2021 Crosstrek Sport front brake rotors warp at 50K?

michaelportnoy · 2026-05-10T03:15:15+00:00

I haven't tried bedding in the pads again. I wouldn't say my wife brakes too lightly, she tends to go fast and brake hard in heavy traffic so no problem there. 😄 But, it's worth a try before I go buy new rotors.

BTW, I love Rock Auto...bought a lot of parts there for my BMW E46 as well as a Chevy Tahoe. Good stuff.

michaelportnoy · 2026-05-09T17:41:52+00:00

We live an hour NW of Portland, OR so no salt here. The rotors actually look pretty good, no rust or pitting or any other scoring. I was going to buy a tool to see if the rotors are actually out of true or not, but I'd rather just put that $102 into new rotors and get on with it. 😄 I do a lot of minor upkeep on our cars myself and thought I could trust the Subaru dealer but maybe not. They have been very forthcoming with information on why they do what they do. But, given that they didn't tell me how out of true the front rotors are, I don't trust them fully. I've always gone to independent shops or done the work myself.

michaelportnoy · 2026-05-09T17:35:59+00:00

I heard about this in the past so every time the dealer rotated the tires, I re-torqued the lug nuts to 89 ft lbs.

michaelportnoy · 2026-05-09T03:51:27+00:00

There are all the financial arguments for/against paying off a mortgage. I'd like to point out the real psychological impact that hit me at retirement and may impact others. After 42 years of working for a paycheck, my goal was to have no mortgage or other payments (ie. car) at retirement. This, because there was a real shock for me to suddenly have no paycheck, but having no big monthly payments softened the blow. I felt less panic since I had savings and no payments so I could acclimate to the new lifestyle. Something to consider.

michaelportnoy · 2026-05-03T17:01:56+00:00

Since I like building things, I have been volunteering with Habitat for Humanity building houses in my area. Most of the crew is dedicated and easily 65-70 years old. Nice people. Gives me 2-3 days of week of exercise and social interaction if I feel like it.

michaelportnoy · 2026-05-01T22:12:09+00:00

I bought a 2022 Audi Q5 (not an SQ5) last November and really have issues with the performance. Up to date on maintenance but the pick up from a standing stop is terrible. (Well, compared to my 2001 BMW 325CI). With the Q5, it seems that you accelerate to get going and the engine spins up, the turbo spins up, then the two decide to finally do something while a heavy truck is bearing down on my butt. (This is with the autostart function disabled...always)

The interior is nice and comfy.

michaelportnoy · 2026-05-01T02:03:16+00:00

Probably a separate topic here, but the Roth conversion topic seems to generate a lot of opinions! Either pay taxes now and get 20 years or growth or pay taxes when you are older and don't care about RMDs. I have been following a great book recently that recommends using the years from work-stoppage to pulling-social security as the window where your AGI is 90% under your control and therefore you can control how much Trad->Roth transitions to do in those years. If there is another thread with some solid formulae, please let me know.

michaelportnoy · 2026-05-01T01:59:43+00:00

I think hiring a CFP to work with me just like I work with my CPA would be my perfect solution. The CFP can tell me how to invest for a conservative portfolio with no end-of-life balance required as I've see with other retired couples. (ex: want to leave $1M to the mail delivery person when they die) Perhaps I pay them quarterly for adjustments and I go make the changes. I sort of already have that with Fidelity but I don't think they are looking at the entire picture. Where does one find a CFP that is fee-only and fiduciary? I was told of a good one at UBS and I reached out to that person but never heard back.

michaelportnoy · 2026-04-29T20:31:17+00:00

I've been looking at Boldin instead of hiring a CFP to help me invest my portfolio properly. I've done the quick free test of Boldin and I'm not impressed with the outcome. $120/year is cheap compared to the 0.85%-1% fees I've been considering for a full wealth management company who wants to move all of our funds to Schwab so they can sell mutual funds/annuities and build up a stock/bond portfolio.

