S&YE165 - Sherman the Forester

[00:00:00] Hello everyone, thanks for tuning in to episode 165 of the Subie and You podcast. My name is Brandon and you can find me on Instagram at Starscream1201. Hello everybody, welcome to another episode of the Subie and You podcast.

[00:00:25] If this is your first time listening, my name is Rafael and I am your host. I've been doing this podcast for over three years now. Currently we are on episode 165, so I've had quite a few people from the community on the podcast and there's going to be more.

[00:00:44] So be sure to keep tuning in every week. And if this is your first time listening, there are 164 other episodes, probably some people in the community that you know. So go give them a listen. And of course on this episode, we are welcoming Brandon to the podcast.

[00:01:02] So we will get into his conversation here in just a little bit. But of course, there are some other things that we've got to take care of. The Subie and You podcast is brought to you by Eccentric Designs.

[00:01:14] For those of you who don't know, Eccentric Designs is a small community driven business that offers custom fit vinyl overlays for most Subaru models. This includes various designs for the rear reflectors, taillights and side taillights. I also offer fun decal designs like the popular fender stripes and stickers.

[00:01:32] To find designs for your Subie, head on over to eccentricdesigns.com. There's always more projects in the works, so be sure to follow at eccentric.designs on Instagram. If you are not doing so already, go give Jen a follow eccentric.designs. Also go check out her website.

[00:01:49] She has a lot of great decals and other products for your Subarus. So go see what she has for yours. Thank you so much Eccentric Designs for sponsoring the Subie and You podcast. Most Mondays when these episodes get released, I'm in the office working.

[00:02:05] But this Monday, I'm actually in South Lake Tahoe because I wanted to take my son out to a ski resort for the latter part of his spring break. And I wanted us to attempt to snowboard and also just...

[00:02:25] I mainly wanted to take him out to see some snow. So since I'm recording this before we actually go out there, I can't report back. But I'm sure that we are having a good time. So I will fill everybody in on the next episode.

[00:02:41] Or maybe I'll just do a little bonus episode and talk about my experience because I have wanted to go snowboarding for a very, very long time. And I'm excited that I get to have my first experience with my son and introduce him to it as well.

[00:02:55] And after this trip is over, I have to give a huge shout out to somebody. And I will do that on the bonus episode. So stay tuned. This episode is brought to you by SubaruGear.com where you will find the Subaru and National Park Foundation collection.

[00:03:13] In celebration of Subaru's longtime partnership, Subaru and the National Park Foundation have created a collection that offers a modern take on classic vintage outdoor gear. As the largest corporate donor of the National Park Foundation, Subaru has contributed over $70 million to organizations dedicated to conserving America's 400 plus national parks,

[00:03:36] helping to fund efforts such as responsible outdoor education, recycling, composting and waste reduction operations, future EV infrastructure, and programs that help increase access to the outdoors. Head over to SubaruGear.com and check out the National Park Foundation collection.

[00:03:54] And when you shop SubaruGear.com, be sure to use the code SUBINU24 for 20% off your purchase of any items found in this collection or any other items on the site. Remember that if your total purchase is over $50 after the discount, you automatically get free shipping.

[00:04:14] Thank you so much SubaruGear.com for sponsoring the Subaru GNU podcast and bringing this great discount and all of these great products to the Subaru GNU podcast listeners. All right, I am really excited to say that I have another Apple podcast review and this one

[00:04:31] comes from Kyle Williams. His Instagram handle is medic underscore KW and I met him when I was out at 48 hours of Tri-State and so he left a review. It was it was really cool meeting him because my buddy Jay, I call him Jay,

[00:04:49] and Kyle and other people call him Michael, but I've always called him Jay. But anyway, Jay goes by audiophile. So well, this is what Kyle had to say. His title of his review was Amazing How One Car Brand Brings Us All Together. And then this was his message.

[00:05:07] Prior to meeting you at the 48 hours of Tri-State, I had heard of your podcast but had never listened to it. I was astounded when you told me that Jay Michael, who I met at a Subaru camping excursion last year, recommended that you talk to me.

[00:05:20] After that night, as we began the drive home, I started listening to your podcast and was hooked. I then remembered that you told me about how Jay Michael's episode was a good one to listen to and I agree.

[00:05:33] Since then, I have listened to many other episodes and have gained more knowledge about the brand that brings us together. As a Subaru ambassador, this podcast gives me information that I can share with others and the opportunity to promote your show.

[00:05:46] It is amazing how one car brand can bring so many people from different walks of life together. Your podcast is proof of that. Keep up the good work. Thank you so much Kyle for that review. That was really, really awesome.

[00:06:00] And so when he said that he was astonished that Jay recommended I talk to him, it's because I was messaging with Jay during the auction and raffle at Turn In Concepts on Friday night and Jay said, Hey, look for a guy named Kyle Williams.

[00:06:20] And I'm thinking, I don't even know what this guy looks like, but he's telling me to look for him. So I think he sent me a picture from Instagram and I was asking around for him and I finally

[00:06:29] found him and then got a chance to talk to him. And or talk to you, Kyle. Now I'm talking to you. But anyway, yeah. Thank you so much for that review. I really, really appreciate it. That was really nice.

[00:06:42] And I'm glad that you're enjoying the podcast and that you are getting some great information out of it. Thanks again. I really, really appreciate it. This episode is brought to you by Ryka wheels.

[00:06:54] If you go check them out on Instagram and you scroll through their page, you will see quite a few Subarus that are featured on their page and they've got some really great looking wheels that look really great on those Subarus.

[00:07:10] But which set of wheels would look good on your Subaru? Go check out their website and go see what they have to offer for your Forester, Outback or your Crosstrek. And when you are searching the website and you find what you want, be sure to use the

[00:07:26] code SUBUTEN at checkout to get 10% off your purchase. But they don't offer just wheels. They also have lift kits and Ryka is committed to providing you with the highest quality specialized wheels and lift kits that will allow you to travel further, experience new

[00:07:42] adventures and discover all of those extraordinary destinations. The quest for adventure begins with you and Ryka is what gets you there. Thank you so much Ryka for sponsoring this Subi and You podcast. This episode is also brought to you by Mele Design Firm, where they believe that quality

[00:08:01] parts should look great while adding functionality to your build. At Meledesignfirm.com, not only will you find their battery mounting systems, engine bay caps and other Mele products, you will also find products from other great brands available on the site.

[00:08:19] Mele offers products from Andersen Design Fabrication, Anti-Gravity Battery, iWire Wiring Solutions as well as products from Nameless Performance, Off The Line Performance and of course, the all important Primitive Racing. So head over to Meledesignfirm.com for many of your aftermarket needs.

[00:08:40] Thank you so much Mele Design Firm for sponsoring the Subi and You podcast. And now we will get into this episode with Brandon and hear all about Sherman the Forester. Hey, welcome to the podcast, Brandon. It's great to have you on.

[00:09:06] I know we've been talking for a while and I'm excited to talk about Sherman and your Subaru journey because I want to start off by saying that Sherman has like one of the most epic stances I've ever seen.

[00:09:19] I mean, it just it looks so good from every angle with the tire and wheel setup. And like, I really like your wheels too, because they're not anything super fancy, but they fit with it so well.

[00:09:32] I mean, it has kind of like a almost like a rugged industrial Mad Max kind of look to it. And I really like it. I love the way you've done your job with it. Thank you. I appreciate it.

[00:09:44] I wish I could take the credit for how it looks, but yeah, as I try to be upfront with it, you know, I bought him mostly as is. So all visual credit goes to the previous owners. So what have you done to Sherman?

[00:10:02] So I have gone through and just kind of added a lot of my previous lighting that I had on and just kind of changed out some visual things about the car. We'll start off with just the front.

[00:10:14] So when I got on the front bumper had these white oval lights in the bumper and they weren't hooked up at all. I swapped them out to some smoked out amber ones, got them actually wired in. I have an Oxbeam 8-gang switch panel mounted in my dash.

