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Comments
Juice Man- Hey, that's great on the 50-50 split in auto 1st and 2nd. I prefer the 5speed for day-to-day driving, and the 4EAT for the kind of steep scree-covered canyon rim stuff here in New Mexico. But, I'm really happy to learn that it's 50-50 in those first two gears, and apparently, reverse too. Thanks for the help (again).
Headlight protection: Based on good juju in one of you guys' Subie sites, I bought and installed the X-pel.com subaru headlight and parking light laminate for my 2000 OB. Easy for a patient man (or woman) to install, but I'd have a second person there to help you aim the hair dryer. The stuff is about as thick as a quarter (really thick) and theoretically distributes the spike load from a stone across the entire face of the headlight, and at the same time absorbs some energy as that quarter-thick laminate compresses. I recommend it since it can always be peeled off 5 years down the road for replacement of the laminate.
Outra vez, agradecimentos para sua ajuda.
Otra vez, gracias por su ayuda.
Once again, thanks for your help.
-psycho
You're right that the auto-trans AWD system cannot adjust for low traction into the future, but what it does do is attempt to minimize any potential loss of traction when weight/power shifts during acceleration and deceleration. When it detects acceleration, it shifts torque to the rear wheels, thus minimizing the chance of wheelspin that would occur if too much power were channeled to the front wheels. And, during braking, it sends more torque up front to offset the "dive" tendency. It's not predicting any potential slippage, but rather, it's a torque management system that will improve dry-road handling. If slippage does occur, it's back into the regular "reactive" AWD mode as you noted. So I definitely agree with you!
My late lamented Honda Prelude had a side-to-side torque transfer system that distributed torque between the front wheels when cornering (it would send more torque to the outside front wheel). It totally eliminated understeer, and gave the Prelude extremely neutral handling -- the best of any FWD sports car I've driven, and better than many RWD sports cars. Anyhow, it was a concept very similar to the Active AWD in the auto-trans Subarus. Definitely a great idea that can improve dry-road handling significantly.
Craig
-mike
Craig
..Mike
..Mike
Craig
From all of my research, youv'e pretty much tapped out the TSB resources by checking NHTSA and Alldata. Here's another, but it is very limited:
http://www.motorage.com/tsb/
I prefer the NHTSA's format to Alldata's. Your best bet is to live with the existing formats, write down or print out the abbreviated descriptions, then visit your dealer's shop and request to examine their TSB looseleaf book. After you've read the complete TSB that you are interested in, ask to be allowed to make a photocopy.
Anyone else?
..Mike
..Mike
I had to use my biggest ratchet driver and a lot of force, and I can exert a lot of force. :-)
After that first one, the rest have been easy enough. In fact, once I apparently did not tighten the plug down enough, as I had a tiny oil leak (showed up as a few drops on the garage floor, over the course of a month or three). I should probably buy a torque wrench.
Chris
Chuck
There's a topic under the Maintenance and Repair category here on Edmunds called Engine Additives. You might want to read through the posts there and see what you come up with.
I've heard some good things about Militec-1 metal conditioner. You can read about my experiences here.
I e-mailed Militec asking the same question you have: is it ok to add it to a new motor? A Militec-1 engineer sent this reply:
Thanks for your message:
I recommend using MILITEC-1 in a new
motor, since it reduces the scuffing
and scoring. Your rings will still seat,
providing you don't break-in the
engine with a synthetic motor oil.
The same goes for the other applications,
the sooner the better.
Of course the same may not be true for other additives, including Slick 50.
-gvmelbrty
Say that 5 times fast. Yes, Subaru is notorious for over-torqueing bolts. Keep a torque wrench handy, with the longest handle possible.
Or get a pet Gorilla!
Slick 50 got sued for making bogus claims and lost. They had to change their advertising, so I don't trust them.
Drive magazine's timing was indeed perfect. It cracked me up!
Is the AWD reactive or proactive?
Let's look at other systems to determine that. Many vehicles, like the CR-V, RAV4, Santa Fe, and Escape operate in FWD most of the time. When the front axle slips, the rears react and engage. Purely reactive. Ford offers a button to turn it on manually, but it's for slippery surfaces only.
Subaru sends power to both axles all the time, so in essence it's proactive by default. I believe the auto checks for things like grade and gas pedal position, so indeed it can adjust the power split before any actual slippage occurs.
To me, that qualifies as proactive.
-juice
Mine was no. 774.
After a 700 mile trip to Vt. this weekend from the Rochester,NY area I am convinced it is the tires (Firestone Wilderness).
Made 27.67 mpg round trip including mountains with about 700 lbs. load.
