Mr B

What year forester, what alarm system ! as said generally fobs don't need reprogramming due to battery change. I have experienced on more than one occasion a fob not working as got itself out of sequence with the alarm due to weak battery & needed new battery & reprogram. If both fobs an issue then possibly receiver on alarm or main alarm ecu fault but reprogramming could be worth a go as first step.

You can't go wrong with that conversion kit, al very good components & a simple job of unbolting old & bolting on new so no extra steps over fitting new dual mass really. Only thing that will notice the difference is your wallet at £400 savings. The valeo dual mass flywheels are !Removed! as is most stuff valeo so this conversion is best way to go to save money & possible future hassle.

Yeh most of those steel basket ones tend to be from US. UK company called rhinoracks (I think) did baskets but they looked awful, bit like a shopping basket tied to your roof bars :-S Happy hunting, if you find UK retail source post a link. Worth looking at rack/baskets for likes of freelander & suzuki as if cheap & size right would be worth modding to fit perhaps. Annoying thing is in US those universal baskets are about £100 :-/

Lol. he straight on another overtake as soon as got it back too :-) I had a 360 moment once & although gracefully missed hitting anything I was pulled into the nearest stopping point to reflect on the situation & get my pants out of my !Removed! :-S

I've had a few Foresters & outbacks in with various steel & alloy roof trays/baskets. These clamp to standard roof crossbars making the type of thing you after. Thule & Winbo do a range & you will find a few more on eBay from the US which could work out ok as even with shipping they far far cheaper than thule. Tend to look better in black even on a silver car. Expect some of the trays made for smaller 4x4s could be adapted to fit if overall size suitable so worth looking around even at used systems as could be cheap. Example of a tray clamped to standard roof bars below

Worth looking at >

See how it goes, generally quicker putting stuff back together but always another today tomorrow ...

yes just use good quality & don't over tighten them .

that is tranny fluid, crimp or plug hoses to save a mess & fluid. Topup as required once fitting complete.

Less than 30 miles from Exeter.

Yes, I have a garage business in Devon specialising in Subaru/Nissan & do source some cars for people. You are at guess 700 miles from us though. Would of thought quite a few dealers in sensible distance from you will have some decent Forester XT's & 2004 models in very clean order can be had from £3k so with your budget you should find plenty & even late 2005 models with low mileage plus FSSH should be within budget.

what year/model forester ? You tried locking/ unlocking via remote then pulling boot handle ! Perhaps wriggle handle little while trying use key! If unable open you may need pull inner trim off & manually try release it, can be a pain if mechanism jammed/detached !

Yes the imports can be good & reliability still good if you fussy on what you buy. Only thing with imports is verifying the mileage, original mileage from auction sheets is recorded & can be checked online as a lot of importers like knocking off some miles when converting/reseting to Miles. My first choice would probably be the 2.0XT UK spec purely as less hassle with insurance & easier sell on in future plus running costs better of the bunch. I've viewed a few 2.0XT's for customers & had real clean 80k-mile FSSH late 2004 for less than £4k Good time to buy as sales are slow at start of new year & most people past the point of wanting a winter 4x4 so prices can be haggled more. Generally it quite easy find decent Forester 2.0XT as they tend to not get used as hard as the non turbo's & also tend be lower mileage & better price as more select buyer market ;-) being you happy with auto or manual should help too .... another glass of vino sir !?

Certainly not an off-roader in the sense of a LR Defender but they quite capable & a slight lift of say 1" spacer blocks on tophats along with 215/70/15 or 205/75/15 tyres gives almost another 1/2" & really helps the forester off road. They are quite good & far better all rounder than most, also reliability can be amazing. Hope you enjoy your Forester & have a muddy 2015 :-)

^ My names Paul, glad to be of help. Coilovers are a bit of a pet hate of mine :-S Likes of BC are ok on track & can be made work on the road but are not as good as quality struts for street use. Your cusco kit is quite well built but design is poor as is the spring rates for road use. You may get lucky & find lower rated springs works out ok but you may need compromise ride height as if the rod has say only an inch of bump travel before out of stroke then you need raise it to help, other option is shortening the rod but that starts getting expensive :-/ You want to measure & mark rod for maximum extension & compression & then you can see what travel you have at set ride heights & work out what can be done !