[00:10:30] I added my Yakima basket, my Ironman awning, and the light bar that I have mounted on the basket, which I do not know what brand at all it is. I picked it up second hand from a guy that got it second hand. Yeah. Hey, if it works.

[00:10:45] I mean, yeah, it works. It's bright, you know? So it stays. So I guess other than the lighting and the basket, then it's the way we see it is pretty much the way you bought it. Yeah, yeah.

[00:10:58] And I did swap the tires around so I could have the white letters out. Oh, yeah. You have to. Yeah, it's just the way to go. So before we get too deep into all this, I got to ask you the all important question,

[00:11:11] whether you prefer waffles or pancakes? I am a waffle guy 100%. I've got nothing against pancakes at all. They're delicious. I just, I prefer a waffle. All right. That's all there is to it. That's fair. I think they're superior.

[00:11:29] But then we can take it up a step and, you know, have you ever had a French panaffle? I have not. That sounds interesting. So you make a waffle and then you start making a pancake and you put the waffle in the pancake batter as it cooks.

[00:11:44] So you've got pancake on one side, waffle on the other. Then you dip it in an egg wash and you fry it up like a piece of French toast. Interesting. Nice. That's where it's at. That's the game changer right there. That sounds, yeah, that sounds pretty epic.

[00:12:00] It will clog your arteries. Yeah, that sounds really good. But yeah, that is the ultimate breakfast right there. I may have to try that sometime. Yeah, give it a shot. Look up, I think it was IamCoryB on Instagram or TikTok.

[00:12:17] I think he's the guy I saw the video from and I did that. So yeah, it's really good. Nice. Yeah. So getting back to your Subaru journey, this, I mean, so the way that I usually have these

[00:12:31] questions scheduled out is like a particular way, but I know a little bit of information about your journey and I know that this is not your first Subaru. So tell us what your first Subaru was.

[00:12:44] So Sherman is by all technicality the third Subaru I have owned, but only the second one to actually have a Subaru badge. That being said, I had a brand new at the time 2015 Scion FRS, which is the redheaded stepchild of the Subaru world. Yeah, yeah.

[00:13:06] It's got a Subaru engine. Yep. It's not a Toyota. It's not a Subaru and people hated them. And honestly, at that time, I did have kind of a more negative outlook on the Subaru community

[00:13:23] due to the local club in my area at the time just was not accepting of that car at all. Even though it has the same Fuji Heavy Industries VIN tag as all WRXs do because it's built on the same assembly line. Get out of here you poser.

[00:13:42] Yeah, yeah. You know, and it's whatever, it's still a Subaru at the end of the day. And, you know, I love that car. It was awesome. It was fun. I had a blast with it.

[00:13:51] Unfortunately, I crashed it into a telephone pole and then no, no, it was not fun. And I ended up buying the very first car I even looked at, which was a 2006 Subaru Forester.

[00:14:05] It got traded in at the dealership I was working at at the time by the original owner. It had a stack of very meticulous maintenance records and just had the timing belt and had gaskets done. So I bought that for twenty five hundred bucks.

[00:14:19] How many miles did it have? It had a hundred and three thousand miles on it when I bought it. And then I put a little over seventy thousand on it over my five years with that car.

[00:14:32] So what made you decide to buy that Subaru and like why that Forester? I mean, were you obviously you needed another car. So that was just like, okay. Yeah, that was it. You know, I had always liked the body style of the second gen Foresters. Oh, yeah.

[00:14:49] Ever since ever since I was in high school, I saw this picture of one that was painted or wrapped Nardo gray. It was lowered wide body fenders. And I thought that was the coolest looking thing ever.

[00:15:01] And when I got it, I had no plans of doing anything with the car. It was just going to be a car. You know, just get me to work and until I found something else. Yeah, you know, because obviously there's a bit of a difference in vehicular structure

[00:15:19] between the FRS and a Forester. Yeah. You know, so I at the time, I still wanted to get another, you know, a little lowered sports car. And then I discovered Subaru Rob on Instagram. Okay.

[00:15:33] Who had a monstrous four inch lifted SG six Forester just like mine, you know, lifted the hill, had a rooftop tent on it and everything. And I was like, oh my gosh, that's the coolest thing I've ever seen. Yeah.

[00:15:47] When you see something like that, it changes your outlook and your perception of your own car and what you can do with it. And what's what's, you know, the I guess the capabilities of something like that. And it's like, wait a minute, I've got this thing here.

[00:16:04] He's got that thing there. This thing here can probably look kind of like that thing there. Yeah. And so, you know, it definitely got the gears turning and I was like, hold up, wait a minute.

[00:16:15] Maybe I do have a cool car and I just didn't realize it yet. And so then, then it started, I started, you know, looking around for anything and everything I could do to the car and eventually landed with a Anderson design two and two and a half

[00:16:31] inch lift kit for the SG six with all the, all the extra space or anything for the sway bars and all that. Yeah. And that was, that was awesome.

[00:16:42] And I think right before I got the lift kit, I got a set of a Falcon wild peak AT trail tires. And so I kind of got had those going on at the same time. And that really, really changed my opinion of the vehicle.

[00:16:56] And obviously I had done some, some cosmetic modifications prior to that lighting and window tin and you know, just little things. But then, then I actually started taking it out on trails and onto the dunes and stuff like that. And I was like, this is really cool. Yeah.

[00:17:16] So when you, I mean like obviously you were, I'm sure you were saying that he was taking his off road and now that you've got the wild peaks and stuff, you're thinking, okay, well I can take mine off road too.

[00:17:27] Did you like, did you start going out on your own at first or did you meet up with other people first and then started going out? How did that transition work? I have mostly been solo adventuring up until recently.

[00:17:42] I started going out with more people, but yeah, it's for the most part, just been me occasionally I'll go out with a friend or whatnot, but you know, just trips that I go on with my fiance and whatnot.

[00:17:52] We'll just go out and explore while we're out and about and just have a blast checking things out. Nice. And I know now that you have Sherman, but you have Sherman for kind of unfortunate reasons.

[00:18:06] I mean, I know you're thankful for Sherman because Sherman's awesome, but tell us about the reasoning behind why you have Sherman now. So I was on my way to the gym.

[00:18:20] My fiance and I were both in the car and just talking, you know, caught up in our chit chat and whatnot and everything. We were cresting this hill. Sun was in my eye. I did not see the red light. I ran a red light.

[00:18:34] I took ownership of that one, but the vehicle that hit me took off and ran. Oh, that's not good. You would think that with you running the red light and them being in the right, that they wouldn't take off. Maybe they had something going on. Exactly.

[00:18:54] I'm assuming that they were in the right. So the cops found the car a couple blocks away and it was full of fentanyl and other drugs and everything. And it was registered to an elderly couple.

[00:19:09] So we don't suspect it was them in the vehicle with all of that. It was very likely a stolen car. Yeah, geez. So that was that. Thank God for insurance and everything. Nobody was hurt.

[00:19:22] Well, I mean, I guess that is kind of a better situation because you wouldn't want to have had that happen where the elderly couple was in the car or somebody else, maybe with kids.

[00:19:33] So I mean, I don't know, maybe you were in a way kind of being looked out for, you know? Like all things considered, that worked out very, very well. Yeah. So how bad was your other Forester hit?

[00:19:49] We were doing about 45 miles an hour and the Honda Odyssey minivan that plowed into us was doing roughly the same speed. So the front left corner took the impact. I took the impact as the driver. The strut tower got pushed into the firewall.

[00:20:10] I think the frame was bent touching the engine. The core support was bent. It was pretty bad. No airbags or anything like that, which was honestly kind of strange to me.

