Setright

Ermm, here's my comments: STP doesn't work. RedeX works. Very well. Haven't tried Prestone. About crud in the tank: The whole point of a good "engine cleaner" is that it dissolves the carbon build. The fluid takes it into solution. You will not get chunks of carbon from the tank and lines flooding the filter, instead the carbon should be in relavtively small molecules. Some will stick in the filter, others will flow further down the system and out the exhaust pipe. In theory, at least. The stuff that won't dissolve - like water, rust, leaves... - tends to float on top the gas in the tank, so my advice is don't run dry!

Sprintman: Lexus factory fills their car tyres with Nitrogen, too. They claim it alters the characteristic of the tyre noise, making it more "white noise" and therefore easier to filter out. Aircraft tyres also use Nitrogen, since a burst tyre won't produce a fire hazard Not sure I agree on those high pressures though, 33F 32R produces very even tyre wear on my car. Not only for the individual tyre, but front and rear live equally long. Winter tyres in OE size 185/70R14 get 34/33 and seem to like it. In both cases the slightly lower pressure on the rear tyres helps balance the handling. I find that equal pressures gives more persistent understeer. I did try 34/32 on winter tyres, but then oversteer can turn into OH!versteer

Actually, I view that as a benefit: If things are really slippery you don't want 100% of the torque on one axle! That would seem to be the point of 4WD

Luckily absolute zero friction is rare, and if you don't floor the throttle, you should be able to crawl out of most situations. Limited slip diffs are expensive and make most sense on high power 2WD cars, expecially front wheel drive.

Why, thank you Just for comparison: My stock alloy rims are 14x5.5J ET55, and I run winter tyres in stock size 185/70R14. Summer is 195/60R15 on aftermarket 15x6.5J ET50 - take note that standard Sube rims would be 15x6J ET55. Only 6 inches wide. It is very important that you choose a suitable rim width for the tyre size you plan on using. ABSOLUTE minimum states that the rim should be 70% of the tyre width. My summer solution is 85%, which makes steering response far more direct - and ride slighty harder.

Sure you can RodA, you just have to not care about the center diff. Believe me, it's possible, but I would never do it in my own car, unless "forced" to.

BattleWagon, you did miss something: When I replace my oil at 6K miles, I cannot feel any difference in performance. If I laze about and leave til 7k miles there is a noticeable new urge after the oil change. I reckon 6k miles is just right for me

"jj" refers to the shape of the rim's tyre mounting ridge. For obvious reasons tyre and rim must be made to fit eachother The offset of your present rims should be moulded or stamped onto them somewhere along with other info: 15x6JJ ET 55 55mm is my guess, because most Sube rims seem to have this extreme offset. So, a set of rims with 40-45mm offset should give you enough clearance. Remember that you only need to make room for half the width increase on either side! I strongly second the motion about geometry alterations and bearing load. I would not alter the offset by more than 10mm. In fact, I am running 5mm out on my summer rims. Good luck!

List of things NOT to do while sliding a car: 1) De-clutch 2) Brake 3) Shut the thottle suddenly 4) Brake 5) Make sudden steering corrections 6) Brake 7) In fact, don't even look at the brake pedal I grant you that maybe pulling the handbrake hard might make an unavoidable accident less painful, leaving the road backwards beats leaving it sideways! God forbid any us should need to take such drastic measures

John Hiatt quotes?? Go LuckyTexan

Funny that, I just had a seeping valve replaced today...lug nuts torqued to 120Nm.....get home, jack the car up...98Nm like the manual says! The twat insisted that 120Nm was minimum....oh, and he also insisted that 34Psi was the right tyre pressure. HELLO! My 195/60R15 run 32 rear and 33 front. I love the way they play experts, even when faced with owners like us who actually know our cars. Maybe I should get a tyre mounting machine and start doing it myself

In all of this, ONE thing is certain: If you want your car - nevermind just Subarus - to last for a long time, do the maintenance yourself. I agree, some things are not practical to do yourself, or plain impossible due to a lack of equipment, but keep outside interference to a minimum. Honestly, you cannot even trust a tyre place to torque your lug nuts properly :madder: b

Ermmm, I have been using Mobil 1 on plug threads for over a decade and never encountered problems.

Never dared. I use RedeX "Injector Cleaner" on the last tank before my oil changes. Can't complain about the performance of my engine, pulls strongly even with nearly 300,000km on the odo. Can still manage 210km/h (130mph)

Well, essentially, I find that my manual 50/50 split will behave like a rear wheel drive car on snow and ice A well sorted RWD of course! My car will allow oversteer, but you always have the feeling that things are moving forward and that the front wheels are still participating. RWD will often give the unnerving sensation that it is about to spin all the way round Basically, the rear end will step out in first gear under hard throttle if the steering wheel is turned, but otherwise wheelspin induced oversteer is not on the cards. Not with a set of winter tyres anyway. Lift-off oversteer (closing the throttle, yes?) is always part of the equation (dry/wet/icy), and allows for a nice trim of the cornering line without tugging at the steering wheel. In summary: The handling is "forgiving". Flattering even, so make sure you don't get over confident before you have gotten to know the car well.