The coil springs are standard diameters so quite easy for you to get your own lengths & rates. prices range around 30 to 50 pound a spring pending on make & length/rate.

I just looked at pic of your cuscos on previous page & they the super useless type with no adjustable lower mount for ride height. The type that use the spring perch is a cheap bodge. when setting suspension the spring perch is used mainly for spring preload & setting corner weights of vehicle. The lower bracket should be the way to adjust ride height, with your type the lower you go the less bump travel you have plus you run with no spring preload in some cases. Cusco kits tend to come with 7kg front & 5kg rear springs which awful on the road, I have changed a few coilovers to 5kg & 4kg & even better is 4.5 & 3.75 but that has been on types with adjustable lower mounting & most were BC & the valving is softer & they have a little more travel than some. For road use best kit is sti inverted struts custom modded to application or Bilstien suspension kit.

Problem number 2 with coilovers is the stroke travel is minimal so with mildly softer springs you may get slightly better ride but shocks tend to bottom out a lot & seals fail quick. If your cuscos don't have ride height adjustment via bottom bracket & rely on spring perch for ride height then you seriously suffer as impossible set spring preload & balance stroke on that type. All the cheap to medium priced coilovers are the same issue & for road use they are simply dangerous as handling & wet grip is awful. Your best option would of been sti inverted struts with custom springs & rods/tophats modded as needed to match stroke with set ride height.

I would be looking at a 2005 2.0XT myself mainly as road tax reasonable on pre 2006, fuel economy acceptable, insurance acceptable & 2.0 litre engine more reliable & desirable over the 2.5 so resale value tends to hold better. Not a huge difference between 2.0 & 2.5 in fuel economy so go with your preference or by what decent example turns up. Generally easy find a clean 2.0XT automatic & at good price, prefer manual myself plus slightly better fuel figures on the manual too.

Falken Eurowinter HS449 are good as are Hankook Optimo 4S H730 if available in your size.

I would probably use KYB Ultra SR struts for an sti, standard suspension is quite stiff on those so damping of the pedders won't be best option.

On B roads you can't beat oem inverted struts really unless spend about 2k Bilstien do some good struts. BC are not the worst coilovers for the money but on B roads it a downgrade on handling grip & you soon be needing them rebuilt. All the cheap coilovers like BC miester R etc are virtually same taiwan !Removed! with no real testing & development on specific models.

I've been getting quite a few of these for plugs due to poor support & silly quotes from dealers. Easy enough test the plugs with multimeter & removal not long job unless do snap :-/ I'm soaking the plugs with release agent & leaving cars overnight & tackling removal following day to reduce risk of snapping plug or threads being ripped up on removal. Refit with light smear of anti-seize paste on threads & shaft, I'm using a ceramic & synthetic grease based high temp rated anti-seize. had a few rip some thread but not enough to be an issue. We been using Ashika branded plugs as original oem ones don't seem great . Glowplugs are around £22 each & as long as don't snap it not over expensive job. Just being careful with removal is critical & not snapped one yet & not had any come back for replacement as of yet but probably will in time unless Ashika far more robust than the oem, time will tell ! Not really sure why they failing, could be the oem plugs, could be too much heat soak or could be ecu related & they being used to much. We been having short lifespan on diesels & switched to Ashika after some brand testing.

What alarm system ? Sigma !? If still not working after battery change you could try reprogramming & if that fails then will need pick up another fob. If its Sigma m30 link below on reprogramming, if you don't know then manual pin code set that first while you have one working remote. http://uk.subaruownersclub.com/forums/topic/306-remote-needed/page-3

they are good but I still like a manual too ... best bet is test drive a couple.