wick3rman

Thanks for this recommendation, Grnlantern, I had no idea Subaru made alternate panels. I got the whole piano black set and really love it. Especially the blacked out emergency light button.

Custom volume knob on the center console for my knobless aftermarket head unit. Twist: volume up and down Press once: forward a track (or +30 sec on podcasts) Press twice: back a track (or -30 sec on podcasts) Hold: mute Now I barely move my arm!

Thanks for all your comments folks, the frustration is real and it's good to not think I'm crazy for feeling like I got a raw deal here. I finally got my car back, and man I'm glad to have it back. That Cadillac sucked despite being supposedly more luxurious. The dealer didn't budge on giving me any sort of compensation for the tire mismatch and their inspeciton mistake or deliberate inaccuracy. The most they would offer is to install a tire for me if I got one shaved down myself. I can't do much since the only thing they would cover under the 90-day warranty is something that affects the safety of te car. I'm done stressing about this and am just going to buy nice new all season tires and give this sleazy dealer a scathing review on Google Maps. Besides, there are more important things to focus on, like drilling a hole in my center console to install a custom volume knob for my beloved fancy aftermarket radio! Steering wheel buttons are fine but I really miss having a knob. Even better than one on the radio itself I figured is having one by where your arm naturally falls when driving. I am using an arduino nano board, a rotary encoder and a digital potientometer and plugging it into the 3.5mm wired remote port on the back of the radio. (This guy on reddit wrote the code for the arduino.) I'll put the knob on that blank square below the parking brake for a button not in use. Can't wait to show it off on this forum.

Lol yes, looking into Cads as a car it seems they do not last in the long run. This one has a lot of annoying bells and whistles too: the seat vibrates under me when so much as a bird flies by, and the mirrors turn down for no reason when you back up. The side and rearview mirrors are useless anyway because they are so tiny. Did someone think that was a nice form factor? But hey, they fold up by themselves electronically... woohoo. This dealership is taking forever to resolve the situation. I finally got a call yesterday saying they would not replace the tires and they suggest I get the tire shaved. I asked them if they had inspected it and measured the tread depth before selling it and they said yes and admitted their measurements were inaccurate: all equal at 6"/32. I said okay you made a mistake and now I have to pay for it before a component is damaged? Let's make this right and come to an agreement. Asked them what they would have done had they caught the mismatch, sold it as is anyway? Shaved one tire and put it on, which is what they are asking me to do now? I would be happy with them giving me a rebate for whatever that would have cost (shaving new tire down, getting used tire-- they didn't have one) so that I could put it toward new tires. Not an outcome I'm particularly happy with but willing to settle. The service guy put on airs of being "caught in the middle" between me and the salesman who refused to do anything, since the car was "priced to sell" -- not true, it was pretty much the market value, maybe a little more. He then said he had called a Subaru dealer who told him that tire mismatches take a long time to cause any harm and that it's not unheard of to replace just one tire out of the 4 if the customer insists on doing so. That weak argument kind of pissed me off... sure, if the customer insists on doing something that could damage the car, there is nothing legally preventing you from doing it. No sh*t. Anyway he said he'd talk to the salesman again Monday.

Looks great! Nicely done.

Exactly, the measurements turned out to be 4.5-5 / 32 on all three except LR which was 8/32. Just got back from the dealer (a Cadillac dealer). Asked him what the plan was after he checks it out. He said he had no plan and would call a Subaru dealer and ask them What they normally do in situations like this. I guess a situation like this would not normally emerge in the first place for a Subaru dealer because they would not sell a car with tires that mismatched. I reiterated to him the whole deal with needing to swap out all 4 tires every time even one tire needed replacing, because mismatches damage the “Multi-plate Transfer Clutch.” (Thanks am-c). Yes, I used that word and it sounded good in the moment though I have no idea what actually is or means. Google images of it look interesting. Also quoted the whole Subaru 1/4” rolling circumference = 1.3/32 max tread depth difference. His eyes glazed over. I asked him if he would call me before doing anything to the car because I would rather have good new tires put on than used, and he assured me if he replaced any tires they would be new ones. That is reassuring. The nice part about buying a used car from a Cadillac dealer is that they give you a CT 5 as a loaner while they do service. So I’m not super rushed about getting this issue resolved.

Is that what those square thingies are? I think I must have misintepreted something I read to say you should measure depth from there. I'll have to measure again to get the real depth. Thanks for pointing that out, amcinnis. I guess the depth of all of them will be a bit more, but the difference should be the same as above.