Forgot the cd's!
I sprained a finger loosening it!
Next time I'll use a longer wrench and padded gloves.
My regular garage told me that they don't overly tighten the nut but that it get's very tight on its own after all the heating and cooling over time. He said that it was due to the combination of soft threads on one part and hard threads on the other. I forget which one has the soft threads: the oil pan or the drain plug.
-mike
Discount Tire Direct carries them.
Your mileage sounds good!
paisan: by the same standards, the Trooper also has active AWD.
-juice
-mike
I guess Subaru is catering to a buyer that just wants the traction and doesn't necessarily care how it is obtained.
-juice
The slickest thing about virtually ANY of the oil additives on the market is how they market snake oil to the unsuspecting. Read the owners manuals from (probably) every automobile manufacturer and they will advise AGAINST using additives. Save your money.
Any info on company; not familiar with them at all.
My luck: Bridgestone/Firestone branding trick.
Price at Discount Tire looks good.
Found 46 other matches for size in Q,T and H speed rating at TireRack.
Called another dealer. Guess what: he says "no soob leaves here without 35psi in all Wilderness OB tires."
Does not improve steering feel of excessive feedback at low speed.
Anyone else have experience with this? It never happened on any of my previous cars.
Those Firestones are definitely up for replacement. My OB sat on the lot for 6 months before I bought it, so lord knows what kind of flat spots it developed then! I honestly wouldn't be surprised to find the tires are out of round.
Juice, what led you to the Nittos? I am leaning towards Bridgestone Potenza RE-92 tires, just because I have had good experience with them on other cars.
Paul, higher pressure gave my OB a very floaty feel (I mean floatier than usual), and I went back to 33F/32R. I bet the flat spot problem would decrease with 35 psi, though.
Did the dealer say why they use 35psi?
Craig
I can't swear that its still true with today's tires, but at one time (pre-steel belts) tires with predominently nylon cord were always expected to take a "set" when parked overnight. Driving a couple of blocks made the "thump, thump, thump" from the flat spots disappear.
Nitto tires:
Try to find a dealer to warranty a defective tire if the dealers of such an uncommon brand are few and far between. I'd stick with more popular brands, with large dealer networks.
Air Pressure:
Excessive pressure could easily cause your car to "wander". The tire's cross section will be too round. This causes more wear in the center of the tread and a reduced amount of rubber on the road. The contact patch will be narrower, and handling will suffer.
So, to you new Subie owners who have not yet sonsumated the oil change marriage, here's some helpful advice. Instead of thinking you need to apply 500 foot-pounds of torque, it may help you think of it as 0.25 ton-feet of torque. Get a 4-foot cheater bar, and bulk up before that first change. And DON'T be gentle.
Hey SOA, this is an easy fix. You know that robot arm that puts in the oil pan drain plug? Turn down the torque setting from 500 ft-lbs to about 50.
-su amigo de Nuevo Mexico, psycho
-Colin
-mike
aka the lazy 20 something
Looks like Michelin MXV4 tires are at the top of my list now, although they are kind of pricey ($115 from the tire rack). I'm going to see what my local Sam's club has in stock. Anybody have an opinion of these tires?
Craig
LOL, psycho! Glad to hear I wasn't the only one.
..Mike
..Mike
I have never had luck with the Bridgeston RE92 H rated. Terrible wear and dangerous in rain. Forget snow.
Always use a torque wrench on wheel lugs. Bad things can happen to rotors, wheels, balance and in some cases the 4 wheel alignment can be affected negatively wrt tracking.
Having said that I find my owners manual with a very loose spec on lug torque: 58-72 lbft. This range I have never seen in any vehicle I have owned and at best it shows a very light lower limit particularly for a 16 inch wheel with an H rated, stiff sidewall tire.
I also thought that the torque "range" was odd, and the lower torque limit seems too low, at least compared to the 80 ft-lb setting for my Honda.
I have been setting my wrench to 65 ft-lb for the Soob. No telling what the dealer does.
Craig
-Colin
They're a huge step up from the Bridgestone Desert Deulers I had before, but those were a different size and category, so that's to be expected.
Still, they carry a better temperature rating than the same-sized Firestones on the Outback, and they cost less to boot. They are much less noisy, by far the biggest noticeable change.
Still, they're a touring tire, so if you want to AutoX get summer tires and mount winter tires on a different set of rims. Touring tires are a compromise that I accept, but some may not.
Do RE92s come in that size? The wife had those and they were OK, but terrible in the snow (and didn't last). Of course it could be her V6/5 speed combo making things worse. She now has BF Goodrich Comp T/A VR4s, but I also think those do not come in 225/60R16 size.