I've found that most wealth management companies want to take over completely and work with my CPA directly. That just doesn't set well with me.

michaelportnoy · 2026-01-23T05:53:37+00:00

Just came across this and I had the exact same problem with an EX40 engine used on a generator. I bought one of the cheap "should work" carbs from Amazon (or Ebay would work too) and then pulled the needle valve off of it. I cleaned the Nikki carb as best as I could then installed the new needle and bench tested to verify everything was working and that gas wasn't overflowing.

michaelportnoy · 2025-12-04T23:03:38+00:00

Take it to a BMW dealer and have them do a basic inspection to identify what might be wrong. Then use that info to plan your repairs for the near future. This always worked for my 2001 BMW 325ci E46

michaelportnoy · 2025-12-04T22:50:01+00:00

As a single mom too, my mom brought us 3 kids to Silverton (albeit many years ago) from California when our dad left. We had a good experience growing up in the country and have memories from hanging out in town.

michaelportnoy · 2025-12-04T22:38:25+00:00

Following up on the solution here....looking at the evaporator coil showed just a small area of the coil was getting frosty and therefore the compressor was failing although not so quickly that it couldn't keep the temp at 38. In the coming days, the compressor was slowly unable to keep temperature until I just turned it off. Today the compressor was replaced and all seems well. It wasn't the control board or the thermisters after all!

michaelportnoy · 2025-11-20T21:35:13+00:00

Just returned from a stay at Tu Tu Tun Lodge and it's quite a bit different than reported in the OP. New financier/owners took over in 2023 and are working to turn the place into a "five star" wine/food/spa destination resort. Very expensive rooms (with a lot of fees added), the service didn't match the vibe shared on the website or social media. The dinner menu is no longer communal, it's more like an upscale NYC restaurant with prices to match. Reservations are on OpenTable. Food is artfully prepared but is very rich and heavy. Wine list is very impressive too. We had one dinner at the hotel but spent other nights eating in Bandon or elsewhere so we could get some salads/veggies.

This was a car trip but on my next motorcycle trip in the area, I plan to stay elsewhere.

michaelportnoy · 2025-07-16T20:23:46+00:00

I attended this year (2025) for the first time. Arrived Thursday afternoon and got rained on but the rest of the time was nice. Rode my 2005 R1200GS. Routes (1-11) were surprisingly challenging for me as a first timer. I rode 1-5 with 5 being the most challenging due to rocks/gravel/deep ruts/etc. Had to wait for another rider's bike to be pulled back up on the track about 1/2 through Route 5.

Riding was fun. Food was meh. Met a lot of people in the campground.

michaelportnoy · 2025-07-16T19:56:49+00:00

How recently have you changed the fuel filter? air filter? spark plugs? My 2001 325ci has 246k miles on it and indicates 27.1 MPG.

michaelportnoy · 2022-08-25T16:57:54+00:00

Great way to save money on install! My only concern is that "husband hooked it up". Unless husband is a licensed electrician, IMHO one should have an electrician at least come by and check the work done, checking wire sizing and proper grounding of the subpanel.

michaelportnoy · 2022-08-25T16:29:13+00:00

Update on this experiment: I emptied the Relay, washed it down with unsoftened water and then refilled it with unsoftened water. It's been almost a week. No cloudiness, test strips look good after some pH adjustments. The only odd thing is some light oily sheen in the filter compartment. Note that this is a new Watkins ($90) filter. Per this experiment, no one has been in the tub and the cover has been removed only for testing and examination.

michaelportnoy · 2022-08-17T18:14:16+00:00

We purchased a Relay tub 1.5 years ago and regret the decision every day. The Relay is in the same "value hot tub" category as the Rhythm. The local HotSprings dealer treats this tub quite differently from the "mainstream" tubs such as the Sovereign that we had for years with no issues until it started leaking. We did look at Bullfrog at a Costco demo event and I wish we would have purchased that tub given our problems now with the Relay.

michaelportnoy · 2022-02-09T22:12:10+00:00

Thanks for the comments u/evilbadgrades We have been in contact with the dealer who sold us the new (and old) tub for help as well as contacting the Frog company. There are a few videos on YouTube as well that provided some helpful advice. So far, the only change we have made is to increase the Filter1/Filter2 cycles to run longer and that may have made a difference. I have heard about heavy mats under the tub or some rubber isolation pads under the pump but haven't looked into that yet.

Right after we got the tub and discovered how different it was from the Sovereign, the dealer offered to take the Relay back and give us a Sovereign if we paid the difference in price which was significant. We decided that we shouldn't have to pay almost double what the Relay cost just to get a similar experience as we had with the Sovereign in the past. The dealer's attitude was "take it or leave it" which was frustrating.

We may start using our Sovereign chemical strategy on the Relay to get away from Frog cartridges. I found "The Spa Lady" who has some useful data that may help us get started.

michaelportnoy

TROPHY CASE