[00:20:21] But yeah, so I was really thankful for that because I've had an airbag blow up in my face. They suck. But yeah, shout out to Method Race Wheels for making a very, very strong and durable

[00:20:34] wheel because the wheel that took the impact of the car was actually already cracked and broken from a prior incident with a curb. And I had driven around on it for gosh, probably six to eight months at this point with a six

[00:20:53] inch chunk of the lip broken off the wheel. Like you could see the beat of the tire and everything. It was that broken. Oh wow. I had it aired down to 12 psi on the dunes up to 90 miles an hour on the highway. Tire is good to go.

[00:21:07] Never lost an ounce of air. Took the hit in the accident. Still holding air. Until the tow truck driver drug the car. Then it slipped the beat off. But yeah, no, that was kind of a little funny ha ha thing that I noticed trying to just

[00:21:27] make light of the situation. Yeah, good wheel. Yeah, very, very good wheel. The construction on those is good. I can attest to the strength behind them. You have firsthand experience. Yes, very much so, unfortunately.

[00:21:44] Well, take us through the transition of the accident and then now you've, because obviously it sounds like it was pretty totaled. It sounds like the insurance company would have just totaled it out with the damage that you described.

[00:21:58] Yeah, I mean, I had it towed to my house from the accident scene just so I could get all of my stuff off of it. The industry I work in, I'm a mechanic, so I know a totaled car when I see one.

[00:22:10] I know the value of my car and I know they're not going to fix that. I had it towed to my house so I could get all my stuff off of it. And then it came with a tow truck and took it straight to the wrecking yard.

[00:22:21] I got a call within 12 hours of it being at the yard, asked for my bank information so they can deposit the payment. And then the shopping began. I was just scouring Craigslist for Foresters. I really wanted to get an 05 Forester XT. That's what I had my sights on.

[00:22:42] Obviously, you know, everybody knows what those are so they're hard to get and they're hard to find in a mostly stock form these days. I had found a couple in the Seattle area for right around the $8,000 mark, which is a little

[00:22:58] more than I wanted to spend, but they were available at a little bit higher mileage than I wanted. But they were available. I literally looked at every Forester for sale on Craigslist from Bellingham, Washington all the way down to San Francisco, California. Wow. You were determined.

[00:23:19] That's a lot of for sale ads. And I eventually found Sherman in a little town called Auburn in California, which is just about two hours east of Sacramento. How far is that from you? It was about a nine, 10 hour drive. Okay. About 800 miles or so.

[00:23:38] And as soon as I saw the picture of him, I was like, Oh my God, I have to have that car. Just abandon all searches for an XT and that was what I wanted. I got in touch with the dealership he was at, started the pre-approval process, put

[00:23:54] a deposit down and then rented a car, drove down there with my fiance. We left at like, I don't know, three 30 or something on a, on a Friday morning, got into Auburn around two in the afternoon, walked in, said hi to the salesman, you know, introduce

[00:24:11] myself and whatnot. Took the car on a five minute test drive around the block to an empty lot just so I could crawl underneath it and see what it looked like underneath. And you know, it was all clean and really good condition.

[00:24:26] So I was like, all right, it's mine. Went back to the dealership, gave him money and signed papers. And that was that. It was all maybe 45 minute process to buy it. Wow. That's pretty quick. Yeah.

[00:24:40] And you know, I got laughed at because I didn't even put a mile on it during the test drive. You're like, I'm just looking for one thing. I know what I'm looking for. This is the car that I want, but I got to check the condition.

[00:24:51] And then once I do that, it's all good. You know, luckily with the four inch lift, I didn't have to find a shop or anything. There's enough room to just crawl around underneath it. Yeah, that's cool.

[00:25:02] I did my own pre-purchase inspection in the parking lot and it was good to go. We stayed the night in Auburn and the next morning drove over to Lake Tahoe and then up through Reno, Nevada and then back up through Oregon through Bend and then came back home

[00:25:21] on Sunday. So y'all made a nice trip out of it. Yeah, it was about 1800 miles or so. Yeah. I just bought this car. I didn't put a mile on it in test drive, but I'll give it a good test drive on the way home. Exactly. Exactly. That's awesome.

[00:25:38] Just send it. It'll be good. So it is an 05 XT? No, Sherman's a 2010 Forester. Okay, gotcha. Yeah. Yeah. Now, like I said, I abandoned all searches for the 05 once I found Sherman.

[00:25:55] I guess, I mean, was it just the look of Sherman where you're like, oh yeah, yeah, okay, I get this is the one I got. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. It was all looks. It was just like there's nothing like that in the area around here.

[00:26:09] So you know, it's a total Cali spec car with the wheels and the offset and everything. And I was just like, oh, I have to have that. Yeah. So what was that drive home like for you driving this, you know, new to you Forester that you

[00:26:27] and how long were you searching? I was probably about two weeks. Okay. Yeah. So you... Because I was searching such a vast area. There are so many options. Yeah. So now you find Sherman, you get down there, you buy it, you take an 1800 mile trip home.

[00:26:45] So what was that trip like for you driving Sherman? Oh man, I was cheesing ear to ear the whole time and also dying. My eyes were burning from driving for so long. Yeah, that's a long drive. And you know, it's my new baby.

[00:27:02] So I don't want to give it up and let my fiancee drive at all. So it was all me. Yeah. It's hard to drive that kind of distance when you're the only one doing the driving.

[00:27:14] The mental focus you put out over that long of a time span while driving is so draining. Oh, I know. And like we didn't get into bend until close to 11 o'clock on the Saturday night. Yeah. So I was...

[00:27:32] That last couple hours I had like toothpicks holding my eyes open. And like I said, they just hurt from being open for so long. Yeah, when I drove out to Colorado with my kids and my daughter's fiancee,

[00:27:47] we drove all the way out and our first stop was like nine hours at the edge of Texas and then continued on from there. But the whole trip, I was the only one that drove until we got out onto the trails

[00:28:01] because then my son drove it some because Pearl's a manual and I'm the only one that really knows how to drive it well. You don't want somebody in highway conditions to be in a manual and be confused about how to stop, you know? Yeah, yeah. For sure.

[00:28:17] It can be confusing. And my son was only 14 so he couldn't drive on the highway at all. But he did on the trails. That's awesome. Yeah. Good dad. He drove Pearl for a little bit but he drove Java Wagon more

[00:28:35] and he drove Shadow Roo when we were out there. So he had a good time. That's awesome. Yeah. At least he's learning how to drive a manual. Yeah. But I mean, you know, that wasn't too bad because at least there were other people in the car

[00:28:47] but when I drove up to Madison, Wisconsin for Subaru Flatfest, that was 1,100 miles one way and I did stop, you know, overnight but still driving by yourself for a really long time, it's like after a while, yeah, you're just like, I just want to get somewhere.

[00:29:06] And then it's like, you're driving, you're driving, you're like trying to stay awake, you're like, I could just fall asleep instantly right now. Then you get to your destination. And then as soon as you do get to bed? And then you can't sleep. Yeah.

[00:29:18] It's like, what the heck? Like I could almost... How it always is. Yeah, I could pass out so easily driving and then you get somewhere, you're all settled in, you go to bed and like, why can't I fall asleep? Yeah, I feel that 100%. Yeah.

[00:29:34] So, okay, so you had all, you know, you bought it with all these mods on it, you did a few extra things to it. So what else are you wanting to do to Sherman? Or are there other things you're wanting to do?

[00:29:45] Oh, there's a lot I would like to do. I definitely want to get a torque locker in the future. Nice. I think that would be a very well-earned upgrade for him. I also, as much as everybody loves my wheels, I despise them.

[00:30:04] Okay, so why do you despise them? I just, I don't like them at all. They're just bland and basic and I don't know. It's so funny because like... That's the one thing I don't like. Yeah, because like from somebody outside looking in, I see your wheels and

[00:30:21] yeah, they're not like fancy wheels, but I'm looking at them and like, they just fit so well. No, they do. I see that side of it. I understand it, but also at the same time, I'm like, oh, but they could be so much better.

