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Diehard Subaru owner pissed off at Subaru...


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Guest PillowSplat

Something is wrong and keep pressing Subaru. I have an 03 Limited with the larger rotors. 11.4 inch on the front and 11.3 on the back. I put 150 miles on and the dealer turned the rotors. I have an appointment Friday to have the rotors turned again at 15800 miles. THATS BOGUS. I put 55,000 on an Audi and no problems. The big difference is just water. I had a 96 honda Accord. It was a wet year and I had problems then too. This year has been wet as well. It goes like this Highway driving a couple of good stops and the rotors are glowing hot, then a puddle Wraparoonie. I know water just eats brake pads as well but that is fast. BTW 285 pounds is spot on.

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Guest ducktapeguy

I have 85K on the original pads, and live near that area, with no problems. And sometimes I do drive agressively, in the dirt and sand, and on steep hills. Even with a slightly heavier car, or even somewhat agressive driving habits, that seems very unusual. I think there's something wrong with your brakes. Even being near the beach (unless you're driving on the sand which is illegal in SoCal) shouldn't cause that much of a problem. When you're driving and let off the gas, does it feel like the brakes are dragging? And this may be a stupid question, but do you drive with two feet? I know some people who do, with their left foot on the brake at all times. Even when they don't think they're on the brakes, they are constantly dragging it. After you drive long highway distances, can you feel a lot of heat in your wheels? Try taking it to a different dealer or even a independent mechanic.

 

Also, even though i would be pissed off in the same situation, at least the dealer did treat you fairly (after some complaining). I've heard of much worse stories from other dealers. But they probably see this sort of stuff everyday, so they might already have it set in their mind that it's your driving habits.

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  • 2 years later...

Man I feel you there-- I have a 1993 impreza in south texas with all sorts of odd weather, rain one hour, 100 degree heat the next, and I SHREDDED the rotors due to the heat and driving style; but my impreza has 128000 miles on it (possible original rotors).

 

I have heard of certain european cars (new beetle) that have had the brakes give out as early as 3000 miles- and that's with clutch failure with the manual tranny. Those cars weren't made in europe though, but in mexico to cut labor costs, and to make more money. I sincerely hope that subaru is not doing that, because this 1993 subie is my first and I wish to keep with subaru for long time.

My opinion is to go to a "mom and pop" shop that is ASE certified and explain your predicament to them; I used to work for one and I have seen near every problem fixed that often the dealer indirectly causes. I am saying that the dealer IS AT FAULT and you should get a second or third opinion.

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.......it's nice to speculate about what may or may not have happened. Me, I'd probably take the car for a spin, then park it in the driveway, put the AT in neutral, and maybe jack up the front wheels. Then I'd try spining one of the wheels by hand, and see if the pads were dragging on the disc. Or maybe I'd take the car for a short spin and then check to see how hot the discs got, which would also tell me if the pads were dragging. Although this is quite possibly a case of defective discs or pads. I wouldn't be too surprised if the problem magically disappeared with the new discs.

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Do not listen to the BS that you drive too hard or AT eats you pads.

 

I have 00 legacy and replaced all pads at 45000 miles as a preventive measure. Still had several K miles of life in them. Mind you, I have AT, the car sees tons of city driving, I live in coastal area, drove on sand a couple of times, and pull a boat from time to time.

 

You need to call SOA rather than argue with the dealer.

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Just to answer the latest replies, every Legacy Outback I've had was an automatic and the model years were 1999 (limited Model), 2001 (standard), and now 2003 (LL Bean model). As for the wheels, they are all identical to each other other than the gold-colored accents on the LL Bean (maybe the design was ever-so-slightly different on the 99).

 

As for the aggressive driving comment (which is valid advice for ALL drivers BTW), I am not driving very aggressively (if at all) or any different now than I was before (I have two very young daughters who wouldn't appreciate dad getting them wrapped around a tree due to careless driving!). Anyway, no conditions have changed at all except for the car itself.

