Compound can quiet brakes
I love hearing from my readers. Yep, I blew it saying the fob could have fallen behind the dash. Not that stuff can’t fall there, but fobs can’t be locked inside. You could say it was a fob flub.
Dear Motormouth: Once my husband took my car into the city, had a valet park it, and then while driving to another appointment, he realized he didn’t have the key. He parked it and it wouldn’t lock, and he couldn’t find the key. He searched everywhere. Later, I realized the valet put the key on the outside of the car, near the wipers. Maybe the fob is there?
Dear L.H.: I guess he hadn’t searched
Everything has to be some place. Good thing it didn’t rain.
Dear Motormouth: I have a 2015 Subaru Forester approaching 88,000 miles. I’ve decided to keep this vehicle for the long haul and have been proactive at addressing the Subaru scheduled maintenance. I now want to replace the original shocks and struts. I got four quotes, two from independent auto repair shops and two from Subaru dealerships. Both independent shops and one dealership quoted about the same with aftermarket parts.
The second Subaru dealership is recommending that I only use OEM parts; thus, the quote was higher.
Because I plan to keep this very reliable vehicle for a number of years, would I be better off agreeing to use OEM parts instead of aftermarket?
Dear L.R.: Original equipment manufacturer’s parts are always a good choice. But aftermarket parts are usually engineered to the same specs — or sometimes better — than the original equipment stuff. Just be sure to use name-brand parts, not cheap no-name junk. I’ll bet that all the shops you mentioned may be suggesting the same brand.