[00:30:34] And it's also your Forester too. It's your, you know, you're not gonna keep wheels just because everybody else likes them. No, no, no, no, no. That's probably the next thing that I do would probably be wheels. Okay, gotcha. I've been eyeballing a few different sets for a while.

[00:30:51] Methods again because of their durability? I'm thinking so. Also, I'm a huge fan of those Rikas. I do like the Tetons and what was it? The Detors. Yeah, those are nice. I absolutely love the Tetons.

[00:31:10] I mean, it was weird when I first got them because I had some Mayhems before and then when I got the Tetons, it was so weird like getting used to seeing them on my car when I'd go out there.

[00:31:25] But I like how they're unique where they have like that band all the way around with the gaps in it. But then like when you kind of look at it at an angle, like when you're walking up from the front or the rear or whatever,

[00:31:41] like, you know, it's like a bowl. It kind of sinks in. And I just love the way that looks. There's not too many dished like off-road oriented wheels like that. You know, they've got them offset or with a lip,

[00:31:56] but they don't really have that concave dish look to them. Yeah, and I can look at it like just from the right angle and I'm like, oh my gosh, it looks so good. Yeah, they are a really nice wheel.

[00:32:09] So Rika, if you're listening, Sherman wears a size 15x7. If you want to get some Rikas and you're going to get some, you can Suby U10 to get 10% off. Absolutely. I'll keep that in my back pocket. So I think the Tetons would look really good. Yeah.

[00:32:31] Because they've got that industrial utilitarian look to them still. Yeah, and I think that would fit well with Sherman. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think so too. You can't go wrong with black. Oh no. So what other things are you thinking about doing?

[00:32:46] I need some skid plates for sure. Yeah, I was reading, you had an article on lifted imports. Yes. And I know you said something like there aren't really any skid plates that are just manufactured that'll fit, so it sounds like you might have to do something custom. Correct.

[00:33:07] Because of the subframe drop on Sherman, there's no bolt-on engine skid plate option anymore. So I rely on hopes and dreams when I'm out on the trails. Well, there are some people out there that have fabricated skid plates out of a stop sign or a pedestrian sign.

[00:33:27] No, I've seen that on a lot of trucks and stuff. I've worked for Toyota for five years, so I've seen that on a lot of Tacomas and 4Runners in particular. One that sticks out to me the most was an FJ Cruiser

[00:33:40] with a 55 mph speed limit sign for the skid plate. Oh, that's awesome. And ever since I saw it, I was like, man, that would be so cool to have. Yeah, I love FJ Cruisers. They're so nice.

[00:33:53] I would love to have one, but gosh, I do not want to pay for one. Exactly. For something that is that big, which is a beast, but they're also really expensive and they also get horrible gas mileage. Although I know that Sherman's not getting the best gas mileage.

[00:34:15] No, I'm not a 4Runner. So if you think about the cost of a Subaru versus that and what you can still do with it off-road, it's such a great option. No, it really is. And for where I live in the Portland area,

[00:34:36] we get a lot of rain, we get a handful of snow and ice through the winter. There's really not a more perfect vehicle for this climate and environment than a Subaru. Yeah. It gets you around town, it gets you through the snow when it comes,

[00:34:52] it'll get you up over the mountains, it gets you across the trails, it gets you to the beach, on the beach. So I know that Sherman is very capable off-road and you've been through some snow and some other conditions, but have you ever gotten stuck?

[00:35:09] Not in Sherman, no. I've been stuck, gosh, maybe three times total in my previous Forester. Twice on sand, once in the snow. The first time in the sand, there's the Oregon Dunes National Park, which is like, I don't know, 40 miles or so of just open dune area

[00:35:34] to ride in. And there's a beach there called Horse Falls Beach, which has a lot of sand trails that you can drive on and whatnot. And they're really, really fun. I was driving through all those trails

[00:35:45] and I saw this ridgeline that I wanted to get up on just to take a picture. And as soon as I got up there, I realized there was absolutely nowhere to go from there. And so I was forced to stop. And I stopped in a really bad spot.

[00:36:01] Right on the edge of two dunes. So the front left just sunk immediately and picked the back right of the car up. There was probably a foot under my back right tire. Wow. So, you know, a little bit of digging and some traction board placement

[00:36:18] and me hanging from the passenger rear door, basically. My fiance in the driver's seat. And we got out after a little while. The second time I got stuck was in Pacific City on the beach, which I've been numerous times.

[00:36:39] Never ever had to air my tires down or anything. Never had any fear or inclination of anything or getting stuck at all. Even up in the higher area where the sand gets really soft and dry. You know, it's never been an issue for me.

[00:36:53] So one day we get out on a beach and, you know, I'm just driving around through the soft sand looking for a spot with not too many people around. And all of a sudden, you know, I just feel the car start bogging and bogging and bogging.

[00:37:03] And what do I do? I just floor it and dig and dig and dig and dig and dig. And then I get out and air my tires down and, you know, get back in the car and realize I'm now sitting on the frame

[00:37:14] and all four tires are just spinning in the air. Oh, fun. Yeah, it was a good time. You know, probably my most embarrassing moment. There's, you know, hundreds of people on the beach all around us and everything. This guy in a 4Runner offered to pull me out.

[00:37:32] But I had no real recovery point on that car. Yeah, that's not good. Yeah, so I didn't really want to just get yanked out of a ditch like that. So I just started digging and, you know, tried moving my traction boards around, getting different placement and whatnot,

[00:37:50] and nothing was helping. And eventually another group of people came over and helped push. And a combination of about seven people pushing and a giant burnout on my traction boards, I climbed out eventually. And there's now a hole in one of my traction boards. They're melted flat.

[00:38:12] And I actually had the plastic melt to the rubber on my tire. And it was still on the tire when I got home from the beach that day. Wow. And I still have not replaced that traction board. So hopefully I don't have to use it anytime soon.

[00:38:26] So when you got out of that spot, was it... I mean, I guess since you had aired down, was it better now that you had aired down? Oh yeah, it was smooth sailing. Yeah, gotcha. Yeah, yeah, that's good.

[00:38:38] It was like, you get out and then you get stuck again. Yeah, no, it was... I got out and just kind of floored it to the harder, more compacted sand. Let me get out of this stuff. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah. Exactly.

[00:38:54] But yeah, and then I got stuck in the snow one time up on a... In this area, I go camping during the summer, Mount Hebo. It's about 20 minutes from the beach. So it's a really cool spot because you're a couple miles up this mountain at this campground.

[00:39:08] It's really quiet and quaint. But like I said, you're also only 20 minutes from the beach. So it's really cool to go there during the day. But anyways, I was there in the wintertime once. I went up with my dad and a friend from work.

[00:39:22] And so there was another forester and a Dodge Durango with us. And I just... I was leading the pack up the trail and finally reached a spot where we were just going to pull over and have a campfire or whatever, hang out for a while.

[00:39:37] And so I found this open clearing and I went out and just turned around. And parked and got out and we did our thing and went back into the car to leave after about an hour or so. And I was just spinning. All four tires just spinning.

[00:39:53] Yeah, and you know, I just turned the wheel forward, reverse, rock it back and forward, turn the wheel and whatnot and eventually dug its way out. But that was the only time I've been stuck in the snow.

[00:40:03] But I will say I blame that one on the tire, not the car. I had just gotten a set of Method wheels that were used and had a set of, I think they were Dean tire, Backcountry or whatever. They had the Three Peak Mountain Snowflake rating on them.

[00:40:22] But they're a terrible tire. They are a terrible tire. Do not cheap out on your tires, people. It's the one part of your car that touches the ground. Yeah, yeah, it's important. That's something people don't seem to realize often. Yeah, tires are important.

[00:40:43] Don't cheap out on your tires. Yes, very important. I would say that'd be the first upgrade you should do would be tires. That'll take you further than anything else. Yeah, so your old Forester got stuck in sand a couple of times and in snow.

