Subaru specialists in/near Cambridgeshire

[DJB321]

Evening chaps.

I've got an Impreza which needs some attention - it's got a high speed vibration, which I suspect is not entirely unrelated to the gravel track I drove down a while back and the potholes in the track...

Until now I've used the local Subaru dealer just for servicing. I don't really fancy going along to them for this sort of work, as IME main dealers treat this sort of thing as an excuse for major open wallet surgery.

So, to cut a long question short, anyone got any recommendations for a Scooby specialist in or around Cambridgeshire? Obviously I'm really after a company which is incredibly cheap, unbelievably knowledgeable and with a God-given gift with mechanical objects, but someone essentially competent will do...

Cheers

Dan

[boosty]

[waves to Dan] I presume that you've done the usual checks for missing balance weights. If it;s not that then chances are that jacking each corner up and giving everything a good heave may be enlightening. The other possibility is that you've dinged one of the rims so whilst it's jacked up spin the rim against a DTI. ISTR that you've got a spare set of rims so it might be worth chucking them on and seeing if the problem goes away.

We've not yet used them for servicing but the Subaru dealers about mumble minutes up the A10 www.hyltongott.co.uk seemed to be falling over themselves to be helpful.

Chris

[DJB321]

[waves to Chrispy]

I've checked all the relatively obvious stuff, and it went in for its 90k service a couple of weeks back and the Scooby garage didn't spot anything. I'm reluctant to go to any main dealer and say 'here's a problem, please tell me what it is' as in my experience they use this as an excuse to start fitting new parts virtually at random...

[markCSC]

I wouldn't bother with a Subaru specialist/main dealer. Get a full alginment check from a tyre place e.g Cambridge Performance Tyres - Clfton Road. If there is anything seriously wrong they should spot it. Should cost around £100

Edited by markCSC on Wednesday 3rd December 10:14

[boosty]

I doubt getting an alignment check done professionally is going to add anything as that is something that Dan has probably already done himself. Dan - you've already got a set of inclinometers and laser levels haven't you? If not pop over and borrow mine. Besides which an alignment check is more likely to show up the cause of wayward handling/steady state geometry problem which this doesn't sound like.

[DJB321]

Yep, checked the camber all round and the tracking, and done a rough check to make sure there's no stagger (although I'd be amazed if there was any). All checks out OK.

The problem gets much worse under braking from, ahem, elevated speeds - feels similar to the wobble I got on my old Passat when the balljoints were goosed, which also got worse under braking. That's why I'd like someone who knows their Scoobys to give it a quick once over and see if there's anything like that amiss, and its also that which leads me to suspect that it's not just a wheel balance issue as I can't see why that would get worse under braking. It has done 90k fairly hard miles so I wouldn't be surprised if some of the bushes and balljoints weren't as fresh as they could be.

[boosty]

An MOT should show up any worn joints etc for around 40 quid so that may be a cheap and easy first port of call.

[Tom_C76]

Don't know how much experience of Scoobs they have, but Townsend Garage in Soham are spectacularly good at fault finding, and very much cheaper than main dealer rates.

TC

[GTIR]

You can try Suffolk Motors, not so much a Scooby specialist but the owners look after dedicated track cars and do a lot of track days.

Goog mechanics.

Ask for Frank 01638 662087, open on Sat before 12:00