TheCaffeinatedOne

I used to, but I kept on wearing out the sole of my boot. Then I fixed the floorboard. Actually, my driving habits have never been particularly hard on brakes, and over the years I've driven a lot of different cars. I think the major issue has been my inclinations to be a weekend warrior sortakinda mechanic-type (hold my beer - watch this). I expect the problem with these is as earlier described in the thread, that the pads did not fully retract and started dragging slightly - they'd wear fast and would tend to heat up the rotor. I'd frequently find myself with pulsating brakes at what felt like inappropriately low mileages. The last time I had an issue, the front passenger brakes suddenly made an awful racket about five hundred feet from a local garage - so in I went. The front brake pads had fractured and were in pieces. Some time ago I painted the calipers - that was an error in judgment. Not because paint is "bad", but because poorly applied paint can be trouble. I was sloppy and it just made things worse. I'll be painting them again, but not before pulling them off the car, disassembling them, cleaning and masking appropriately. Lots more work than I'd put into the project before, but now I understand the need for it - so be it!

Hey - I'm in Vermont. The store was out of Birkenstocks.

I do live in the mountains, but not like BC. Over here we have OLD mountains. That means they look more like hills if you're used to the Canadian Rockies. I have a love / hate relationship with brakes. First, its something that I can actually do without having the garage cleaned out enough to get a car in there. So that's good. As it turns out, I'm not all that good at it. So that's not so good, although I can get better at it. But I seem to have adventures. The last time I replaced the rear rotors and pads (and fought with the possessed parking brake system) I had everything laid out on a tarp in my driveway nice and neat, had the car up on jackstands, tires/wheels off, calipers unattached and held up with a twisted piece of heavy galvanized rod that I had twisted around into a hook. Everything went like clock work, and for once I HAD all the needed tools - not "all but one." It was a nice summer day and I was just finishing up. Tires were back on, lugs torqued, and I stood up and somehow lost my balance. So here's Mr Marital Arts taking a big step back to save his balance, just like in the movies. Only thing was, I was wearing clogs and stepped out of them with my right foot. Back it went with all my weight and landed right on that piece of rod that I had just discarded to the side - the one that held up the caliper. The rod went right up into the bottom of my foot about 3/4" and stuck there. So, undaunted by a flesh wound, I pulled it out. Grabbed a hoe from the garage and sort of crutched my way up to the house, being determined not to get sick on the way. My daughter drove me to the ER. I gotta tell you - getting a puncture wound irrigated with a syringe in the underside of your foot is no joke, even for a short thing like this was. I didn't so much yell as much as I lifted the paramedic off the ground with my leg. So like I said - kind of a love / hate thing with the Subaru brakes. Not sure I should be blaming the car though.

Fantastic replies, you guys! This is exactly the kind of guidance I need. I've done a lot of brake work on my Subies and I can tell it's not been thorough enough - and that the solution isn't rocket science, but rather attention to detail. Appreciate it!

My wife and I have had six Subarus; I drive No 4 and she drives No 6. Old Number 5 was a 2010 Impreza that gave its life to let my wife walk away from a head on crash. So I have some brand loyalty. But what is it with Legacy brakes?? I used to have a 96 Outback and now drive a 2007 Outback. Both cars ate brakes for breakfast. I might get 15K from a set of rotors / pads and have had two calipers replaced in 70K miles on the 2007. I don't think I'm using way cheap parts, although they have not always been Subaru brand. I do live in the salt belt - Vermont dirt roads.

My 2007 exhaust is starting to show its age and I can foresee the need to replace at least parts of the dual tailpipes. The center pipe is relatively new. I've looked around and have encountered a bunch of thousand dollar-plus alternative fitments. Has anyone had any experience with this? The OE dual mufflers are enormous; I'd like to install more free flow mufflers and a pair of decent tails without reinventing the wheel. Will any of the Impreza pieces fit? Legacy GT? Other ideas? Thanks

Actually, the green is a combination of reflection from the vegetation and my poor attempts to shoehorn the (large) image file into an appropriate size to post. The car is actually black, so it reflects well in a photo. It happened to be surrounded by greenery on a very sunny day. Here's another version of the same shot that hopefully does a better job. It's bone stock except for a set of Motegi wheels and wide summer tires.

Getting a bit battered around the edges, but that's the way it's supposed to be.