[00:41:01] So obviously Sherman hasn't gotten stuck. But before we go any further, what is the difference? Your Instagram account is Starscream and then what, 1201? But then it's Sherman the Forester. So what does Starscream have to do with? So Starscream has been my Instagram handle since I made it.

[00:41:26] It's just my gamer tag, honestly. I changed it once when I had my FRS. I changed it to RavenFRS because the color was called Raven. And then after I got my first Forester, I changed it back to Starscream 1201. So that's just kind of like your personal Instagram account.

[00:41:48] Yeah, it's nothing related to the car. It was my personal Instagram account and then it's become a car account. If you scroll through it far enough, you'll see the change. Yeah, because I was scrolling through after I read your article on lifted imports and I was like,

[00:42:03] wait a minute, he had another Forester. So I started scrolling through and I saw your other one. So we were messaging and you were saying that Sherman does not like the cold of the PNW since he's from California. So talk to us about that.

[00:42:24] So I brought him home to Portland in the middle of August. It's the hottest time of year for us. And everything was great for a few months. I didn't have a single issue. Nothing was wrong, no weird noises or anything like that. It's just a brand new car.

[00:42:41] Everything is great. The first rainstorm we had, I walk out to my car to go to the gym before work, like my normal routine and get in the car, start it up, let it warm up for a little bit. And I'm sitting there and I see something

[00:43:00] out of my peripheral vision over in the passenger area. And every time I look over there, I don't see anything. I just go back to doing whatever I was doing, searching on my phone or whatever, waiting for the car to warm up.

[00:43:13] I see something else over there and there's nothing there. Am I seeing things? Yeah, exactly. So I start my drive and the first left turn I make out of my driveway, just water pours in. Oh no, that's not good. Water dripping down through my headliner.

[00:43:32] That's what I was seeing out of my peripheral vision. Oh nice. I found out I had a sunroof leak. Don't buy a car from California with a sunroof and then take it to the wettest climate in the world. Yeah, somewhere where it hardly ever rains

[00:43:52] and then you take it to somewhere where it's like precipitation city. Exactly. So, you know, I'm mad about that, but it's whatever. I go on with my day. I go to the gym, I work out, get back to the car.

[00:44:06] You know, I've got the seat heater on to dry the seat off. I'm blasting the heat. I'm dying. It's hot on my way to work and whatnot. It's still pouring rain outside. Oh gosh. I get into the city of Portland because, like I said,

[00:44:20] I live just outside of Portland and I work in downtown Portland. So I get into the city and, you know, there's just this river flowing through the city streets basically because there was just so much rain that came down so fast

[00:44:34] and a lot of the intersections were completely washed out with feet of water. Oh my gosh. You know, little lakes everywhere. And, you know, I've got this big monstrous forester. Hey, no problem. Let's go. And so I'm seeking these giant puddles out just for fun at this point.

[00:44:52] Yeah. And well, because of the bumper that's on Sherman, the previous owner had removed the intake resonator chamber so it's not just a giant eyesore hanging out from the front of the car. Well, that left about a four inch hole in the bottom of my intake box.

[00:45:12] Oh, nice. That's supposed to have a secondary chamber for. So I filled my intake up with water, sucked a bunch of water up into the engine, check engine light, misfire and running like crap the rest of the way to work.

[00:45:23] You know, luckily it was only about a mile to go. Yeah. I get to work, pull my car right into the shop, leave it running, you know, clear the check engine light, shut it off, start it back up, get my heater blasting.

[00:45:36] And then I have a giant fan on my toolbox that I use for during the summertime. It moves 1200 cubic feet of air per minute. So I put that in the car with the heat on and the windows just vented

[00:45:50] just to get airflow in there and get it dried out and whatnot. Pull my soaking wet air filter out. Oh, yeah. It's just dripping water. So bad. And then, yeah, just kind of on really, really, really cold mornings for the first 15 seconds or so.

[00:46:10] It feels like he's shivering. Get me out of this place. Yeah, it was so comfortable in California. So much side to side vibration when it first starts up. It literally just feels like a shiver almost. Now is this all the time now when it gets cold?

[00:46:29] Yeah, just on really, really cold mornings. Like, you know, if I drive it, you know, run into the store real quick or come back out, it's fine. I'd say it's like over 50 degrees in the morning. It doesn't do it. It's just when it's cold out.

[00:46:45] So what did you do about the intake hole? So I discovered that the hole is the exact same size as the cap to a spray paint can. It's a perfect fit. So I drilled a bunch of holes in the bottom of that

[00:47:03] because the resonator chamber itself does have a hole at the bottom for drainage because the way the intakes design, rain can actually get through the air scoop under the hood. And so it has to have somewhere for it to go.

[00:47:17] So I drilled a couple of small holes in the cap, stuck it in the hole and kind of taped it to hold it in place. And that's that. It's still there, huh? Yeah, it's still there. I have not had a single issue with water ever since.

[00:47:30] Oh, that's funny. So maybe a snorkel would be in my future holes. Never needed one until that moment. I did not think downtown Portland would be the place I discovered I need a snorkel. Yeah, I mean, that's a good thing.

[00:47:47] One, that you had a shop that you can pull it into to get it out of the rain. And then it's good that you work in a shop because then you've got everything you need to take care of it.

[00:47:57] I've saved so much money just being able to do my own repairs and maintenance and stuff like that. So I've been very thankful for the job I picked. Every time I write up a repair estimate for a customer,

[00:48:13] I'm like, oh my gosh, what would I do in that situation? Yeah, yeah, that's tough. I know there's a lot of people that try to do as much as they can themselves because it saves you a lot on labor. So much money.

[00:48:29] It's ridiculous how much you can save just doing basic maintenance yourself. Yeah. So how did you find out about MaxTrac's micro crew and what member number are you? I honestly, I don't remember who I discovered them through. I just was scrolling through Instagram one morning

[00:48:51] and I saw somebody made a post with them and I was like, what the heck are those? How do I get those? And then I found the MaxTrac micro crew page and found out how to get them and everything and found them on Amazon,

[00:49:08] Amazon Prime same day shipping. Had them in a few hours, messaged Phil and became a member and I am number 359. Yeah, because I don't remember exactly when I had him on, but that was probably right around the time that you joined

[00:49:27] because I know he was getting close to 400 whenever I had him on and now he's over 400 and it was cool to start seeing a lot of Subarus joining. I don't know if that had to do with his episode, with him being on the podcast,

[00:49:41] but I did see a lot of Subarus after that. Yeah, I think it might've been J Foz who posted the first picture of them I saw. I got him, yeah. But yeah, once I saw them I was like, oh my gosh, I need a set of those

[00:49:56] just because of how ridiculous Sherman already is. It was so funny to have those. So I bought black ones like a dummy to mount on my black car so they are completely invisible. Yeah, that's a perfect thing to get on there if you want people to see them.

[00:50:14] Exactly, I did not think that went through very well. Well, they are very inexpensive so you can get another set in orange. No, I have been wanting to, I just haven't gotten around to doing it yet. It's such a funny thing

[00:50:26] and I'm so happy something like that exists. I've seen a few other things like the micro truck nuts now I've seen people with and I think that's super funny too. Yeah, it's just all in good fun. Oh yeah, anything you can do just for a laugh. It's harmless.

[00:50:48] Yep, so you've got these mods on the outside that are ones that were on there when you bought it and then you did a few other things but tell us about your head unit because that sounds pretty cool and do you have any speakers to go with it?

[00:51:04] The speakers that are in it or whatever have been in it when I got the Sherman I don't know if they're aftermarket or factory or not I haven't taken the door panel off honestly, I don't care too much. They make noise and that's good enough for me.

