Hi all,

Having suffered from severe front brake judder and a hesitation between 2200 and 3000 RPM, I booked my car into specialist that I thought I could trust but now I am not so sure. I bought the car from them in February this year at a non discount price!

Full story:-

The car is MY98 Ver IV Impreza WRX STi 5 door Wagon 12,000 miles on clock. Car failed MOT with non-warning light on rear fog lamp switch. Quick visit to specialist who lent me one for 1/2 hour to pass test - no charge

Hesitation between 2200 and 3000 RPM. Quick drive by specialist with Select Monitor, no problem found no occurrence of fault. 10 Minutes later, I return with car as the fault is without doubt there. I leave car with them for 5 days while I go on holiday with instructions to examine severe brake judder and resolve hesitation which they say will be cured by cleaning the 'vacuum valve'

On collecting the car, I am horrified by the charge:-

2 x 26310AC040 Disks £222.28
1 x 26296FA100 Pads £97.53
Labour to fit above an clean 'vacuum valve' £123.75

Total nett £443.56 plus vat
Total with VAT £521.18

The part numbers above appear according to my research to be original Subaru STi OEM components.

The hesitation seems to be better but not completely resolved but have not had full opportunity to test properly.

Have I been stung or am I paying the price of having such a fantastic car - and it is superb?

Regards,

Steve

 

they are the correct prices and part no.s for uk spec turbos as well so i think they are ok price wise as for the hesitation subaru issued a bullitin saying it was turbo lag and normal (b*****ks) so you will have to live with it im afraid

 

Your brake judder seems like warped discs thus they would need replacing and changing the pads is probably better with new discs but they shouldnt have carried out any work without your consent as i take it they were only to look at the problem??

Tony

 

ScoobyBoy and TonyBurns,

Thank you both for your replies. There is much talked about on the hesitation front with as many 'solutions' as there are people with the problem. Certainly turbo lag is as you say - dangly things! I am still researching this issue and I will let you know if I find anything concrete.

With regard to the prices, it looks like I have not been unfairly charged then but given the chance, I could have got drilled and grooved disks for less money from a 3rd party source. In fairness, I am not sure that I would have done so as I prefer to keep this car 'to spec' but I was not given that opportunity as the work was carried out without cross-reference to me even though they had my mobile telephone number.

I guess that this is a case of making oneself very clear at the time of leaving the car!

Thanks, both,

Steve

 

Steve
I feel the same way, i have worked on cars since i was 14 or so although my Impreza seems different, almost a black art!

To be honest i would have gone for another set of OE disk and pads, it was only after a chat with Stef that i upgraded, the cars was only
only 18 month old and i was concered about the warranty and non-gen bits.

Paul

 

IMHO
I would not say you where ripped off, the prices seem about right, I would not say that you got best advice thou', as you state you could have got 'better' disks and pads for the money, probably with change as well.

Al least they sould come with some sort of warranty so if (when) they do warp or prematurely wear out you can get them replaced under the warrranty or put the replacement money towards better brakes.

BTW
I changed to the EBC dimpled and grooved disks and EBC greenstuff pads for around
£ 225.00 incl. VAT & Fitting. MUCH better!
This was on a reccommendation by someone on Scoobynet

Paul

[This message has been edited by Paul Habgood (edited 11 October 2001).]

 

Paul,

Thanks for your comments. Well, it looks as though I was charged correctly but I believe you are right about the 'advice'.

Perhaps I should stop playing it 'safe' with the car and be a little more of a 'petrol head' and experiment a little. My problem is that although I have built my own car (Westfield SpeedSport 1800) and I know every nut and bolt on that car, the STi is a little bit more of a mystery and because it is not a 'UK' car I tend to treat it a little with kid gloves when it comes to the technical side of ownership. I guess in summary I am a little afraid of damaging it as it is not quite so straight forward to put right as a conventional UK car would be hence playing safe with the brakes!

Steve

 

Steve

Just wondered what a 'non-warning light on rear fog light switch was'?

I have a switch to turn my rear fog lamp on and off, which should light up when the fog light is on. However the rear fog light on my sti5 never worked after about the second week of ownership due to water ingress!

 

Hi Steve,

The MOT fail on the rear fog light switch was as you guessed - although the switch itself operated correctly, there was no warning 'tell tale' light on the switch to indicate to the driver (ME!!!) that the rear fog light was on.

Personally, I think that rear fog lamps should have a moisture sensor attached to them such that if it is raining, they CANNOT be used! We have all driven behind poor drivers in the wet who insist on blinding us with their rear fog lamps on but thankfully with a Scooby we have the antidote in front of our right foot but it can still be a pain! Maybe these drivers too do not have a tell tale light on their switches

Steve

 

I may have missed something here - car failed the MOT. What I'd be concerned with is the fact that the warning light has been required for some time so why didn't they do it properly in the first place?

Was it it's first MOT? If not why was it passed before? If it is, well I'd still moan about the fact the conversions were not done to meet UK laws. You won't get anything out of it but, should anything else go wrong (which I hope it doesn't) it's something you can throw at them.

Just gets my back up when people are selling these cars and can't be bothered to do the conversions properly.

rant over, sorry guys.