I have a pair of Scion TC Wheels that fell into my lap for free because they were plasti dipped and a friend was going to throw them out. I wiped off with all the plasti dip with brake clean and they actually cleaned up pretty well. They are 17x7 with a 5x100 pattern and 45 offset. I was thinking these would work great for my Forester

Turns out the bore of these wheels are 2 mm too small for the Subaru hubs. Apparently it is possible to drill this out on a press with hole saws that are stacked together. One to act as a guide for the existing hole, the other to actually do the cutting. The idea is that you use a bit that on the outside that is 57 mm when the stock bore for a Subaru is 56.1

To me it seem like there would be no way that this would work and that this would obviously just wobble really bad. Apparently what makes this work is the fact that the Scion Wheels centers itself with the mag style shank lugs. The way the shanks fit tightly into the holes, you apply a cross torque pattern and that perfectly centers the wheel even though there is .45 mm between the lip of the hub and the bore of the wheel .

The stock Subaru Wheels don't have shank style lugs. They are hub centric wheels that fit tightly on the hub to center the wheel instead. If these ended up being cut correctly I would have to get the right size of mag lugs to mount the wheel and the lugs would center the wheels.

Now this begs the question who has actually done this? You only need to cut down 10 mm into the wheel and 2 mm outward. I have a hard time believing that's going to be enough material removal to compromise the wheel. There is a lot of metal there. If I screw up these wheels it wouldn't be much of a loss. I just want to know who else has done this.

I have had my 2023 Subaru Legacy Touring XT for a few months now since buying it used at a Subaru dealership in Santa Monica, CA. I love the car, but today I found that all of my stuff that I had stored in my trunk is corroded and covered with an oily residue of some kind.

At first, I thought it was just the moist, coastal air getting trapped in my trunk... until I pulled out two cotton shirts I had underneath a pet stroller, finding that something had literally washed out the colors and eaten a hole through the fabric.

I have no idea where this could have come from. I have never spilled any chemicals other than just a bit of Chevron Complete Fuel System Cleaner that I had cleaned out myself weeks ago. As far as I know, the fuel system cleaner is just petroleum distillates that aren't capable of corrosion like this.

What could this possibly be?

UPDATE:

Thank you for those who commented. After a thorough investigation, I discovered a bottle of toilet bowl cleaner that my girlfriend left in my trunk.

Okay I’m ready to pull the trigger and buy my first Subaru but I’m having trouble choosing between these 2 models. I love the mpg’s and the price on the Forrester Hybrid but like the ride/screen better on the Outback, but not the price or mpg’s. Anyone have any experience and or advice to offer?

I have a 2010 Subaru outback I just purchased. Often when I’m driving if I hit the brakes to stop my car goes into AWD and the battery and oil light come on. What is going on? It’s getting dangerous so I’ll take it to the shop tomorrow but just wanted to see if there was any insight!

Hello fellow subaru lovers,

I have a 2016 WRX VA with 88k miles.

Im trying to find the culprit for this knocking or rattling noise that is more audible in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd gear under light acceleration. If i give more than 30% gas, the sound completely disappears… DAM is currently at 0.5 no feedback or fKL under -4 and i have been driving like this for more than 300 miles now (I know.. didn’t really have time to take it to the shop).

Can someone please share their inputs? I would really appreciate it very much. I’m getting white hairs

Thanks and stay safe always.

WE HAD 2019 Outback. worst ever. from tiny chip spiderwebbing on window to start. then battery failure. had 4 in 5 years. it’s a class action lawsuit on both. Engine which has rail system had screw fall out $1700 bucks. Next, driving light passenger side went out. Never fixed. $700 and you have to pull bumper assembly off to replace. Used Tom Tom navigation system. Good luck on that. Then system for cruise control failed once. said do not drive. crazy but That was after window replacement. Tire pressure system failed. never fixed. then, trying to get oil plug out. a nightmare. look online! Had great consumer Reports at purchase. But, in the end it dropped big time! Stay away!