[00:51:18] But the head unit itself also isn't really anything fancy it's a Pioneer AVH4200NEX it's I think 6 years old at this point it was Pioneer's second run of Apple CarPlay head units when that first came out the magic that I have in it is the iDataLink Maestro

[00:51:42] which is a OEM interface module which at its core is designed to retain your steering wheel controls and various other OEM features so if your car has an OEM backup camera and steering wheel controls and a factory Bluetooth mic or whatnot

[00:52:00] you can use this device to retain all of that when you switch over to an aftermarket head unit A bonus feature that it does is custom gauges via OBD and CAN bus information from the vehicle So my last Forester had cooling issues like nobody's business

[00:52:19] but I figured out any sort of sustained throttle uphill would cause it to overheat it didn't matter if you were doing like 20 miles an hour on a trail or 60 miles an hour on the highway just any uphill sustained load so when I got Sherman

[00:52:37] the first thing I noticed was it did not have a coolant temp gauge which I was super paranoid about because of my previous experience so I did a little research because before I was a mechanic I was a car stereo installer so I had known about this device

[00:52:53] and I always thought it was really really cool I just didn't know how capable my car would be given that it is old so I did some research as to what features I would get with it and found out it would give me everything I wanted to

[00:53:09] I can view just about every data output from the car with the exception of engine oil temperature and ATF temperature Hey that's pretty good though Yeah so you know there's a lot of really cool stuff I can see with it I can see all my tire pressures

[00:53:29] and everything I can see DTCs I can clear DTCs out with it it'll show me what doors open that sort of thing if my Forester had the digital climate control system I would be able to control it all through the head unit as well

[00:53:47] so the head unit itself is pretty basic but like I said the magic is from the Maestro device That's really cool It's got a lot of nice functionality especially beyond what your Forester was initially intended to be able to provide Yeah

[00:54:07] it does a lot of really cool stuff and you know the newer the vehicle the more information it has available for you too What would you say about Sherman that brings you the most joy? Definitely all the attention I get Yeah Everywhere I go

[00:54:27] I see people staring at me as I drive down the road or I pull up in a parking lot and it's all eyes on me and what not I think that's really cool Everybody loves Sherman I get all the nods and waves when I'm driving

[00:54:45] People come up to me in a parking lot after I get out of the car It's really cool There is this one situation kind of really cool but also very strange in the moment I was on my lunch break at work getting some food

[00:55:03] and this guy walked up to me and started talking to me about Sherman and then pulled out a picture that his friend had sent him from a couple weeks ago of Sherman Interesting I was able to see a picture of my car somebody else took

[00:55:21] on a completely different person's phone Yeah That was really strange in the moment but looking back on it that's really cool to get recognized like that People are getting excited about my car in traffic and sending pictures of it to their friends I think that's kind of cool

[00:55:41] I've had some people looking at Pearl as I'm driving by and I'm like, that's a good feeling I've got some stickers from Ride or Die Designs and I also got some of the trading cards from Impulse Designs I keep those in my glove box

[00:55:57] I can hand them out to people Was it you that you were messaging me and saying something that would be cool to have some kind of trading cards and I said, oh there's a guy that actually does those Yes, exactly I was like, man

[00:56:15] we just need our own little trading card that we can all receive Exactly It's fun when you come across something like that when somebody's messaging you and it's like, actually I know somebody that can take care of that for you Spread the information

[00:56:35] I've got a guy for that I know you like ripping through sand and snow and you're driven on trails and through mud but what would you say I'm definitely a surfer from Florida in a past life I think So, yeah I sand all day long

[00:56:57] The snow's cool and whatnot but it's not my favorite I wouldn't even say second favorite I put off driving in the snow for so long just due to the cars I had before my Foresters Yeah I don't have the most or the best experience driving in the snow

[00:57:17] so it's a lot of fun Yeah, it's kind of tough if you don't have a lot of experience doing it because for me I don't have any experience driving Pearl through good snow and I definitely wouldn't want to do it on my own

[00:57:35] I'd want to do it with other people I've driven through snow since I went out to Moon Rocks but not my own car and being a manual I don't know what that My first experience driving in the snow was actually in my FRS 6-speed manual, rear wheel drive

[00:57:55] 2 inches off the ground Let's go Yeah How was that with it being rear wheel drive? You know, with my super bald tires it was fun, it was fantastic Everything went exactly as I thought it would Yeah I guess you didn't get into any trouble or any accidents

[00:58:17] No, I really didn't go seek out anywhere to drive during that time I needed to get home from work and it had already started snowing Yeah, so you just gotta go Yeah, I just gotta go There's no way to get home to or from my work

[00:58:38] without going up and over a hill Yeah So you said that you mostly have done a lot of solo trailing and then some with people How often do you get out to trails? I go a lot more often now I've been trying to get out

[00:58:54] at least 2 weekends a month since I got Sherman I've been pretty successful with that I've been going out lately a lot with UnpavedPNW on Instagram That guy's been really cool to hang out with and get to know and go play around with

[00:59:14] He's got a crazy full send mentality Yeah, it's good to be around somebody like that that you can learn a little bit from Plus he's on the other side of town from me so his stomping grounds are vastly different from mine so it's cool to have him

[00:59:32] take us out on be our tour guide and whatnot Yeah, that's nice to have that I'm sure you have a lot of trails up there that you have access to I am very blessed to be where I live I've got the Tillamook Forest

[00:59:50] which is 30 minutes to the west I've got Mt. Hood National Forest which is 30 minutes to the east I'm right in the heart of everything that's what I really love about the Portland area It takes me an hour to get to the beach

[01:00:04] it takes an hour to get to the mountains I'm 3 hours from Bend and there's just miles and miles of trails whichever way you go In fact, there's even the Oregon Backcountry Discovery Route which I think would be really cool to get a group of people

[01:00:20] to go to do this summer that runs from basically Mt. Hood in the northwest down to the Alvord Desert in the southeast without ever touching pavement Wow, that's nice That would be a lot of fun Yeah, I think that would be a really cool trip

[01:00:38] I think you'd need like 2 weeks or so to really get that done So your first drive home driving from California back home was that the furthest distance you've driven in Sherman at once? Yes, that's been the furthest Since then he's gone on a lot of trips

[01:00:58] I've been up to Seattle a couple of times for work training Went to Leavenworth last month or I guess 2 months ago now it was the end of January for my fiance's birthday we stayed in a tiny cabin Nice It was a very storybook setting small little cabin

[01:01:19] snow everywhere That sounds horrible It was not the most fun drive up there to be completely honest with you Oh yeah I'm a planner when it comes to road trips I've got everything planned out down to like I want to leave at this specific time

[01:01:37] for this specific reason We left really late that day and there's 3 or 4 mountain passes between Portland and Leavenworth depending on which way you go and I chose the route with the most Yeah Going through the last mountain pass it was about 7.30 at night so it's dark now

[01:01:58] snowing really hard starting to pick up and accumulate on the road and my driver headlight just dies, goes out bye bye, nobody home Oh that's not good and so the headlights are custom they're modified they have a an H1 projector housing retrofitted into it which will only fit

[01:02:25] an H1 size HID bulb which I didn't know at the time so I was like okay not the end of the world I'll just go get a bulb from Napa in the morning well I can't fit a regular bulb in this housing

[01:02:42] I'll just put my old LEDs in it when I get home well they won't fit because like I said it will only fit an H1 HID bulb and so I ended up having to get some I ordered new bulbs at first and I didn't fix it

[01:03:00] and I'm like oh crap okay so I gotta get ballast now so I ordered new ballast and it still didn't work and I felt really really dumb at this moment in time and my number one or any electrical diagnosis should be check the fuse

[01:03:18] which I did not do because it's never the fuse but yeah a new set of HID bulbs and ballast later and I found out I just had a blown fuse oh yeah and all that money later too yeah but hey I have brand new HID headlights now

[01:03:38] so that's good and they're the same color now it's even yeah exactly so it worked out so what about those Subaru drive belts because we were chatting about that too oh gosh yeah so I've had some some really really bad luck with those particularly on my previous Forester