Glad you posted chowser, I was just about to follow up with the results. The tool came from amazon, I put it on those little square things between the treads and looks like it confirms what the credit card guessed, a difference of 3/32 ". Here are that mechanic's delightful "Miles left" compared to what the my gauge says in 32nds of an inch: LF: 20,000 RF: 22,500 LR: 55,000 RR: 22,500 LF: 3/32 " RF: 3/32 " LR: 6/32 " RR: 3/32 " Now on to the dealer... I'm leaving the car there Tuesday evening, he's giving me a loaner car in the meantime while he "fixes" it. I'll make sure I figure out what that means before I let him.

The difference between left and right rear tread depth looks to be about 3/32 “ judging by pen marks on an old credit card measured by a ruler. So if that’s accurate it’s well over 1.3”/32.

Great advice. Yeah I’ll be getting specifics on what they’re going to put on the car if they replace anything. I’d rather get nice tires even if I have to share the cost, than get cheapo or worse, used ones put on.

Nice! Good to get something from the horse’s mouth. By the way, after some googling I discovered that a tread depth gauge costs five dollars on amazon and can arrive Friday. Since two parties with interests not entirely aligned with the customer are involved, I’ve decided some objectivity is in order.

I agree, I thought that was weird too that he would go out of his way to convert to “miles left” and leave out the actual measurements on the sheet. He apparently does this with all inspections because “miles left” is a field on the sheet, he didn’t just write it in. Either he wants to show customers what the numbers really mean in terms of longevity and not bother them with the back end stuff, or he doesn’t want them to do what I’m doing now lol, going to the dealer with precise numbers and having them fix the issue, because he wants to sell 4 new tires. Maybe that’s too cynical, I’ve bought tires from him before and he seems generally fair. Still business is business.

Thanks so much for these numbers, ammcinnis. The mechanic didn't write down the specific tread depth, only those "Miles Left" on the inspection sheet. He verbally told me the tread depth and I don't remember what he said, kind of assumed he'd write it down, but it was definitely more than 1.3/32. I only bought the car a month ago. Armed with Subaru's published limit, I called the dealer who sold it to me, a Cadillac dealer by the way, and complained that the mismatch was beyond the limit. His service department acknowledged that a mismatch causes issues especially for AWD and he offered to take it in and "fix it." Taking it in on Tuesday and we'll see what they do.

Thanks! I looked into shaving and called a few tire places and doesn’t seem to be something very many places do anymore around here, the Boston area, especially if you don’t buy the tire you intend to shave from the place. One guy even claimed it was illegal because you can make bald tires look new (?). My mechanic said my current tires are cheapo anyway, Goodyear eagle brand and have bad reviews, I might just want to bite the bullet and get 4 new ones.

I bought a used 2017 Legacy Limited 2.5i, the dealer had it inspected before I bought it and I took it to another mechanic to give it a second inspection. The mechanic said that the rear left tire was newer than the rest and had more tread depth. The “Miles Left” he put on each tire in the inspection sheet are as follows: LF: 20,000 RF: 22,500 LR: 55,000 RR: 22,500 He said I could damage the differential if I continue to use a tire with a different tread depth, and he wants to swap out the tires for new ones as soon as possible. Articles on the internet seem to support his view that different tread depths pose a problem for AWD vehicles in particular. What do you guys think, do I need to swap them out immediately, or can I get away with another year or so on these ? Anyone ever damaged their differential with one new tire?

Anyone wanting to go super fancy might want to wait for this to come out Sep 3rd: https://carboncarsystems.com.au/shop/car-stereos/kenwood-dmx9720xds-10-1-floating-hd-digital-media-player-wireless-apple-carplay-android-auto/

Yeah I saw a couple skeptical posts on That seicane thing and agree it seems highly suspect. The amount of engineering involved in getting a good capacitive touch screen and decently fast interface combined with good sound, is not what what many companies are capable of doing. That’s why aftermarket head units are normally such crap in terms of their user interface and speed, because they are made by sound companies and not Apple/Google. Apple CarPlay is only as good as the touchscreen in your unit can make it. That’s why this pioneer thing impressed me because although not as responsive as a current smartphone, it’s relatively decent which makes it better than basically any other aftermarket unit I’ve seen. Yeah could be the way it’s wired, if Metra claims you can retain steering wheel controls I’d look at the wiring again. Crutchfield should help you since you bought from them originally. I had a good experience with their tech support.