As for flat spots, I believe the vehicles are shipped with very high pressure, and the dealer is supposed to air them down. That would avoid flat spots, but some have said they received cars with very high pressure, so some dealers forget that step.
Crush washer - I think that's what they use, actually. Mine was flat as a pancake! So much so that I didn't even realize it was there! Make sure you get the OE oil filter, which comes with a new washer, every time you change the oil. Jiffy Lube probably skips this step, but I'd avoid them for different reasons.
-juice
I'm not a maniac driver, nor do I consider myself hard on brakes. The original brakes on my last car lasted me about 55,000 miles.
I'm going to book an appt with my dealer. Any other OB owners experience premature brake noise?
thanks
luck11
Craig
Personally, I think it's just the residue and moisture that collects overnight on the rotor. It seems like it only has been doing it since the temps at night started dipping below 50 degrees.
Visual inspection of the rotors (through the rims) show no gouges or weird scrapes. The surfaces feel smooth.
My commute is a rather short one (3 miles one way). So, I think that the 'lack' of use might also be a factor. Maybe I need to go cruise up to 60 and give the brakes a good squeeze a couple of times.
Again, as I've said before, I'm no expert. I could be wrong about all of this. Should luck11 and I be worried?
-brian/subearu
Energy MXV4+ (400AA, all-season touring, $120)
Energy MXV4 (340AA, all-season touring, $115)
Pilot XGTH4 (400AA, all-season performance, $89)
They have various other choices with higher/lower speed ratings and different sizing, but these were the only direct matches.
Anyone have comments regarding performance versus touring? Both the MXV4+ touring tires and the XGTH4 performance tires make vague claims about wet/snow traction, so I don't think one is better than the other in that regard. Besides price, what would be the compelling reason to choose one over the other for an Outback (ie, not a sports car)?
Juice, you are right -- the RE92's don't come in the right size. The RE930 does, but doesn't look like the right tire for the OB.
Craig
-mike
-Colin
I did some research on the tires you mentioned and even called Michellin to see which would offer better snow/wet traction. They didn't give me a clear answer, however.
Basically, the MXV4 will offer a quiter ride. It's used on luxury vehicles like BMWs and Benzs. The tread pattern on the MXV4 is pretty closely spaced so I would think it would do better on ice. The Pilots have a more aggressive tread pattern so I would imagine it would do better in snow.
I found that there really isn't any tire that does everything well. It's all about tradeoffs. Excelling in one area usuall comprimising performance in another.
As for myself, I just went back to the Yokohama Geolandars I had. I personally like Yokohama and I was satisfied with the Geolandars wet/dry performance.
Tirerack has some user opinion surveys on each tire. You might want to check them out too.
Ken
Craig
I think the Energy label on Michelins is for low rolling resistance tires. That's great for fuel economy, but I imagine you'd be giving up some traction.
-juice
Sounds like your father's '97 Legacy had some corroded or "frozen" pistons in the brake calipers. If so, they wouldn't release properly when he removes his foot from the brake pedal. It's like driving with your foot constantly on the brakes, resulting in premature wear of the pads. Its worth checking.
I insisted that the dealer replace the rotors and that the shop foreman oversee the torquing of the lugs. When I returned home and checked the settings the lugs were in the 70 to 75 range.
Future tire rotations will be done in my garage.
Vince
I'm due, so I'll be doing that pretty soon.
That brake issue also means I'll be cleaning the entire system when I rotate the tires (even though mine never seem to squeek). I'll take photos if there's anything worth looking at.
-juice
Craig
With 7.5K service and tire rotation approaching, I'm looking for recommendations where to service new Soob in the Bay Area. Recommendations of independent mechanics who ARE knowledgeable of Subarus (most aren't) will be appreciated as well!
Or maybe I just need to drive my little boy to DC so that he can meet Sandy... Juice, how much you charge for labor? ;-)
Of course, the trip is long enough that you'd have to rotate the tires again when you got back home!
-juice
kate5000 -- I'd like to know the answer to that one too. However, at 7.5K miles, you really only need an oil change and tire rotation. That can be easily done by yourself (if you're handy) or at any local shop. Chances are, a local Subaru dealer will overcharge you by making the 7.5K service look a lot more extensive. The big one is at 30K miles.
Personally, I've only dealt with Carlsen and Stevens Creek. I wouldn't call either very good. I've gotten to know one of the service managers at Stevens Creek (plus it's close to my office) so I tend to use them. They'll do just an oil change (and nothing else) for $20. Combine that with a tire rotation for $20 and you're done with your 7.5K mile service.
Ken