Topic: What did you do to your non-motorcycle vehicle today?

[Terry in Australia]

So on Sunday, I saw a nice 2006 Subaru "Outback"...

Terry...no offense intended but that looks what we in the States call a "Soccer Mom" car!
I get that a wagon is handy to have but dont you have a little truck for hauling?
Aren't "sporty" cars popular there? Or you have no interest?

Well after looking for a good turbo Forester and finding some of the biggest worn out piles of sh1t Steve, I was just happy to find a nice “Daily driver” that will get me to work or on long trips in comfort. My twin turbo B4 is my favourite with 300 BHP at the wheels, and smokes V8’s, but my knees are shot, so constantly changing up and down in peak hour Melbourne traffic isn’t much fun.

Being a station wagon its also going to be really handy for picking up “unfinished bike projects”, I reckon I could easily get one or two disassembled bikes in the back. Over here the “Soccer Moms” all drive big stupid 4WD SUV’s, that rarely leave the tarmac whereas this car isn’t much bigger than my other two sedans, so easier to park and just more useful. Each to his own, I guess?

[Terry in Australia]

Terry…… that body style makes for a very handy car. My sister had one and then a few more! Before tearing into the brakes, find some deserted rod and get them hot and clean with a few hard stops. Every so often, I have to “clear” my wife’s car that way. They never really get a good burn and crap builds up…….

Thanks John, I thoroughly enjoyed the drive in to work this morning, the heater comes on so much faster than the old car, (it was zero degrees Celsius at 5am when I left for work) and the stereo is fantastic. The brakes did feel better today, but I booked it in for tomorrow to get Kenny at ABS who does all my cars to check it out before my 400+ miler this weekend.

[grcamna2]

Terry,does your Outback have 4 wheel drive ?

[Terry in Australia]

Terry,does your Outback have 4 wheel drive ?

G’day Bill, it’s “All wheel Drive”, as opposed to “Four wheel drive”. My cousin bought the first Subaru 4WD station wagon that I can remember in about 1975 and with his it was front wheel drive, but you could manually select 4WD (and high/low ratio too, from memory?) They’re fantastic cars on wet roads, they go around corners like they’re on rails.

[RAFster122s]

Mom had an Eddie Bauer edition Outback a lady totalled by running a red light on her. She now has a Forrester.

[Terry in Australia]

Mom had an Eddie Bauer edition Outback a lady totalled by running a red light on her. She now has a Forrester.

I always wanted an Eddie Bauer edition Ford Exploder when I had mine, because they looked cool. I have no idea who Eddie Bauer is David, did he play soccer?

[Stev-o]

I always wanted an Eddie Bauer edition Ford Exploder when I had mine, because they looked cool. I have no idea who Eddie Bauer is David, did he play soccer?

Ha, no he was not a "soccer dad". I didnt know either so I looked it up...

"Eddie Bauer (October 19, 1899 – April 18, 1986) was an American outdoorsman, inventor, author, and businessman. He founded the Eddie Bauer company to sell tennis-related items in Seattle, Washington in 1920."

[dave500]

my trailer tyres were like 14 years old kumho and dry cracking hand me downs from my car which at the moment has 5 year old hankook very slippery when wet tyres on it,ok dry still have good even tread but bloody crap dangerous when it rains,thought id spend up and bought bf goodrich radial T/As,three old tyres went to the trailer plus my car spare that also is a full size alloy wheel,now i want it to rain to see how they grip?my local BOB JANE T MART didnt even charge me for the extra three wheels tyre swapping and all 7 wheels got new valves with neat hex chrome caps on them!very happy with that service.

[Terry in Australia]

Thos BF Goodrich tyres were great on my New Ford Territory Dave, I changed them at 83000 Km (52000 miles) and they still looked roadworthy. I replaced them with the same ones and the cars done around 140K now, and they still look good. Having said that, I bought Chinese cheapo’s for my Mitsubishi Outlander from Jax tyres in Canberra and did 70,000 on them before the d1ckhead doing the burnout in my street at 2am smashed the Outlander and wrote it off. Any new tyre has got to be better than hard old ones.

[dave500]

you said it Terry?i think its the 4 year age?those hankooks(what a #$%*ing name?)were no way any good with any wet road,even when dry with heavy acceleration the second gear chirp was long,fair enough its a tight tricked up auto with an old but still stout 312 cube old holden motor,i only replaced them as the trailer tyres were all cracking up and im a cheapskate,id have run em another year otherwise,im keen to see how these T A = traction advantage tyres go once it rains,and in 2 or 3 years time?

[seanbarney41]

Hey Dave and Terry, you guys got Cooper Tires over there in Australia?

