Hi everyone,

 

I'm new here, and hopefully someone can help me out. I live in Northern Virginia, and just brought my 2000 Legacy GT Limited into Stohlman Subaru for its 60K scheduled maintenance. This service seemed exorbitantly expensive, but I had them do it anyway. Unfortunately, they have told me that my front brake pads have less than 25% left on them and my rotors are rusted, so I need to take care of that. And my tires are worn and need to be replaced. I'm wondering if anyone knows of someplace that does good quality work that I could take my car to for the brakes and tires that might be less expensive than the dealer?

 

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, as I am relatively new to the No VA area.

 

Thanks,

Toby :-)

Brakes and tires are not THAT specialized on a Roo. You can take your car to a place like Costco for tires. You just need to make sure you replace all four at once, since we have AWD and diff. circumfrance tires mess with the AWD system. Also any good import shop should be able to put a set of pads and rotors on you car. I went with Brembo replacement rotors, and Raysbestos Import Quiet pads on the front of my '98 Legacy L wagon and I love them. The Stealership will do just that steal from you!

If they told you you needed repairs because your rotors were 'rusted' they were out-and-out- trying to cheat you. All rotors show rust, usually overnight. Just drive and the pads will clean them.

 

Stay away from them and (not that it will do any good) report them to SOA.

I used to live in Annandale, VA. Stoleman had a lousy rep when I lived there. I would recommend this place:

 

Backlick Road Service Station

4715 Backlick Rd

Annandale, VA

703-941-9848

Since that last post, I thought I'd better make sure that they are still in business since I haven't lived there in a while before I send you on a wild goose chase...so I went to the cartalk.com site to look them up. here's a link:

 

http://www.cartalk.com/ct/mechx/shop.jsp?id=10707

 

Good luck!

 

Rotors rusted? Go far far away from stoleman!

I agree with poster re: fairly common brakes/tires on Subaru.

 

My 2 cents worth:

Tires: I have had very good experiences with the national chain Discount Tire. My '00 Outback has lived in Seattle and LA, and in each location, the service (rotation, balance, both free of charge for life of tires) has been excellent. Discount Tire matches Costco prices and has better service.

 

Brakes: I was on my way to ski in Colorado from LA, and in Utah I decided that my pulsing front brakes could not wait until 90k service (I have 71k on car now). Stopped by a Midas shop in Glenwood Springs, CO, and in 1.5 hours, had front rotors resurfaced, new ceramic pads, and brake fluid flush/fill. They even threw in oil change service (my oil/filter) free. $290 all in. Brakes feel GREAT!

 

Point is, dealers are generally not the best priced mechanics.

 

Good Luck.

My 2 cent....

 

I used to be skeptical about the need for (4) matching (meaning tread and wear as well as size) tires, until I got to experience missing AWD. Once I saw the puny clutch they have to transfer power to the rear I became a believer.

 

My experience with GL and Gen 1&2 Legacy is that it ain’t worth the time to turn the rotors. Aftermarket ones are about $25/per for the fronts here, and about $18 for the pads, so $75 bucks plus an hour labor and yer good to go. Turned rotars ( mine anyway) start to pulse about the 2nd time you apply the binders.

We have more Subies registered in VT than any other car, so non-dealer Subie specialist shops are fairly common. 'Course that's no help to you in VA.

Cheers!

I'd have to totally agree that you should steer clear of a dealership that tells you rusty brake rotors need replaced. Look at any brand spankin new car on their lot and you will see rusty brake rotors. That's not to say the rotors aren't worn on your car, but why in the world would a mechanic tell you they are rusted???

 

I would notify SOA.