[01:04:00] for starters I've never actually taken one off myself so I have no reference of how tight they're supposed to be driving home from work one day make a left turn and all of a sudden my steering gets really heavy I see the battery light come on

[01:04:18] I'm like oh I lost my belt okay that's cool uh oh I've got a few miles to home so I just keep going I make it on battery power and everything it's fine get a new belt at work the next day swap it over and everything's fine

[01:04:38] within I'd say two weeks or so the idler pulley for the AC belt seized up and chucked the AC belt off which then shredded it then shredded the other belt in the process so two new belts a new idler pulley and everything was fine for a while

[01:05:02] three to six months or so I would say and then you know one morning I go out to start my car up to leave for work I open the door I throw my stuff in on the passenger seat start the car

[01:05:16] and at this time my fiance and I were leaving for work at the same time so I walk around the front of my car to say goodbye to her and I heard this thump thump what the heck was that and then it got really loud and started squealing

[01:05:28] so I ran into the car and shut it off and popped the hood and discovered that the AC belt had yeeted itself off the pulley again jeez so I'm like okay not the end of the world I don't need AC to get to work it's cold out

[01:05:44] so I just cut the belt and I reached in to grab it and when I did that I felt the whole crank pulley just kind of wobble oh and instant panic set in and I thought something catastrophic like the crank pulley bolt snapped or something like that

[01:06:00] but it ended up happening so the way the crank pulley is designed on that car it's a two piece with a rubber cushion in the middle to act as a harmonic dampener and that rubber cushion had separated entirely so my crank pulley was now two pieces oh fun

[01:06:18] and it could spin independently from the motor where this story gets really really fun is the parking spot I was parked in was marked off for no parking starting that morning for construction that was supposed to begin wow horrible horrible timing so I've got to get

[01:06:40] run around town to find a crank pulley and some belts and everything and get tools so I can fix this in my apartment parking lot and it takes me a couple hours to gather everything together and by the time I make it back to the car

[01:06:54] they've started construction all around me oh dear so now I'm getting all these dirty looks and getting cussed out by these construction workers and I'm just trying to fix my car so I can get out of their way dude it's not my fault

[01:07:10] I really did not plan for this but yeah so you know I got all that fixed and taken care of and then never had another issue with those belts fast forward a while and I had my fiance's engine on her outback

[01:07:26] I had the timing belt and head gaskets done by somebody else because I just didn't want to do it personally so I paid a friend who's a sports car mechanic I paid a friend who's a Subaru technician to do it for me and I just told him

[01:07:42] do whatever you see in there that needs to be done I kept expressing that just do it right please if it looks bad just take care of it I kept saying things like that got the car back everything's great runs great no leaks no check engine lighting nothing

[01:08:06] but Cassidy was driving my fiance and we heard this thump noise and right when I heard the noise we were driving under a tree so I just in my brain I registered it as her running over a branch or something and didn't think anything of it

[01:08:26] oh yeah yeah about a mile later she goes to make a right turn and she's got no power steering and she's like whoa what's going on and I look over and I see the battery lights on and I'm like oh that's what that noise was

[01:08:43] yeah that's a familiar sound yep I've got some experience with that noise so we get it limped into a parking lot and everything luckily I was with her so she didn't have to call a tow truck or anything like that and I just called my dad

[01:08:57] and had him bring us a drive belt a couple of wrenches and we got it fixed and I got to see Jim Jeffries that night the comedian oh nice so everything's good now yeah I haven't had a single issue with drive belts ever since that's good yeah

[01:09:17] come on no more drive belt issues I had a little bit of a belt squeal with Sherman like a month or so ago but I just tightened up the tension on it and haven't had any issues since that's good I heard that little chirp chirp chirp

[01:09:31] and I'm like don't you dare yeah that can easily be remedied we're not going down that road again yeah what would you say about Sherman best matches your personality the versatility and the adaptability I would say yeah I'm a pretty well-rounded adaptable guy that's good

[01:09:53] don't really complain about too many things I just go with the flow and get it done easygoing yeah and if you could describe Sherman in one word what would it be thirsty he is always thirsty thirsty to get out thirsty to get to the gas station oh yeah

[01:10:18] was it like 15 miles to the gallon yep that's pretty good on a four cylinder I get asked all the time why don't you just get a four cylinder Toyota get a 4runner because I don't want one because I love this car even despite the crappy gas mileage

[01:10:39] because being able to go out on a trail and accomplish the exact same tasks in a car that was never in a million years designed to do that is way cooler yeah I agree there is just something about the Subaru mentality and owners I think and the community

[01:11:04] we are a special breed yeah a Subaru owner isn't going to want to go get a Toyota or something else it's like I want to be able to prove that I can do things with this car that it's not supposed to do just like you said

[01:11:18] well and also most Subarus obviously not Sherman you'll still get 20 plus miles a gallon on the way to the trail and they are very affordable too exactly how has owning your I guess Subarus and being part of the community changed your life

[01:11:35] well for starters we are sitting here having this conversation I never in a million years would have thought I'd be on a podcast talking about my car of all things so that's really cool also it just kind of brought me out of my shell

[01:11:53] made me quite a bit more outgoing it's easier for me to meet strangers now just because people come up to me and talk to me about my car all the time now so that's really cool

[01:12:05] I have since learned that the Subaru community is actually really open and welcoming I know I've said this to you before I say it a lot I think the Subaru community is the last saving grace of humanity

[01:12:23] it's that last little reminder that there are still good people in the world yeah so I've met really really awesome people over the years and done crazy things and seen really cool places all because of Subaru

[01:12:41] what would you say the coolest place is that you've seen with your foresters I would say honestly our Oregon coast trip would probably be just the coolest thing we've driven the entire length of the Oregon coastline twice now oh nice yeah and made it down into the redwoods

[01:13:05] standing at the base of a giant redwood tree was the most humbling thing I think I've ever experienced yeah that's a giant tree right there I want to go check them out yeah they're really cool I highly recommend it

[01:13:23] I'm sure it's kind of like I've been to the Grand Canyon and for people that have been to the Grand Canyon it's one of those things where it's like there's like pictures will never do it justice exactly and you have to experience it in person exactly

[01:13:37] to be in complete awe I agree with that statement it definitely applies to the sequoias yeah so if you've never been to the Grand Canyon I highly recommend that too it's on my list yeah it's pretty amazing whenever I get around to it

[01:13:53] do you think you'll always own a Subaru absolutely you know I think that goes back to my previous statement about where I live and what I like to do I don't think there's a more perfect vehicle I've got all the traction in the world for anything

[01:14:09] I've got tons of space in the back of my car for anything throw my dog in there fill up the basket let's go yeah and you camp in it too I know you've got a hay trip mattress

[01:14:23] yeah I've got the hay trip air mattress which it's been really really cool using that you know especially with having a sunroof in my car as well that doesn't leak now? yeah no leaks now the leak was not actually from any of the sunroof seals

[01:14:39] what caused the water intrusion was actually clogged drain tubes oh yeah the water just had nowhere to go and that was partially my own fault the drain tubes exit in the front wheel wells right at the firewall and right near the pinch weld

[01:14:55] and I spent a few hours hammering and blasting away at my wheel wells to help clear my tires a little bit more and you closed off the tube

[01:15:07] I may have cracked the little holder for the tube and then put some tape around it to hold it in place and then I went on a really muddy trail ride and they got packed full of mud and there's pine trees all over the Pacific Northwest

[01:15:23] so there was pine needles at the top of the drain and mud at the bottom not a good combination no so that issue has since been fixed and alleviated and we have had no water in the car ever since that's good

[01:15:40] but yeah sleeping in the car laying under the stars you know seeing them through the sun ray traveling that's a really cool experience

[01:15:48] and then also car camping is nice because if it's cold out you can just reach up and start the car and turn the heater on for a few minutes how often do you go camping?