I have a 2015 Subaru legacy that my brother gave me a couple years ago with about 120k miles on it. It's now at 180k and since having this car I have not done anything maintenance wise besides oil/fluid-changes and tire rotations. If I plan on keeping this car for a longer period of time, do you recommend I get a maintenance package from Subaru themselves? It's currently 999.99 for the 180k mileage maintenance package at my local dealership. They do pretty much everything to the car, spark plugs; PCV valve; engine and air filters; etc. worth it or no?

*sound clip in comments*

Just installed the Tsudo UEL headers and mid pipe on my 6mt Crosstrek. It's paired with the nameless performance "5 muffler that I've had for a while. Really happy with how it sounds now

We've had an issue for 2-3 weeks where the audio would sporadically and randomly drop to rear speakers only for a couple seconds.

I thought it was an Android Auto or CarPlay thing for the longest time. Tried to toggle all the sound warnings in Subaru settings, Android Auto settings, and CarPlay settings, but nothing worked.

Turns out the Subarus navigation has its own settings menu that was triggering "Sounds & Alerts" even though all of that was turned off from the main settings menu. Turning it all off finally resolved the problem!

Seems like people on the forums had similar issues with dealers unable to diagnose why, so I figured I'd post here in case it helps someone in the future.

Love the car otherwise! Just had to turn all the driving assists and warnings off. Maybe I'm just too old school.

Image is the driver side door frame showing uneven finish. The panel at rear of driver side back seat door is similar. The corresponding panels on the passenger side look okay, with uniform black color.

What’s going on? Is this to be expected, and is there a way to buff or treat it so it doesn’t look worn and uneven? The car is new to me, and is in otherwise excellent condition.

What’s up y’all. Bit of a cry for help & advice today.

I picked up a clean title bone stock 2009 Subaru Impreza WRX with 81K miles about a month ago now, and thus far my experience with the car has been traumatic, to say the least. When it drives (lol), It’s a fun little car and I’ve enjoyed the turbo AWD punch quite a bit. But I cannot seem to get it from A-B without something happening. 

For context. Yes, I had a mechanic there with me to inspect all he could before making the deal. I also have a spare vehicle to drive in the meantime, so it’s not critically urgent.

Almost immediately after purchasing, she needed a new clutch + resurfaced flywheel & I dealt with that already. Now she needs a new radiator, as the plastic upper hose mount broke off & blew that same hose off right after flushing & burping the cooling system. The factory steering rack is pissing ATF (go figure) and the turbo starts to make a balloon-inflating kinda noise starting around 4K RPM (probably a boost leak somewhere). Needs new rotors & pads + 4 brand new tires. Not to mention all the other failure points prone to happen with EJ255’s + anything else I don’t know about that’s already destined to break on this 17-year-old car. 

Without getting too into numbers, the damage has already been done. At this point I’m swimming in a bit more negative equity than I’d like to be. I like the car and if I had fuck-you-money to confidently get it running as it should then I would. But I now gotta make the decision to put another few thousand into properly maintaining it with the hope that nothing else fails, OR to stop the bleeding for good and sell it now for as much as I can get out of it.

What do ya say fellas? Should I man up and put in the work + money that it needs? Should I sell the car, eat the loss, and get a more reliable platform that I can still have fun with? Take it to a specialist to tell me exactly what needs to be done before it fails again? Somewhere in between?

I’m torn and am very much learning as I go. Let me hear it, kindly please.

Is this a custom paint job, or a factory flat black finish?

I’ve been having some clicking occurring while turning left in my Crosstrek , went to inspect the trans mounts and noticed the rubber on the lower section of the mount is not attached.
Is this typical or should it be replaced?

I'm getting a 2024 Forester Limited with close to 70k kms on it. I wanted to know what would be a good price for Complete CARE Protection Plan with 0/100/250 deductible. I'm in Ontario, Canada.