 

I'm starting to think that maybe I'm just pissing into the wind on this one... (sigh)

 

In a previous post you mentioned you got 30000 miles out of the brakes on your previous 4 cylinder Subaru. Was that the '99 Limited? If that's the case, it makes me wonder if a review of driving style might be in order. My wife and I have a '98 Outback Limited and a '99 Legacy GT wagon--both of those cars went 65000 miles on the original front pads and 80000 miles on the original rear pads. So what I'm suggesting is that getting only 30000 miles on the pads of your old '99 seems unusually low to me. Do you "left foot" brake? Are you riding the brake pedal when decending hills, rather than putting the shifter in "3" to control vehicle speed? Also---does your current vehicle "creep forward" properly when you let go of the brake pedal at idle in "D"? You should be able to feel if the brakes aren't "letting go" completely when you release the pedal at idle on a level surface.

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OK, I have read through all the replies to this problem, and the only thing I can come up with is that it is SOAs problem, not the dealer's. The dealer seems to have tried to do well by you, despite your review of the loaner car they sent you home with (loaner cars always get thrashed, and often start out that way ( a trade in that is too beat up to resell, but is still in good running order) ). The problem is defective brakes that got past QA at the factory. Perhaps the rotors were not correctly hardened, perhaps the calipers are bad, I dunno. It is not up to the dealer to fix the factories mistakes. It is up to SOA. Find the name of the local SOA factory rep and give him a call. even have him take a ride with you if that can be arranged. Have SOA fix the problem, and do not be so pissed off at the dealer. They are trying to do right by you, but thier hands are fairly well tied in this matter. As for the rest, how is the rest of the car holding up? If the brakes are the only problem, then getting them fixed (even on your own dime) is a good investment. You should not have to pay to get them fixed, but fixed they must be. . .

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You aren't by chance using the car as a mail delivery vehicle? 7500 miles is about right for my wife using the 98 legacy. 600 stops a day tears the hell out of brakes.

 

Are you by chance a 2-footed driver? Using the left foot for the brakes. People who do that tend to "ride" the brakes a bit.

 

swi66

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  • 1 month later...

If you're doing a lot of driving around town--especially if it's a hilly town like San Francisco or Salt Lake City--you can expect to wear the hell out of your brakes in very short order. Think of it--if all you ever did was long-haul freeway driving, how often would you use your brakes on the Interstate?

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Hell, Ill put my two cents in. No car company is perfect. My dad went through the same thing with his A6. 30,000 miles now and the brakes squeal everytime you use them. Audi told him that you have stomp hard on them in the morning because rust forms on them overnight. Tell me thats not a bunch of crap.

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Just to answer the latest replies, every Legacy Outback I've had was an automatic and the model years were 1999 (limited Model), 2001 (standard), and now 2003 (LL Bean model). As for the wheels, they are all identical to each other other than the gold-colored accents on the LL Bean (maybe the design was ever-so-slightly different on the 99).

 

As for the aggressive driving comment (which is valid advice for ALL drivers BTW), I am not driving very aggressively (if at all) or any different now than I was before (I have two very young daughters who wouldn't appreciate dad getting them wrapped around a tree due to careless driving!). Anyway, no conditions have changed at all except for the car itself.

 

I'm starting to think that maybe I'm just pissing into the wind on this one... (sigh)

if you don't drive hard, and you brakes are grabbing you should have higher than normal fuel consumption, also pay close attention when you drive on relative flat surfaces. bring it to neutral and pay close attention how long it goes until it stop. go on a parking lot atfer driving acouples miles and while on neutral try to push it. It should move if nothing is holding the car.

good luck!

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  • 3 months later...

I replaced my first set of front pads (5% remaining) on my 98 RS at 98,000 miles and the rears at 130,000 and they were at 20% remaining. sounds kinda odd to me.