[01:15:57] we go a lot in the summer same kind of schedule at least we try to go twice a month but that was when we were just doing tent camping so now that we have car camping I may or may not have a rooftop tent sitting in my garage

[01:16:13] oh yeah that was one of my questions I think we'll be doing a lot more of it now nice that's cool alright something to look forward to yeah I'm not 100% sold on it I've been real hesitant on the idea of the rooftop tents

[01:16:35] I think it'd be really cool to try one out before actually pulling the trigger and buying it yeah that's something you can definitely try out well here's our little segment to get to know the person behind the account but who is Brandon?

[01:16:51] you know that is a good question and we're still figuring that one out aren't we all? for now you know I'm just 29 years old I live in the Pacific Northwest in Portland area you know with my fiance Cassidy and my dog not her dog my dog Natasha

[01:17:11] my dog let me be very clear she is mine she came from me but yeah we're just making our way through life I wouldn't say I'm anything special or anything like that but yeah just having a good time? yeah trying to at least so where were you born?

[01:17:31] I was born down in Medford Oregon down in Southern Oregon the Rogue Valley I was actually born in Rogue Valley Medical Center that area is commonly referred to as Methford I see for obvious reasons what is a favorite memory from your childhood?

[01:17:54] so when I was gosh four or five years old sometime around there my dad had a Ford Gran Torino oh nice yeah with a Ford 302 Cleveland engine and that is where my obsession with cars began I can see that

[01:18:15] so you know that was the first car I worked on what I learned how to change oil on at a very very young age was just that car and I have this very very vivid memory just riding in the backseat

[01:18:29] on the floorboard there is a hole in the floorboard maybe the size of a nickel it wasn't very big at all but just enough to like see through it and you know you could see the road and the paint markings and whatnot

[01:18:40] whenever you switch lanes or anything like that that's something that has always stuck out to me yeah did the hole ever get patched or was it always there? no it was always there well we know that car is gone now I have no idea what happened to it

[01:18:58] or where it's at or anything like that but it was fun I got a lot of fond memories in that car that was my introduction to burnout oh yeah good car to do that in yes absolutely

[01:19:13] well we know what you do for a living but do you have a dream job? are you familiar with Larry Chen the photographer? yes his job seems pretty cool honestly that's my dream right there just automotive photography at that caliber

[01:19:34] have you seen the video he did with I can't remember the guy's name but he let him drive the electric Porsche that he built? yes so yeah because in that video he's sitting in the driver's seat

[01:19:47] and he's like hold on a second I gotta do this for Instagram and he's like I can't believe that this is my job and it's just like yeah that's pretty amazing that just seems like the life right there

[01:20:01] besides getting out in your forest or what other hobbies do you have? pretty much all of my hobbies involve my car in one way or another I like hiking, paddle boarding, camping, I like going shooting that all requires the car to get out to these spots

[01:20:21] is that right? yeah I mean that's just kind of what it is all of my hobbies really involve my car even photography you've seen my Instagram I only take pictures of my car those are good hobbies though yeah we get out and have fun

[01:20:40] a little bit harder during the winter time around here because it's so dark and grey all the time it's really just depressing you don't really want to go out and do anything yeah I hear that a lot but definitely have to maximize the summer

[01:20:54] every weekend I'm out doing something that's good yeah take advantage of that weather while you've got it exactly then you can just kind of chill through the winter months exactly so what is something that makes you want to get out of bed every day?

[01:21:11] oh the sunshine when we have it yeah I've got an east facing bedroom for a reason I love being woken up to sunshine as soon as I feel it on my face I'm up and out of bed nice I don't like to waste daylight yeah I don't either

[01:21:31] when we don't have the sun I would say my dog gets me up out of bed every day because she's a bit of a hungry, hungry hippo and then coffee of course gotta have coffee what is something that makes you want to stay in bed? the rain

[01:21:49] definitely the rain so something really really common in the Pacific Northwest is the SAD, Seasonal Attentive Disorder it's basically seasonal depression and it's very real around here and it's been pretty bad this year and then the spring has been really weird too

[01:22:12] because we've been having these really strange weather patterns it's snowing outside right now but it's like 38 almost 40 degrees so that doesn't make any sense at all and then it'll be like this for a few days which is dark and gloomy and wet

[01:22:31] and then we'll have a day of just sunshine and it's really nice and then the next day it's snowing again it's like what the heck just need some sun and some sand so what do you do when it's SAD season? I go to sunny places

[01:22:48] I've got maybe 20 or 25 or so little places in my weather app here nice where is it sunny? that's where we're going exactly we'll do that that's good to help get out of that SAD funk usually we'll head up over the mountains and go to Bend for a weekend

[01:23:14] because they get a lot of sunshine there even though it's cold it'll still be sunny yeah there's something about being even if it's cold if it's sunny at least it doesn't feel as gloomy I think it's the vitamin D intake from the sun

[01:23:30] completely honest I think that's what it is yeah I mean it's something about the sun being out too you know like that so I get that what would be your best bit of advice to give to someone about anything? so this is a tricky one

[01:23:47] I say it a lot but I don't follow it nearly enough and when I do it's you know I always prevail but you never know until you try don't get so hung up on the what ifs just be like Nike and just do it

[01:24:04] stop thinking about what happens if you fail and start thinking what you're going to do when you succeed yeah I mean the failure is where we learn and grow exactly you gotta be able to fail but if you don't fail you're never gonna succeed true very true

[01:24:25] and then you know like I said earlier don't cheap out on your tires yeah no that's definitely important tires are expensive so if you can't afford them right away definitely you can just put some money away until you can't afford them

[01:24:41] that's what I did and when I was ready to buy my new set of Toyos I was just like now I know I've got the money I don't have to worry about it so it's you know you can do that with any mods really

[01:24:53] if it's something you know it can take some time but just put some money aside and you know here and there and then when you've got it eventually you'll get there yeah and then it'll be worth it absolutely well it was great having you on Brandon

[01:25:10] this was a blast I really enjoyed talking with you and you know like I said me too I was really looking forward to this for a long time and you invited me on and I was like oh my gosh it's happening and then the nervousness sets in

[01:25:24] yeah it's you know it's uh I mean it's okay to be nervous yeah I feel like it went really well yeah it's a good way to have people share more about their journey and about themselves so I think it's been really good for that

[01:25:39] I really enjoy the platform that you offer for you know us Subaru enthusiasts out there to get our cars out there and whatnot get our stories out there and everything I think it's really really cool what you're doing thank you

[01:25:55] I'm glad to be able to provide it to people and a different avenue of sharing their content and story because yeah you know I listen to it every week you know I love it and it's cool because you know I've heard you mention it a couple times

[01:26:11] but you follow these people you know on Instagram you see their cars pretty much every day and whatnot and then you get to hear their story and you hear the voice and whatnot it's very personal and yeah I enjoy it yeah well good

[01:26:29] well thanks again and hope you enjoy the rest of your Sunday and thanks for having me on yeah thanks for doing this on a weekend day of course anytime so yeah so have a good day and I'll talk to you later absolutely thanks for having me you're welcome

[01:26:47] bye bye thank you all so much for tuning in to another episode of the Subaru podcast and thank you Brandon for taking the time to record with me and share your Subaru journey and talk to us about Sherman and then also a little bit about yourself

[01:27:03] if you are not doing so go give him a follow he goes by Starscream1201 on Instagram and go check out his Forester because he's got some really nice photos on there and despite him not liking his wheels I think they look amazing and of course it's his Forester

[01:27:24] and I think that you know whatever he decides to go with after these wheels will look really really good so thanks again for giving this episode a listen and thank you for sticking around and continuing to tune in and share

[01:27:39] and if you have not written an Apple review and rated it please go do that and I will read your review on the podcast so thank you all so much have a great week we'll see you on the next episode much Subie love Raph

[01:28:50] you