Jump to content
Ultimate Subaru Message Board

Recommended Posts

Hey everyone, Im a new member and have a question about my Subi. I have an 03 LL Bean Wagon with about 23K miles on it and its sounding like the brakes are taking a dump on the front. I havent had time to pull the wheels off to check them yet but its parked for now till I do. This doesnt seem like enough miles to be needing a brake job yet. My wife drives it most of the time and she isnt exactly a hotrod driver. Im a little bent if it is in need of a service at this point. Anyone care to chime in on their experience with the brakes on this rig or how many miles you currently have on the same year/model? Thanks in advance....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had an 02 Outback need brakes and rotors on all 4 wheels at almost the exact same milage. Take it to the dealer this will be covered under warenty, they will try to get out of it but ask to see a copy of the warenty if they do and show them that subarus warenty covers wear items for 36,000 miles or 36 months which ever comes frist.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have the same car...breaks started sqealing around that mileage, too. The dealer checked the breaks and said i still had 50% left in the fronts...they cleaned the breaks at about 30k and they stopped squealing for a while...just started up again at 43k. Subaru does NOT cover this service under warranty. I think i'm gonna need break pads on the fronts next time i go back to service it. Definitely seems a little early for pads...if you do a search on this board you'll notice quite a few others complaning about the same problem with this model subaru...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't know if my experience is typical, but I bought my '99 OBW, AT, in 2003 at 42k. Obviously don't know if it had the original brakes (although I assume they were since there was no warranty claim made and the car was only 7,000 miles out of its bumper-to-bumper warranty). Started noticing some squeaking sounds around 77k back in 2004 but the dealer checked them out and they were OK. Finally had them all replaced at about 95k, which is pretty good IMO. Even if they had been replaced just before I bought the car, I still got 53k out of them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would have them checked, but its a common complaint on new cars over the last years that the brakes are noisey. Cleaning sometimes helps, putting on new silent compund helps, but usually people go to a name brand aftermarket brake shoe thats has a differnt compound to get rid of it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My neighbor warped the front rotors on his '02 LLB Outback, replaced with OEM, warped again. He did some investigating and found they have a service bulletin for bad alloy used in his rotors. He replaced with non-OEM and has had no further problem. It's his wife's car, and they're about 60 years old and very conservative, so I don't think it's her driving style. I don't know anything about the bulletin, maybe someone here knows how to look it up?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I pulled the left front wheel off a couple days ago to find that the pad on the inside of the caliper is toast. The sensor is touching the rotor. I called the dealer and they said that he "may" be able to warranty them and bring it in. Ill let you know what I find out....

 

I gotta say that Ive owned about 10 new trucks/cars and NEVER had the brakes wear out in this short of time/mileage. Pretty pisspoor IMO and leaves me a little cold about the possibility of buying another Subi or even recommending Subi to a friend....:mad:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Good news, the dealer did warranty the brakes for abnormal wear and replaced the pads but unfortunately took the easy way and DIDNT turn the rotors, which is pretty halfass IMO but at least they took care of it for the time being. Hopefully it wont develope any feedback at the pedal in a couple thousand miles, but for now, they work great.... Thanks Subaru!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On some rotors it doesnt pay to turn them. in order to reduce unsprung weight and inertia, they tend to make them fairly light and thin. Also the more you turn them, the more likely you are to warp them again.

 

If it happens again, I would go with upgraded aftermarket discs.

 

nipper

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...