 

the loaner thing: they only have to provide some sort of transportation to you, it could have been a shuttle ride home or a rented pontiac or somethingicon8.gif

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If you're doing a lot of driving around town--especially if it's a hilly town like San Francisco or Salt Lake City--you can expect to wear the hell out of your brakes in very short order. Think of it--if all you ever did was long-haul freeway driving, how often would you use your brakes on the Interstate?

 

Did you read the earlier posts? He has had other subarus with no brake problems and he has lived in the same area for the whole time. Sometimes people seem to defend subaru a little too much. At the time this was a brand new car that was eating brakes, simple 'aggresive' driving should not result in wearing out your brakes in 7k miles or whatever the number was. If that is the case subaru should change it's marketing campaign to include 'driving ms daisy' shots and forget about hyping all the rally championships because that is 'agressive driving'.

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Is there excessive weight in the car, and are you towing anything? Do you have a pulsation when braking? Maybe the brakes aren't completely releasing. I'm not sure if you have a floating or fixed caliper system, but I would verify the pads are moving freely in the guide pins if it's fixed, and if floating make sure the caliper slides freely for floating style. Beach Town, and oxidation of brake hardware can equal trouble. In New Jersey "Lemon Law" is 3 times back to the dealership for the same complaint. Don't feel so bad, I've seen brakes go on Mercedes as low as 6000 miles.

Good luck

jv

Hi! As some of you may know, I drive a 2003 LLBean Outback wagon. Well, at 12,000 miles, I had to replace my front brakes because they were already worn out. They were covered under warranty and Subaru replaced them, excusing their premature wear on my apparant (and untrue) "hard driving". Well, I've NEVER had ANY car (other Outback wagon models included) wear out ANY of its brakes before 30,000 miles nomatter what I do to them. Anyway, the squeeling returned earlier in the week so I got the car into the dealer (Irvine Subaru) today to find out WTF the deal is since I've only put 8000 miles on the new brakes. AGAIN, they blame my driving style and now told me that ALL FOUR brakes are worn and the front two rotors are shot and need to be replaced. To top it all off, the Subaru warranty will NOT cover the rotors, yet will cover EVERYTHING else related (basically, I need to shell out just under $200)! After complaining profusely, they agreed that they would cover the rotors for me. However, this doesn't seem to address the situation: why the premature wear REALLY? To otp it all off, they are out of replacement rotors and won't get the car back to me until tomorrow. They sent me home in a thrashed old Legacy wagon that is not even properly compatible with todays car seat requirements, and even neglected to give me the door key so I can't even lock it (Ignition Key doesn't fit)!!. Anyway, has anyone had any similar problems? How did you address them? Also, is anyone familiar with the California State "lemon Law" and know if my car may qualify under his should this happen again?

 

PLEASE HELP!!

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Do you per chance use the car to deliver mail?

 

My wife has a RHD legacy and that's the kind of mileage she gets between brake jobs. 500 stops a day, that will surely eat brakes.

 

Her RHD legacy they covered all components up through 36,000 miles. And that was about 5 sets of fronts, and 3 sets of rears. Now I do my own.

 

swi66

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I'd like to remind everyone that this thread started about 3 years ago, so the original poster is probably long gone, and driving a camry right now.

 

 

Huzzah, postus resurectus

 

lol! I only looked back a few posts but - well it COULD help someone else right? huh? maybe? (just trying to rationalize it....hah!)

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  • 1 month later...

Wow, I started reading this not realizing how old it is. My neighbor had the same problem with his '03 LLBean. He found something about a problem Subaru had with the alloy in those rotors, replaced the rotors and had no further trouble. No acknowledgement of the problem from SOA.

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OK, even though it's three years old, I have to add my theory.

 

Have you checked with you local psychic to make sure no one has cast a spell on your Subaru?

 

Have you checked to make sure there are no aliens using a tractor beam on your Subaru?

 

Have you noticed black helicoptors hovering near your Subaru?

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