[Raion]

By now some of you are familiar with my 2005 Subaru Outback with a 4-speed auto and 2.5l EJ253 engine. 

Full album: https://siliconimage.irixnet.org/index.p...ges/Geofon

The car had a few immediate things I had to take care of:

1. Water under the driver side seat. (Mostly fixed). There doesn't appear to be rust so gods know what the cause was. I suspect at a brief point the car spent time with the window down. The carpet pad is still wet slightly and will be replaced with new sound deadening to fix. 

2. Codes for the knock sensor (fixed) and catalytic converter (will be defeated/disabled - no emissions where I live and I want to put a better exhaust on the car.) It does have stock "dual" exhaust, sorta. Single cat merges the headers, and then it goes out the back. I dunno whether I'll go "true" dual exhaust or not. 

3. Balljoint and sway bar links. Balljoints were fixed. Swaybar links will need replacing sooner or later. 

4. Warped rotors in the front. Easy DIY job

5. Corroded wheels. Fixed with a wheel upgrade to 17" wheels. Pic of the worst wheel:



6. Clogged heater core. Common due to Subaru's coolant conditioner (basically "stop-leak" that gums up rads and shit)


The car has a long way to go before it's the greatest, but it's already come so far. New pics to come soon of the updated look.

[Raion]

Well first big trip to NoVA broke apart in disaster.

The rear wheel hub disintegrated on the left side. The bearing was fine, but the studs were stretched. I knew this, and still I drove. Why? because I could still tighten the lugnuts normally and they held up fine without issues. I was being overconfident and should have called a shop to replace the hub.

So the car got towed by AAA to a shop and I had to pay out of my ass for a repair. Not fun, but I'm alive, car is fine now etc - only casualty besides the hub is the possibility the wheel is twisted. I don't think this is the case, based on lack of vibrations or visual deformity. That shop wanted a grand to repair my car, I talked them down to about half.

It's a pain. But I'll live. The car will, too.

[weblacky]

Can't you prove the wheel is OK, by having a shop simple check the wheel's balance?

[Raion]

If I'm gonna go to a shop, then I may as well go to one with the tooling to repair the wheel right there. A steel wheel can just be hammered, an alloy like I have, not so much. It needs annealing

[weblacky]

Well it's not worth buying a $40,000+ wheel balancing machine for one tire. Better to drive into a shop and pay a few bucks to have them remove the tire and check balance with automated systems.

[Raion]

Ok, you misunderstood me:

I am taking the car sometime in the next several days to a wheel repair shop to have them evaluate the wheel.

I am not buying tooling to do this myself. I am not taking it to a standard shop because if the wheel is bent/twisted, then I need to go to a repair shop for the wheel anyways, have them confirm diagnosis etc.

Around here, shops charge for diag. If I'm gonna pay $50 to diagnose the wheel's condition at a simple tire shop, and then pay the same diag fee + repair fee at a wheel repair shop, then I am better off going /directly/ to a wheel repair shop, paying a diag fee once, and then they'll tell me what the condition of the wheel is.

Does that make sense? I'm thinking in terms of cost/efficiency here. I don't want to go three towns south of me to go to a decent tire shop (tire shops in my town only really can work on American cars, don't carry tires for imports etc.) just to have to go north a town, then to 64 to Richmond to get to a wheel repair specialist. It's better, since I have an initial diag, to go straight to a wheel repair shop. See?

[weblacky]

Ah, most places here will do diag for free in hopes of a sale. Yeah, I get the double diag fees, but didn't get that you'd have it looked at from your previous statement, sounded like you intended to hammer it and call it good.

[Raion]

I have an appointment to have the wheels looked at. They said if it's bent, they'll shape it out, and throw in a free four-wheel cleaning for me. So there's some silver lining.

Meanwhile, brake caliper painting is going on, and I'm saving up for paying for a timing belt since the 210k service mark is just around the corner. I did inspect it, it looks fine and there's no oil leaks on the front of the motor.

Speaking of oil:

She burns/leaks oil pretty slowly. Over 5,000 miles, it used a quart of oil. That's a very reassuring sign. Coolant is staying green and clean (I use Peak, I don't bother with Subaru-specific crap for reasons.

[Raion]

The wheels of Geofon do indeed have a bent one. I'm saving up to buy a new one and put nice new tires on it, plus align him up. Suspension needs work, still. But he got through winter just fine!

[Raion]

Well, RIP. The car is fucked. I will say no more until after 9/22