I lubricate the thread of my plugs with fresh engine oil and DO NOT OVERTIGHTEN them on installation. The collapsible gasket in the plug doesn't need very much pressure to seal well. Any excess oil will burn off in the cumbustion chamber. I think the problem with anti seize is that it forms "gunk" in the chamber. Luckily my plugs are angled upwards and a jointed socket wrench can get to them

High beams, in foggy weather? Hmmmmm. If you don't think there is enough light on high beam, add some driving lights, don't bother with fogs.

Two things cause these leaks: Old gaskets that have gone hard and a bad PCV system. I replaced the PCV valve before I did the gaskets and it did actually slow down the leak. New gaskets are of course needed to make things really tight again. Most older cars tend to leak from the rocker cover gaskets because of excessive blowby caused by cylinder bore wear. However, Sube engines do it because they are "flat" and the oil will rest directly on the gasket. Serious bore wear on a Sube engine takes VERY high mileage :-) Oh, yes, you do need new bolt gaskets too. They been have redesigned, so don't worry if the new ones look different. They are thicker "under" the bolt head to increase the pressure on the rocker cover gaskets. Space is very tight, so clean off the cylinder heads and nearby surfaces or otherwise you will get dirt on the inside of the rocker cover and have to spend ages making sure you get it all out again......trust me, I speak from experience

Where do I begin?? Well, I have spent money equivalent to the cost of the car (used 2yrs ago) so it hasn't been dirt cheap. However, some of the things I have done weren't strictly necessary, but I like everything to be in tip top order - like new springs and dampers all round: KER-Ching! The sound this engine makes, from the race car rush of air through my modified intake, to the turbine whine of the crankshaft, ending at the off-beat growl from the exhaust...well, let's just say that every tunnel is a chance to drop a gear and floor the throttle The way it will still pull 130mph even with 290,000km on the odometer, and cruise very quietly at 90mph ALL day. Okay, so the 4WD slows it down a bit, could be quicker for a car with 100KW, but that same 4WD lets me put to shame many faster cars in Denmark's wet weather Including a motorcycle recently!! Mine has never left me stranded either. (Knock on wood) The anonimty of the elegant design. Many passengers gawp wide-eyed when the throttle valve is snapped open: "Oh, when you see this car you don't think it will be this fast." But the real clincher is the way this car HANDLES! WOW! Sometimes when I throw it into a bend I swear I can tell it's trying to proctect me! No matter how much either end is sliding there is always a way to influence the path. All the while the steering wheel is alive with information about the road surface beneath the front wheels! SO few new cars display this sort of forgiveness and feedback.

I second the bearing motion However, an unevenly worn tyre, due to bad tracking, will also sound like a busted bearing. Try swapping the rear wheels and if the noise switches side...

Been through a number of different brands and models. I have settled on Bosch FR7Dx. FR78x "Super 4" don't agree with the DIS. Cables are OE, but only two years old. Cold air intake? Surely the car had this already? Legacies I and II suck air from the right fender. I trust you mean that you have removed the "intake resonator"?? http://www.geocities.com/vik2r/Sube/intake1.jpg

Yes sir! The ECU gets info from the crank and cam position sensors and uses this to determine engine revolutions, and hence when to send voltage spikes to the plugs. A single knock sensor relays feedback about whether the timing is good or not. What are your symptoms?

I use the OE oil filter, and I would NEVER go for a cheap copy. There is a big difference in the filtering properties of the paper element, not to mention the total surface area. Also, the bypass valve can be relied upon to not open unless the filter really is clogged. I don't doubt that there are even better quality filters out there, Amsoil included, but replacing an OE filter every three months is costly enough I am sure Mobil 1 can last 6000 miles under the conditions that I subject it to, don't forget it's only in there for three months, and it's only cold-started once a day since I am on the move all day. I am however VERY sceptical of so called modern car's extended service intervals. Honestly, running the same oil for 20,000 miles??

Mobil 1, all the rest are second best :-) 5w-50 in Danish Spring/summer, temps up to +33 celcius 0w-40 in winter, where the temp regularly goes below freezing. There is a tiny, but noticeable difference in start up: 5w sounds a bit strained on frosty mornings. As soon as I swap to 0w she starts as if it were a warm summer day! 6000 mile intervals, which equates to every three months. Car is nearing the 200,000 milestone Also have Mobil's finest in the manual transmission

Uhmmm, not sure I agree on the parasitic loss: When two pistons move "down" the other two are on their way "up", leaving the volume of the crankcase constant.