Buying used, need tips on signs of AWD damage

[Pleiades]

Hi all, I'm juggling a few used Subies for sale locally.

 

One is an 05 legacy sedan with 119K, drives great but seller has no maintenance records and there are small pock marks all over the front bumper making me wonder whether the thing was towed on mountain roads behind a motor home.... Only background I have on the car is, it was purchased in the Southeast and brought to Oregon (driven or towed, I know not...).

 

In my test drive, the car felt really good and everything works, but current owner doesn't know about things like timing belt replacement, AWD, other Subie-specific matters, so I am bracing for post-purchase maintenance.

 

Is there any way to know if an AWD system is damaged or on the way out, prior to it just failing? Also, given where the car came from, should I be looking for rust (Katrina flooding known to produce a lot of "great deals" on the used market......)?

 

Oh yeah, another Subie sedan I'm looking at has a pair of half-life Bridgestones on the front and a pair of new Coopers on the back, all the same 205/55-16 size but obviously different brands and different rates of wear. It's a 5-sp manual car, but what's the likelihood of damage to the AWD system from that "setup"?

[SUBACHEVROMAN]

honestly between the 2 id try the 2nd one, is that one from a dealer?? me personally i like to buy from a dealer, like those mixmatched tires...a dealer would fix that problem with little hassle if they want to sell the car..im also a sucker for an extended warranty and carfax info..these things arent always available from a private seller..just some things to think about....

[franklin]

Maybe you want to keep looking until you find a car with service records.

[cseagle08]

I doubt you'd see any damage from having two different brand of same-sized tires front to back. While I wouldn't personally do that, I don't see the harm necessarily. On the 4wd front, leaks, boots around driveline parts broken/split/missing. See how the steering feels around slow (parking lot) hard turns. Should be smooth, no awkward pulling/yanking of the wheel or 'thuds/chunking' (best i can describe it at 1am). I don't know about the first car, but on the second one (MT) pull the stick on the trans/diff. Take a look at the fluid, if it looks bad or has obvious metal flakes on it, probably something to stay far far away from, haha. In general, as others have said, I'd look for something with records of some sort.

[__raj]

The key thing with mismatched tires is that the rolling circumference(distance around tire at proper pressure) is within 1/4" according to Subaru. My knowledgeable Subaru indy tech(25 yr Subaru experienced Master Tech) states that 1/2" is fine with Subaru. He also stated manual transmission AWD much more tolerant to mismatch than automatics.

 

1" circumference difference means broken internal transmission components.

 

So a mismatched tire in wear/brand/model may still pass.

[Pleiades]

Thanks for the comments. I agree, finding a used one with convincing service records is the ideal. Not that easy though, given that I've already limited myself to certain models within a tight budget.

 

I found an independent shop that specializes in Subies, willing to look over any car I bring them for a small fee.

 

The second car I mentioned (with mismatched tire brands) turned out to be an Impreza RS the dealer was pushing as a WRX.... He had another Impreza (TS aka Outback Sport), with -every tire- a mismatch, so I've backed away from that place tho' they tend to always have 3-4 Subes on their lot.

 

In the meantime, found yet another with a laundry list of service records (including recent timing belt replacement) but the seller failed to reveal he hasn't paid off the loan .....

 

I'm getting the impression many seemingly fairly priced cars that stick around on the market a while have err..."administrative" issues...

[stanjk3]

If someone's a cheapskate and puts mismatching tires on a car, chances are they cut corners elsewhere too. Example- using regular instead of premium

[B-Power-B]

If someone's a cheapskate and puts mismatching tires on a car, chances are they cut corners elsewhere too. Example- using regular instead of premium

 

 

+1

 

Also on the situation with the seller still owing on the car: you can still buy it. It is not as smooth, but its not a deal breaker. It requires sending money to the bank to pay it off. Not ideal but do-able

[BruceBruce]

whatever car you decide on. I highly suggest it get looked over by a shop

[Pleiades]

Duplicated.... will post in another thread.