entidine

I have a totally stripped wheel lug stud that needs replacing. I need to remove the brake caliber to get at the stud, yes? How long will this job take me? Is it a pain in the butt?

Is there a list of independent Subaru specialists? I am looking for a mechanic in Northern New Jersey. Last guy I tried (neighborhood mechanic) was a whacko who put all wrong parts in the car.

All I'll say is don't do business with Salerno-Duane Subaru in Newton, NJ. People in the service dept. are rude, the sales manager is out to screw you, and the mechanics, based on my experiences there, are inept.

Nothing was done at 30k miles. That's why I'm having the maintenahnce done now.

What a load of B.S.!!! last time the car was in at the dealer (for a transmission light) they replaced the trasnmission fluid but forgot to tighten the bolt. After a puddle of ATF formed on the driveway we took it in and they discoverd their error. Maybe some Subaru dealer's are okay, but mine sucks. There is absolutely no reason a trusted independent mechanic can't do these simple maintenance items. If your independent screwed it up, you took the car to the wrong shop. But don't paint all indies with the same brush.

Subaru owner's manual is a joke.

I'm going to bring my 2004 Outback into the local independent mechanic for it's 60k-mile service. I'm planning on replacing the spark plugs, oil (synthetic) and oil filter, air filter, automatic trans. fluid., and the brakes. Is there anything else I should have done? Should I replace the differential oil (or is it fluid???), power steering fluid, coolant, have the brakes bled, etc.? Also, this is the second brake job for this car. Will I need to replace the rotors also? Thanks in advance!

Hi all! My wife and I just purchased a 4-cyl. Outback (last day of the big sale, so why not?) and so far we are loving the car! Looking forward to checking out the boards and getting info from everyone here. The car is for my wife. I own a BMW 325xi and have been going to http://www.roadfly.org, which has a great BMW message board. The information has been invaluable. I think her Subaru is on par with my AWD BMW in a lot of ways (not bad since it was $9,000 less!) One funny thing is my wife asked the finance guy at Subaru if the dealers really made all that much money (since we got a pretty good deal on the car) and he said the dealers used to make a lot more money, but now with the Internet and all the info that is available it is tougher for the dealers. I guess that's true. In fact, the sales manager at our dealer made fun of me for knowing all the tricks of buying a car, which he said I got off the Internet, and which I told him was exactly right! We had a good laugh, mostly over the other buyers who were getting all nutso over $300 or $400 differences between the price at this dealer and another dealer 50 miles away. Anyway, I learned a lot today. Didn't get the all-time best deal of the century, but did okay. The 1.9% financing made the deal really attractive though. Anyway, I'll be scoping the boards and trying to learn as much as I can. looking forward to owning this car for a long time.