Mr B

I would do a rotate & keep going till near 2mm on rears & then get all 4 renewed. Should work well as will have new boots before weather gets bleak. I was in similar situation to you but ended with 2mm on lowest 2 & 4mm on best, my situation was made sweeter by the spare being a perished mess so best of old at 4-5mm replaced that so spare is now sensibly good. If replace whole set you should be able wear matched set down quite evenly with bit of effort on rotation & assuming tracking & suspension are in good order. I find Foresters & AWD Subarus in general very good on tyre wear & get long life from my tyres so i'm happy to sacrifice a bit of tread on a tyre or 2 to keep the whole set brand/model & wear matched, your reward is better fuel economy, better tyre performance & vehicle handling plus less risk of odd hassles caused by mixed tyres. Your subaru manual will have a guide on tyre rotation & permitted wear variation so worth reviewing before making up your mind.

Worth checking with insurance company to see they ok on it, T is 118mph & one rating lower than OE H 130mph rating. Did see them when wanted some for mine but as local tyre shop had the Toyos on shelf from failed deal I decided try them as our run around pug HDI been good on the Toyos plus price was favourable. That Hankook is quite a nice tyre but no idea why they didn't do an H rating ! Really not keen on mixed tyres on 4wd such as Subarus, prefer set fitted as 4, better safety & better for transmission too. If you have 2 tyres very good it maybe worth rotating & using a little longer & also reviewing spare status as if that an old wrinkly, one of the better tyres will go as a spare.

Think they do the size but speed rating T

With that sort of annual mileage you need better than Nankang, Have a look at Hankook Optimo 4S as another you may want review !

Confusing indeed. What sort of driving are you doing & what sort of annual mileage. I'm not the biggest Falken fan myself but they are not too bad & expect you could get LA/AT around £70 fitted. Nankang 607 can be had £50 a tyre unfitted so with a cheap tyre fitter they are a cheap way reboot the Forester. Yokahama Geolanders are good for the price if need a more A/T tyre. I have a set of Toyo open country all season M+S on one of my foresters mainly as set of 4 fitted was £284 & Toyos on our 205 diesel pug been great in all use & wear. Toyo OC's been fine to date (wet winter, muddy back roads, towing, bit of motorway) though ratings worse than Nankang it is a tyre I could recommend without loosing sleep especially if get price same or better than mine. Hard call really, Nankang is a bit of a Marmite type affair & will be all love or all hate but wear is not going be the best so if doing high mileage spending on a better range tyre could be best. I too am surprised at the good ratings on the Nankang !

Exact models please, diesel/petrol etc, also what usage ? towing as example ! Have seen very little clutch issues in general, dual mass flywheels can be a problem. driving style can be a problem. When inspected what is failing in clutch assembly & what symptoms do you get !?

that particular model Nankang is not too bad for budget price & you can buy worse. Probably wouldn't buy them myself but have driven the odd forester with them without issue & owners seemed happy enough. For prices you have quoted above I would be inclined to go with the Falkens if price has some play in the decision, if not then the Michelins could be a good deal pending on exact model you getting at £85. Would imagine Michelins would last very well on a Forester & good set of branded boots keeps resale value bit higher too.

TD04 turbos are fussy on on oil supply & even minor reduction can cause bearing failure. Check oil pressure with manual gauge just to rule it out & thoroughly check oil feed & drain on turbo, check banjo bolt on oil feed for mesh filter & if has one clean or remove it, clean & test flow of all pipes. If unusual debris is found do further inspection. I would do thorough engine flush & good oil/filter as final step once main cause found (probably blocked gauze filter in banjo bolt if yours has one)

rear control arm bushes are easily removed without much hassle & either come with complete alloy bracket or need pressing into old one once off vehicle. Doing both drop links would be good idea and not expensive but I would leave lower ball joint & front control arm bush if they are in good order. Link below should help for tech details: http://jdmfsm.info/Auto/Japan/Subaru/Forester/2004/2004%20Service%20Manual%20EU.pdf

If you bought kit with new pulleys & tensioner then use them. I always do the job with complete kit as reduces risk of failure of these components shortly after new belt fitted & causing belt jump or break ...

I would say yes. We only do pumps on 90,000+ plus. Not unusual for Jap original water pumps to last 130,000+ miles . Pump is not a dealer listed service item hence why not done but for cost of part & when mileage high it worth doing along with belt for extra belt safety/peace of mind & saving labour cost if pump decides leak shortly after belt service.

Tip for those who don't do this regularly, rotate engine to line up timing marks with old belt, check timing correct & familiarise yourself with what is hopefully the correct timing positions, now use a marker pen & mark one tooth on pulley to the 2 belt teeth that lay either side of that pulley tooth. Do this for all pulleys requiring timing & mark crank with a C so you got a reference point. Transfer these mark to new belt by counting teeth between markings & also count teeth total to check belts same. Once done this makes putting belt on easy & if slips a bit on one pulley easy to fiddle till right then recheck against proper alignment marks. Do be aware if you do a full revolution clockwise you pen marks won't line up again so be 100% happy with your belt position & you can turn engine anticlockwise a fraction then clockwise to align your marks to be sure then rotate fully clockwise to settle & recheck tension & timing with standard markings. Other tip is spend some time looking at standard timing alignment marks prior to pulling it off as that will be of benefit in helping you be sure you right at end of job. Could help the OP too, as by marking what pulleys are right & one that out you should find it easier to correct without loosing timing on correct ones, small bull clips can be handy too for holding belt to pulley if you ain't go a spare hand. Impossible to be half a tooth out in sense of belt to pulleys but actual marking tolerance, some degree of movement of crank pulley on keyway, looking at marking at silly angles, belt slack present as not rotated & tensioned correctly, faulty/poor spec parts can cause some issues here too so check old to new & double check everything as removed & replaced to eliminate error & doubts. Also use a decent belt kit such as the ADL as there is a good reason why most decent subaru independents use it ...

