[drlincoln]

Purchased an '09 Tribeca limited last week with just over 118,000 miles. Primarily for use by my high school kids, but I do like driving it.

Still going through it to see what little things I might have missed in my initial pre-purchase inspection, but nothing major so far. The was car owned in TX before I purchased it, so it was a good choice since it hasn't been through a winter with road salt yet.

In reading about the tires on it, I saw that they're not great in cold weather. I was a bit taken aback when I was looking at the cost of tires for the aftermarket 20" wheels installed. Might need to find some winter wheels with snow tires to preserve the current tires and not mess up the 20's because they really compliment the Tribeca.

Looking forward to working on it and learning about it through this forum. I also have a '15 Forester and I'm on that forum quire often.

And for @Flat6er, look, no sunroof.

 

[jimihimisimi]

welcome, any rubbing with the 20s?

 

[drlincoln]

No rubbing that I’ve noticed and no evidence on the tires or wheel wells.

 

[06b9beca]

Hey man,

It looks like you are in Oakton, VA. I am in the Fredericksburg area. Welcome to the forum. Check my signature for the tire combo that has worked great for me in the winter.

 

[Flat6er]

thanks for heads up, @drlincoln !
what size tires on those 20"?

 

[drlincoln]

Tires are 255/45R20

 

[Flat6er]

Screenshot - same size as ori tires

 

[Turtles_ride]

Welcome to the site, its great for troubleshooting and minor fixes, and the members are very knowledgeable.
Your Tribeca is the same year and colour as mine, but I've seen lots of snow and salt here in Niagara Falls Canada. Mine was purchased used from Quebec (which sees even colder temperatures and more snow and salt) 8 years ago. I put winter tires on the stock rims (I have all seasons on a set of 18inch chrome summer rims), they cost me $1000 Canadian but I don't know that they were worth the extra money, the AWD on the Subarus is already really good and the money probably could have been spent elsewhere but the stock rims had stock tires on them that needed to be replaced and the chrome rims already had brand new all seasons on them so I thought I'd give my 1st set of winter tires a try). Make sure you buy winter tires that are rated to handle the weight of our vehicles. I understand wanting to get another set of rims and tires to preserve your nice summer ones tho, many owners go with a 17 inch rim and narrower tire which is supposed to have less of a floating effect on the snow.
Cosmetically but also functionally the vehicle came with a nicely molded hood bug guard (I love the appearance and I feel it helps with stone chips) and a sunroof guard, I guess so that it could still be tilt opened while raining without water coming in. I have added the window rainguards which allow all the windows to be open a couple inches without any rain coming in (great for airing out the car anytime, especially if there are smokers or stinky sporty kids in the vehicle all the time). Its nice to be able to leave the windows open a crack and not worry about rain or snow coming in, unless you're expecting a blizzard). Because of the cold, I tend to plug my blockheater in throughout the winter, you'll notice rougher noisier starts in the colder months if you don't use it. I think it makes it easier on the engine when starting, and I have the factory remote start so when its plugged in my tribeca starts blowing warm air within 5 minutes which is nice on the chilly winter mornings. Do you have the flipdown DVD player package in your Tribeca? Is there an auxiliary input in your armrest, its a great way to add handsfree bluetooth connectivity if your radio doesn't already have it. If you have the navigation package, you may want to find one of the updated DVDs for more current maps, but I still find I use maps on my phone because its more user friendly.

 

[EMBRAER145]

Hello.
I have the same year 2009 an color , Black.
Currently 206K.
I went with size smaller winter tires with original rims I bought couple years ago from SB9T forum member.
I believe is 235 .
Works great, less snow to plow vs 255.
Seeing snow and ice here in PA state.

Enjoy Tribeca.

 

[drlincoln]

@06b9beca, @Turtles_ride & @EMBRAER145 Thanks for the snow tire advice. I’ve been looking at used wheels locally for winter driving, but I may just go with all season tires since the cost difference isn’t that significant.

@Turtles_ride I have no fancy stuff like NAV or a DVD player. I did buy an adapter that will allow me to plug the charging cable and aux cable into an iPhone with a single plug. It is a cheap option while I figure out the best way to add Bluetooth.

 

[drlincoln]

Screenshot - same size as ori tires

Yes. It was one of the first things I checked when I got the car because I wanted to make sure the speedometer was accurate. Happy the previous owner chose that size.

