I brought my 2004 Forester 2.5X to the local Firestone to have the tires rotated. The complete vehicle inspection service was included in the tire rotation. A few hours later, I received a call from the service advisor telling me that the front brake pads were down to 2 mm and needed to be replaced. Furthermore, he said the rotors needed to be replaced (I owned several other cars in the past and never needed the rotors replaced, even after 100,000 miles. The service advisor explained that the brake rotors on newer cars are softer (i.e. wear away faster) to improve the braking). He also recommended I flush the brake fluid, adjust the alignment, and have all four tires rebalanced. Total estimated bill came to about $1,600. Since I only had 27,000 miles on the car, I decided to decline all the work (except for the tire rotation for $20). I'm still covered by the 3 year/36,000 mile warranty so I'll be bringing my Forester back to the local Subaru dealer for a checkup. I was really hesitant to have the work completed at Firestone. At least the Subaru dealer would pick up the cost of the brake pads and rotors (unless they determine that I've been racing my Forester, which I haven't). We'll see how things go when I bring it in on Tuesday. Any thoughts or opinions on my story? Thanks!
- posted
17 years ago