coil per plug/cylinder has lots of advantages, reduced radio frequency interference,smaller lighter coils, use less energy, coils have longer recharge time between cylinder firings. Loss of distributor & advancement of engine electronics has improved fuel economy, reliability & engine life span drastically. I don't miss messing with points & condenser :-) do think manufacturers need keep an eye on how advanced they go these days & on replacement parts costs as some of these component/sensor prices are ridiculous ...

Yeh the coil on plug type are a bit fiddly, this was single coil pack & much easier. Basic servicing is not really that expensive excluding you high end performance boys, HT leads I used here may seem cheap but quality is as good as £40ish leads so spending more is not always needed.

Standard lines are good enough if in good order, braided lines are normally for custom setups & speedy dissembling. Least got to the bottom of it & having a mitsi turbo certainly was cheaper than if was a IHI :-S Hope all sorted, third time lucky ...

:-) Yes nice when quick to diagnose & basic parts which cheap, this is only second time I had a fault on my own Subaru vehicles mainly as if you buy decent ones & do decent basic servicing they are close to faultless.

Had my latest purchased 03-SG Forester in the workshop, on permanent loan to my sister :-/ . she had lack of power, uneven running & intermittent CEL with some CEL flashing. Was still drivable so dropped it in straight away, Was hoping for the best but expecting perhaps ignition pack or worse. Fortunately nothing more than an original HT lead had gone bad, A set of PROSPARK OES1229 Ignition HT Leads (£19, good fit, ok quality for standard vehicle servicing) & some new NGK BKR6E-11 ( £7 a set, Find NGK copper core fine and have hardly any faults/failures compared to some expensive spec plugs) plugs just for good measure. Running perfect once again & hopefully won't see it till MOT time in December, lol ...

On modern turbos with water & oil cooling & quality synthetic oils turbo timers are almost pointless. If you spanked it to death or just come off a track run then a little running time before turned off is not a bad thing for the rest simply not worth it. Some alarms outputs can be set to run timed circuit etc so can control a run timer if setup to, seen this done on clifford & autowatch alarms.

Easy but expensive mistake, always inspect/clean oil feed & returns as slightest blocks or kinked pipes can be catastrophic. What residue was found blocking your pipe & what was it's likely source as don't want more of the same !? Have you done an engine oil flush & new oil/filter ...

ADL kits is all we ever use & belts are better than many, tensioners/idlers are all the same as all come from same single & only manufacturer. ADL parts are from selected manufacturers & mostly japanese sourced so sometimes parts are coming from OEM sources & generally quality is very very good for the price.

How much did you save over the dealer quote :-D

Programming Remote Keys to the System: Remote keys can be added or removed to/from the system following the sequence below: i) Type in to the keypad ** ii) Type in to the keypad the “existing PIN code” then * iii) Type in to the keypad 91 * “ the number of keys to be used” # iv) Press the first remote key button until bleep sounds, release and press next key. Continue until all keys have been taught to the system. Note the maximum number of keys is 4 and all keys required to operate the system must be taught during this operation - any key not included will no longer operate the system. When using the keypad always observe the following points: - The PIN number should not be entered too quickly or too slowly - When a digit has been pressed the small LED built into the keypad will illuminate briefly as confirmation and only then should the next digit be entered. - If an incorrect digit is pressed or the delay between entering digits exceeds10 seconds, then the LED above the keypad will flash rapidly and the PIN attempt should be aborted and started again after 30 seconds. - Due to the small size of the keypad some users may find a rubber tipped pencil easier to use. DO NOT use the sharp tip of a ball point pen etc, or press excessively hard on the keypad as this will only damage the membrane and cause a digit to remain pressed, causing a continual incorrect PIN. - The keypad allows only THREE PIN attempts and then will "Lock Up" if an incorrect number is entered a third time. This is a security feature to prevent random PIN attempts disarming the system. Your way will work also, it just matter of getting use to keyboard & not being too slow or stalling at a step too long or you have to start from scratch.

Could be one of quite a list of possible faults, when under warranty it needs you to be ruthless with the dealer if necessary to get it sorted. @sparkymll - If not under any warranty you ideally need go to a good independent with diesel boxer knowledge as dealer pricing is beyond belief on these sort of jobs. Could be injectors but ideally need be sure as parts are expensive so don't want be buying unneeded parts if you footing the bill ... Injectors did have a recall at one point, personally I think a lot of noise related issues is due to poor calibration/settings from the ECU & retune functions ...

Would agree with Jays suggestion above, get them compare a couple more to yours so you can conclude if yours is abnormal. The diesels are known to have some odd faults & to be honest Subaru are doing a poor job in terms of new vehicle quality & dealer quality on handling of customer issues & warranty, & as you have just invested heavily make um earn the money & don't quit till you are 100% happy ...

The Forester key is a conversion done by sigma, they made the remote board fit the central locking subaru remote key & had a new one button cover made, Keyless fobs work & program just the same. I take it your current fob will lock/arm & unlock/disarm !