 

[06b9beca]

@06b9beca, @Turtles_ride & @EMBRAER145 Thanks for the snow tire advice. I’ve been looking at used wheels locally for winter driving, but I may just go with all season tires since the cost difference isn’t that significant.

@Turtles_ride I have no fancy stuff like NAV or a DVD player. I did buy an adapter that will allow me to plug the charging cable and aux cable into an iPhone with a single plug. It is a cheap option while I figure out the best way to add Bluetooth.

Consider a smart mirror with tons of integration at your finger tips.

 

[Turtles_ride]

If you have the 12V connection in the center arm rest along with the AUX in I would highly recommend this inexpensive solution (<$15) or one similar.

3.5mm Car AUX Bluetooth Wireless Stereo Audio Music Receiver Adapter USB Charger | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for 3.5mm Car AUX Bluetooth Wireless Stereo Audio Music Receiver Adapter USB Charger at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

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The 12V connection powers the unit which automatically connects to my phone when I turn on my Tribeca, it has a USB out strong enough to charge my iphone, and the 3.5mm jack plugs into the aux input in the armrest right by where you plug the power in. I got fancy and ran the cable through the inside of the armrest, past the shifter, up past the radio and out a little gap by the drivers right knee where the 2 different pieces of console plastic meet, and put the unit right beside the radio under my ignition. At the same time I ran a long enough charging cable to come out my drivers side center vent so that I can plug my phone into the charging cable while its on my magnetic dash mount. It takes less than a half hour to hide the cables, and looks very clean and is very functional when done. There's a great write up on how to get your radio out and as long as you buy a quality 6ft charging cable you shouldn't have to change this out until you get a different phone with a different charger input, I've been using the same Iphone lightning cable for 5 years now and they're typically notorious for failing.

My only complaint, and I hear this about a lot of the aftermarket bluetooth handsfree systems, is that our aux input is kinda quiet so volume on the stereo has to be all the way up when you're on rse/aux on the stereo. The good thing is that the stereo remembers the volume level of each input, so if you were listening to the radio/CD at volume level 15, when you switch to aux on the stereo to talk on your phone the stereo remembers that the last time you used aux it was at max and will change to that, and when you switch back to listen to the radio/CD it will switch back to volume level 15 so you don't blow your speakers.

If you already have the factory backup camera I wouldn't bother with the integrated mirror, if you don't then I'd say that's probably an even better option because you can get them a backup camera which is usually integrated into a lisence plate cover with the built in bluetooth handsfree as well.

 

[06b9beca]

My smart mirror works great for me considering that I don't feel like adding the jack and all that. My bluetooth transmitter served me fine for a long time.

I have truly unlimited data using my phone as a hotspot. I use every single Android app out there known to man. Youtube Premium, Waze. The mirror provides front and rear cameras along with an FM transmitter. With an ELM327 adapter it might even be possible to use torque and monitor everything as I drive. I had integrated cameras and jack, I might go another way.

 

[drlincoln]

I don’t have a backup camera. That was one of the first things I’ve been looking at. I was hoping I could get the OEM parts from a junkyard or off eBay, but saw that the tailgate shell is different for camera vs non-camera vehicles.

I saw this onYouTube. Might be an alternative to a smart mirror. Subaru Tribeca 2006 - 2011 9 inch USB Android Auto Wireless Apple Carplay SAT FM | mpx autos

It’s not a critical addition, so will keep my options open.

 

[Flat6er]

3d printing is quite popular and affordable

 

[06b9beca]

I don’t have a backup camera. That was one of the first things I’ve been looking at. I was hoping I could get the OEM parts from a junkyard or off eBay, but saw that the tailgate shell is different for camera vs non-camera vehicles.

I saw this onYouTube. Might be an alternative to a smart mirror. Subaru Tribeca 2006 - 2011 9 inch USB Android Auto Wireless Apple Carplay SAT FM | mpx autos

It’s not a critical addition, so will keep my options open.

That is a perfectly viable option and has been discussed here in the past before. I like more flexible options personally. If I decide to sell my Tribeca, I can just put my old mirror back on and install the smart mirror into something else.

 

[Flat6er]

at first - I read "I decided to sell my Tribeca"... wanted to offer you curses and such...

 

[06b9beca]

at first - I read "I decided to sell my Tribeca"... wanted to offer you curses and such...

I happen to like mine...just never know what tomorrow brings you know.