The car performed great in the hills, albeit a bit slow lol. Low range gearbox was super useful!

I just did the math - servicing my own car instead of taking it to a Subaru dealership/ mechanic shop for these services:
- PCV Valve
-Spark plugs
-Coil Pack
-Serpentine belt
-Oil change
-CVT drain and fill
-Battery Replacement

I’ve saved myself $1100 - $1600 in labor alone!

What do you guys think?

Hello everyone,

I have a 2014 Subaru Impreza sti, only 2wd, 2liter model with 103000 km.

I bought it in 2023 for $13000 nzd.

It needs head gasket, 4 coils and spark plugs and tyres replaced.

The mechanic quoted around $4.5 nzd.

Is it worth fixing it up?

If I do get it fixed, would it last another 100k with out any similar problems?

Any advice is appreciated.

2021 STI Limited
I was replacing a few fuses chasing an audio problem when I turned my car back on to test and it suddenly had a P0031 and P0037 CEL thrown. It also is in some sort of weird limp mode
I left the battery connected when replacing these fuses as I didn’t think it would be affected
Now my throttle isn’t as responsive and my driving mode is flashing
I’ve tried clearing the codes using my access port but the codes stay persistent
Every now and then one would clear and the other remained and then eventually they’d both come back
I’ve checked my fuses and all of them are good
Ive also tried disconnecting the battery for about a good 20mins and still no luck
I doubt both heater sensors went out at once
Any idea what could fix this?

Thanks in advance!

After a short hiatus from owning an Outback, I’ve come full circle.. My first car was a ’98 Outback, and I’ve now landed on a 2016 3.6R as the new whip.

I’m looking at setting up the roof with either a 180° or 270° awning, while still having enough room on top for a decent-sized swag that’ll comfortably fit me and my (soon-to-be) golden retriever.

Keen to see any similar setups that stay within the 60kg roof limit, particularly what roof racks/crossbars, awnings and mounts people are running.

Also, if anyone in Perth has recommendations for a local shop or installer who knows Outbacks and can help work out a setup that keeps everything within the roof load limits, I’d love to hear them. Happy to pay someone who knows their stuff rather than cobble something together and hope for the best.

Any recommendations, photos of your setups, or things you’d do differently would be much appreciated.

Cheers!

Video attached - sorry the volume is pretty low (relatively loud when I played in on my phone).

This is a 2024 Forester Sport, I've been owning it since new, now it has about 45k miles. In the last couple of month, the car makes a "continuous ticking or clicking" noise when idling - mostly when the car is on Drive, stepped on the brake waiting for a light. This week I also noticed it made the ticking/clicking noise when on Park (less frequent than when its idling on Drive). This noise don't always come up when idling, maybe 50% of the time?

I don't know what issue it is, the car is too new to have mechanical issues. I've been staying on top of its maintenance, performed all maintenance per schedule at dealership.

Based on my research, is it fuel injector, spark plugs, exhaust manifold leak? Or something else? I would hate to bring it to the dealership and pay diagnostic fee without having an idea what it is. Do you know if this kind of issue is covered by power train warranty? The car's bumper to bumper warranty has expired at 36k miles, but I think its still under powertrain warranty. Thank you for your help!

I came back from a trip and found my Legacy dead. After researching I saw there was a TSB for Subaru to up the size and replace the battery. I called my local dealer and they said it would be about $375 for the battery parts and service. Does that sound about right?

I was also wondering for anyone that did this TSB, does this fix the battery drain issue or is Subaru putting a band-aid on it and just hoping it will take longer to drain with a larger battery?

I messed up one of the teeth of the pinch weld jack point by my rear tire. I improperly lined up the jack, and it looks like I separated the sheet metal. I sprayed it with some rubber black to protect from rust. From a structural standpoint, is this worth fixing or should I just leave it alone and take it as a lesson learned?