besides boots and labour.

I presume each boot costs $30, and it takes 40 minutes (at $60 ph) to put each boot on. Altogether $140. Short of $220.

The steering rack was worn and had a play in it. No leak from seals. The well-known place suggested me to take the steering rack off and send it away to a specialist for reconditioning. They said the recondioned rack would cost around $900. It occured to me fixing steering racks was not their domain...

Go to Pedders and get 28 point check basically they will give you a good report of what is wrong around that area. You will be shocked when they give you the report of what is wrong and what needs replacing. Mmm... OK. I presume they will advise to change the steering rack for a reconditioned one, ...

I got advice from a colleague of mine that the $900 job could involve reconditioning the steering rack including replacement of the seals. If the steering rack is original, then the seals might start leaking in the future. While the $500 might not include doing the little things like that.

I had a major engine repair of Outback 1997 by a reputable independent Subaru shop. They also told me that the steering rack was worn, and needed to be repaired ASAP. When I took my car to them for servicing next time, they seemed to be short on time. The mechanic told me the steering rack had a pla...

Alex wrote:Yes, it seems the OP has gone through and deleted his comments.

I did not want to rain on anyone's parade. Steve's business depends on his shop's reputation, and there is obviously a class of customers fully satisfied with his shop's work. Thus, I decided to delete my postings.

I went to another mechanic recommended in this thread. I asked him to walk me through the proposed work, and it came out he wanted to change the timing belt concurrently with the main job. He did not know that the Rising Sun changed the timing belt earlier this year. Earlier in this thread I lamente...

Davidov wrote:Highly HIGHLY reccomend Toyo Teo Plus. Grip like shit, and dont squeal with my outback.

Do they squeal when you are pushing them to the limit of grip, e.g. around corners ?

About Yokohama Geolandar SUV G055. The Australian Yokohama website is dismal. They say the tyre is quiet and long-wearing, and is suitable for strapped on cash parents. Clearly an attempt to appeal to a segment of the market by the "marketologist" from the same segment. The website says nothing abou...