MCS1

Not sure if there is any difference between the clearance between the SXT and R/T (doubt it) but I have a 2010 R/T and since I had an almost new set of 18" Nokian Hak's from my previous company vehicle( Jeep Grand Cherokee Ltd.) I decided to try and see if I could get a reasonably priced 18 "winter" wheel package that would allow me to use them. I ended up with a set of MPW rims from TWG (The Wheel Group) and the as you can see they fit fine.(See recent uploaded pictures by MCS1). The RR is very close to the stock 19" tires so according to my GPS calculation I am within 1.5 KPH of stock reading at 100KPH. By the way elswhere in this forum I see someone mentioned you cannot use 235's on a Journey but as you can see my Hak's are 235 60R 18's and while the wheel clearance with the brake caliper housings was close it all fits with no tire interference throughout the lock to lock range that I have been able to determine and this is my second winter season with this setup. These tires are a bit of an overkill from a weight carrying standpoint but with the added sidewall stiffness the vehicle seems more solid on the road than with the 19 in summer stock tires.

The whole issue with short brake life started many years ago when the US govt implemented the CAFE (corporateAverage fuel economy ) standards and the car mfg's had to do whatever they could to reduce weight in order to improve the average fuel economy. That's also about the same time you started to see a lot more plastic. I remember having several generations of GM company cars that gave very short disk brake life due to rotor warping caused by the thinner disc's and so it didn't surprise me to see the same thing cropping up with the Journey as it is a relatively heavy vehicle. My Journey has just over 18,000 km and since I occasionally felt some brake shudder and had been following the discussions here I had the dealer check the brakes and road test. As it only seems to occur under heavy loading I wasn't surprised that the tech couldn't feel anything but they recorded my complaint and also advised me that the disc's showed 95% life left. My question is if anyone else has experienced the brake pulsations only when you have a full vehicle of 4 or more adults, going down a steepish hill (common out here in BC) but not actually hard braking. Under these conditions it almost feels like the ABS is kicking in even though the road was dry and there was no "panic-stop" application.

Can you recommend a particular brand of HID replacement kit? After coming out of an 09 Jeep Grand Cherokee with HID's I sure notice a big difference with the stock Journey lighting and would really like to upgrade to HID's.

I just installed a set of almost new Hakapillitta R 235/60R-18" ice tires that are rated for an SUV extra load off my previous Jeep Grand Cherokee. I had a hard time finding a set of reasonably (?) priced 18" allow rims that would fit my RT model but the end result appears fine. I paid $160/wheel for MPW 210-8821B rims. While the tires are heavier than the stock 19" Kumo's the rims are lighter than the stock wheels so the two seem to balance themselves out. I only have a 100k or so since installation but to me it seemed like the stiffer tires actually made the vehicle handle a little better. The tire diameter looked about the same and when I checked the speedo reading aginst my GPS I found at 100kph the speedo reads about 2 kph high so in fact the 18" Hak's are slightly smaller than the 19" Kumo's. Close enough for me. The tire dealer assured me that the wider 235 tires wouldn't create an interference issue and it certainly looks fine. I actually like the look of the 18" alloy rims with the 235/60 tires better than the stock 19" rims with the Kumo 225/55 tires as it looks more aggresive and in fact makes the vehicle look closer to a SUV than a Cross-over.

Like everyone else I also couldn't find snows for my 2010 RT out here in the Fraser Valley of BC. However I had a nearly new set of ice radial 18" 235/65 Hakapillata R's off my Jeep Grand Cherokee. My local tire dealer thought he had a cheap set of wheels, actually off an 09 Grand Cherokee, but they didn't clear the brakes. In the end after a couple of false starts we found a wheel from The Wheel Group (TWG) their model MPW in a size MP210-8821B (W18X8-127/6-127 MP210) that just clears the brakes and seems to work perfectly with these tires. At $160/ wheel it was not outrageous and when the crappy 19" Chinese summer tires wear out these wheels may in fact pay for themselves by allowing a fit of a more convensional tire size.By the way the published tire data on the stock Kumo's is incorrect,, showing a loaded radius od 13.6" which would give a diameter of 27". In fact the diameter is more like 28.5" and that is why the 235/65-18 Hak's fit just fine. Even the width is OK as the 235 still fit inside the fender flares. We wouldn't have known that from all the published info out there on the WEB but trial and error proved it works. - Oops correction on the Hak tire size it should have read 235/60R-18 not 65. By the way I checked the speedo reading aginst my GPS and at 100KPH on the GPS the speedo is reading about 98 to 99 so close enough for me. Also as far as the lack of TPS I found that you get a warning light for about 10 seconds when you first start the vehicle but then it goes off and stays off with no audable alerts of any kind - perfect.