[HondaMan]

[not] speaking of brakes: I just installed wheel brake cylinders and [another] master cylinder in my JEEP, and new disc pads all around the Explorer. Need some sort of 'special tool' to replace the Emergency Brake shoes in that Explorer, though, I discovered too late. You need a witch's hook to get those springs off, something slim, strong, and with a big handle on it.

Then I went to get my 750 out last Monday, since it has been locked into the front of the garage with other people's 750 engines since March: the battery is bad! Grr...it's a genuine YUASA, too, and only 3 years old. The back cell at the (-) post is completely sulphated, like Chinese batteries usually do (says "Made in Taiwan" on it - guess they can't make 'em right, either), but it's just now 3 years old. The new battery was only available in Califorkya, has already taken since last Monday and it's still not here. Today is cloudless and 90 degrees, perfect for a mountain ride...

[spotty]

Who'd have thought one little fouled plug could cause the clown car to run so sh1t, changed all of them

[RAFster122s]

Electrode, who needs an electrode?

[spotty]

Strangely the other five were just as worn down but were all the correct colour just like the only colour printed page in a Haynes manual used to show us

[simon#42]

that cylinder is burning oil by the look of it .

[RAFster122s]

The spark plug gap was intense too!

[Terry in Australia]

Hey Dave and Terry, you guys got Cooper Tires over there in Australia?

I see Cooper tyres here for big 4WD's Sean, but I haven't seen them in standard car tyres sizes? I've heard good things about them, but as they don't seem to sell them to suit standard sedans etc here, have never tried them? The big Cooper 4WD tyres are pretty expensive here too. I rarely spend more than $100 per tyre for my cars, and haven't had any issues with any brand apart from "Toyo" tyres on my Mazda RX2 in the 70's, they were just awful in the wet, but hopefully they've improved by now.

[Terry in Australia]

I drove my "New to me" 2006 Subaru Outback the 400 mile round trip to visit my Ma for her 95th birthday on the weekend, it was miserable weather, wet and cold on Saturday but improved marginally yesterday. The car went perfectly, and returned 7.6 litres per 100 Km (37.17 MP (Oz)G, or 30.95 MP (US) G)

Really comfy car with all the creature comforts that were broken on my old Subaru that the insurance company wrote off after the truck took me out, great heating/aircon, comfy seat, quite, handles magnificently and had plenty of power for only a little 2.5 litre engine. The brakes appear to have "bedded in" now, not nearly as much pulsing through the pedal. I didn't take it to the brake shop before the trip but removed the wheels and checked each disc and pads, and everything (especially the pads) looked like new, so I'm guessing they were replaced as part of the roadworthy inspection certificate that was provided by the PO.

I paid $6K AUD (about $3800 US) for it with 115,000 miles, but with the $4880 that the insurance company paid me out for the write off, and the $700 that the kid paid me when he tagged me with his BMW a couple of months earlier, it really only cost me a few hundred bucks, including the transfer fees, so I couldn't be happier. The DMV also recognised my VA "Gold card" status and reduced my annual registration/insurance fee by 50%. It's got a couple of cosmetic blemishes that I'll fix along the way, but all up, I'm very happy with it.

NewBaru 20 Aug 2023 by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

[spotty]

that cylinder is burning oil by the look of it .

possible but more likely down to the petrol i was using was contaminated with diesel ( well i wasn't going to knock back a free 60L drum just cos it was a bit oily...), every morning it would foul a few plugs but clear within 30 seconds or so until one morning it didn't. if it does it again i'll have to delve deeper but i'm hoping its fixed now.
also gave the air filter a wash and dry so that should be good for another 20,000 km

[Stev-o]

id spend up and bought bf goodrich radial T/As,

Hey Dave...the T/A's are excellent tires, I'm sure you will like them.  The only negative is the the white letters tend to turn brown, some guys have gotten irritated and switched to Cooper Cobras.
[BFG did warranty some and may have addressed it by now]
I have the T/A's on my old Chevy....

[dave500]

i had the white letters mounted on the inside Stevo,i dont like them anyway!the last tyres also had white letters i had them inside aswell.

[grcamna2]

i had the white letters mounted on the inside Stevo,i dont like them anyway!the last tyres also had white letters i had them inside aswell.

I prefer doing the same Dave;blackwalls are less maintenance.

[dave500]

yeah Bill plus they look gay,not that theres anything wrong with that!

[Stev-o]

yeah Bill plus they look gay,not that theres anything wrong with that!

C'mon Dave, really?!   I think white letter tires look "period correct" on a '70s era sports car, but would not look good on a modern car.  Since your car is a four door, the blackwall suits it nice, good to have options!