Ah that's interesting, maybe iDatalink didn't put the work into making that model compatible then. I'm curious if anyone has any luck installing any of the larger floating screen 9" and 10.1" Pioneer units that came out this year: the DMH-WT7600NEX or DMH-WT8600NEX. The size might be a little excessive and not for everyone. Like how Teslas have this giant tablet computer, only these are thicker and I wonder if they might protrude a little too much out from the dash. Still the resolution is better than the 4660 and I always underestimate what you get from more screen real estate. Crutchfield's site seems to think they won't fit sixth gen Subarus but I can't figure out why not. Would be great to see pictures here if someone has done it. EDIT: this guy seems to have put the 10.1” in a 2015 Legacy w/HK. Vents are a little covered but doesn’t seem like a big deal. Actually it looks pretty awesome. I lack the courage to go that big.

Yeah not sure why 6.2 vs 7 makes a difference to the wiring, it’s probably more that, as you say, your head unit doesn’t have a built-in amp. If the crux let’s you retain steering wheel controls that’d be dope.

Oh yeah sry I know what u mean by grounding parking break wire lol... Crutchfield won’t do that I just got this from eBay https://www.ebay.com/itm/254476589430 EDIT: You can do the bypass on these 2020 pioneers without installing any extra wiring, you just need to do this finger-on-screen trick and you’re good to go. Neat.

Haha yeah the sloping on the sides of the Scosches will probably make it easier to hit those buttons. I had the same issue with a jvc radio on my old Mazda. Had someone else install it for me and the tiny volume buttons at the top were completely covered by an overhanging dash kit. The glossiness actually looks kind of good in that photo. But yeah the Non-glossy matte Scosches will not smudge as easily. I can definitely recommend Crutchfield’s $25 ready harness service if you can still have them do it, you might be able to send in your harness and they set up the maestro and your wiring for you as long as you buy from them. They’ll take care of parking break wire and grounding and all that.

Here’s a photo of it in the daylight.

Yeah I didn’t know anything going in so just got whatever Crutchfield recommended, which for the wiring was iDatalink Maestro. It works pretty well and retains everything. You can adjust volume, move forward and back a track, pick up and hang up calls, and press a button for Siri from your steering wheel. All these functions can be reassigned to different buttons if you want when you flash the Maestro module. I just wish they let you assign a button to display the camera connected to the 2nd camera input (not the rear cam, that one’s triggered by being in reverse) on the Pioneer unit. Last weekend I was swept up in car modification enthusiasm and installed a front camera , a Natika, which I got for $40 from amazon, and drilled a small hole at the bottom of my front license plate frame and screwed it on there. It almost looks factory to me, see pic. It really helps get close to the curb without scraping the low-hanging Legacy bumper. Now if I were able to just press a button on my steering wheel to have that front camera appear, it would be so great. As it is i have to click through a couple screens on the Pioneer to get to it. It’s cool that you can add it as a widget on your home screen that actually displays in its little window all the time, once you get it going. You might be able to see it as a bright square bottom right of screen in pic. I actually called iDatalink Maestro and they said that in fact Pioneer will make you able to activate 2nd camera through steering wheel in a future firmware update sometime in September. fingers crossed that actually happens. Yes the Scosches are both nice, I ended up going with silver because it looks more at home being a very similar plastic material to the other panels. Whereas black is a smooth material that looks like a different texture than the black of the dash material. The serial numbers for the Scosches if you want to get them on eBay are black SU2030B or silver SU2030SB.

Thanks for the links, I thoroughly enjoyed that saga. That guy is pretty good at his job.

Hi I'm new here, very recently I got a 2017 Legacy Limited w/Harman Kardon and over the weekend put in an aftermarket head unit, a 2020 Pioneer DMH W4660NEX which I can recommend. Got it for the wireless Apple carplay (phone stays in your jacket) and the sleek screen. Interface is pretty fast and it sounds great. You can adjust volume and all that with steering wheel buttons. If you don't need wireless you can save $250 and get the dmh 2600NEX which is basically the same thing. Both are like having a big smartphone in your car with Google Maps and podcasts, even whatsapp calls. Any reason why you need navigation if you have googlemaps? As a complete amateur I gotta admit it was a pretty hard installation because I needed to retain the starlink unit and disconnect a mute wire, so I was on the phone with tech support a lot (crutchfield). I'm still working on getting it to line up perfectly flush with the dash trim kit but you can see where I'm at with it in the photo. Factory amp, rear cam display and steering wheel controls are retained. If you don't like the black color trim you can get it in silver to match the vents and climate control panel. I can give you model numbers for the trim kits that look nice (it's Scosche, beware of Metra in this case.)