Lobitz68

nicely done, man

now you need those modded front lights

Exactly what I am looking to do to mine (minus the halos)... More info on the retrofit? Is that yours?

Flow master exhaust

Powder coated original rims

Debadged all except main symbols which are now black

Grill painted black

Calipers painted red along with emblem caps

Tail lights fogged and tint

Nice ride! I'd love to hear the exhaust... Is the 2009 the 3.5L?

The process is easy if you watch a video of it on you tube however 2 things might become an issue. 1.The paint may not stick to the chrome clad so you would need to make sure the paint process is done correctly. 2.Putting the lights back together is easy but making sure they are completely sealed may be difficult for some people. This is why I wanted to have it done by a professional.

No im not having them do anything else to my lights. Ive already done an HID conversion myself. I thought about having Halo's or projection done also but that is way to pricy for me.

Definitely not something you should do if you're not sure of the process... I always buy and extra set of lights to allow me to keep my OEMs for trade in, or if there are issues (I can also take my time doing the retrofit)...

The black will really tie in your front end to the rest of the vehicle. It's gonna look NICE.

You do one at a time. Dont need to have the car on blocks with all 4 wheels removed. But anyhoo. Your call. Just providing an option. I painted the calipers on my sons Tiburon 3 years ago when he first went off to college. Still look good to this day. Sure, they get dirty, but just take a brush and soapy water, good as new. No flaking or peeling. I used caliper paint you can buy at any auto parts store. I guess this is more of a project for do-it-yourselfers like myself. You want to pay someone to do it for you, go ahead. I'm not saying you can't or shouldn't. Total investment was just under $17 for the paint and probably 3 hours of my time.

Did you use the spray-on or brush-on type? This would be a good project to do while I've got a pork butt on the smoker... I'm stuck at the house those days anyway.

Lobitz68...I am assuming you have the V6 AWD? What mpg are you getting?

We cannot get the AWD here in Canada with the SXT. Have to go with R/T which also has the 19" wheels.

Thanks

Yes, I have the V6 SXT AWD... I am currently getting about 21 mpg mixed. That's winter gas, extra idling, lots of slow moving traffic in snow storms and so on. Plus, I only have about 1,000 miles on it. When I bought my 2012 Avenger my mileage went up significantly after the first 4-5k miles, so I expect this to do the same. I can report real world numbers in a couple months, but I would expect at least another 1-2 mpg once summer hits and she is broken in... I can definitely live with ~23 mpg mixed.

Wow, ordered it on March 14th and was told today it was changed to D1 status (whatever that means) and the plant has sequenced the unit for production, estimated ship date assigned. Estimated ship date April 14.

Nice... Getting close.

Why? Paint dont take 24 hours to dry, mine were dry in about an hour. I mean, use good judgement and all, dont go driving in a downpour right after painting. Those instructions are guidelines only, and mainly for the people who would drive in rain right after painting and blame the paint supplier cause it ruined the calipers.

Don't know, I didn't write the directions... I do know that the G2 brush on system is an epoxy rather than an actual paint (that's why a "reactor" is included). That particular addition might add to the time (though you only have 4-6 hours to use the paint after mixing it with the reactor, so...). I'm certainly not saying you are wrong, just pointing out that most kits tell you to wait 24 hours before driving....

I have also heard that too much heat before the product is fully cured could cause poor adhesion and make chipping easier, though I haven't seen it in actual published literature. I'm contemplating doing mine, but it seems like a lot of work if I can get someone else to do it for $60... I value my time enough to pay that.

Lobitz,

I didn't get caliper covers, just had the factory ones painted

Yeah, I misread that. Thanks for the reply.

Ive done lots of research on this and I haven't found anyone selling them other than occasionally at a salvage yard or private seller on ebay. I did find a place online www.blackflamecustoms.com Ive talked to them and they are very knowledgeable in this process. My lights are at their shop right now getting done. Ill post some pictures when I get them back.

These guys do great work, but I can't get myself to pay someone what they charge for such an easy process. Looking forward to the pics for sure... Did you just get them painted or did you get other mods done to them too?

I've only got 1,000 miles on mine, but it rides outstanding. Could be as simple as the previous owner having rough roads in their daily commute. I wouldn't worry about it.

Agree 100%... So far I've had great experiences with Chrysler vehicles and I got a deal I couldn't refuse on this one... So, the rest of the midsize CUV market was easily brushed aside. I am not in the city anymore, so I like the AWD option. The trade-off between the FWD and AWD mileage was not enough to factor into my decision and the price was actually the same or less as a similarly equipped FWD. Good luck with your shopping.

Hi Red,

" If you have not done so already, try one tank with the fuel efficiency meter in the evic and follow it to a tee."

What does it mean?? Sorry nit clear to me!

You can get a real time fuel economy read-out on the digital display in your gauge cluster. Pretty sure he is talking about watching that as you drive and seeing what actions induce better fuel efficiency...

My initial goal was to go with 20's.

Once at the shop I was offered these 22's for the same price as the 20's I was going to get. I was concerned about fitment and possibly some rubbing but I haven't had any issues yet.

Looks great! What caliper covers did you get (brand name)?

Paint them yourself. I've painted many calipers and can have it done in under 2-3 hours. Not down for a whole day.....remove calipers, tape off/mask what you dont want to get paint on, clean, prime, paint. For examplel I just painted the calipers on my Eclipse last Saturday. Painted them body color.

I think his concern lies more in the fact that the instructions typically tell you not to drive the vehicle for 24 hours... Not that the actual painting takes a long time.

I will be doing this in order to complete a projector retrofit and HID install, but you can always buy an aftermarket headlight assembly like a TYC and take it apart and paint it... It's really not difficult at all, you just need to be sure to get it resealed properly...

I don't have an answer to your question, but is there something specific that you are looking for out of an aftermarket stereo? These days you can build a very respectable stereo system using the oem deck for a reasonable price... Probably much cheaper than trying to figure out what it sounds like you are trying to do. Just a thought.

lol. I'm an avid snowmobiler. I love snow. I love driving/riding on snow. MN has had some fairly low snow winters the last 5~6 years? I have snowmobiler friends out that way that told of some pretty poor snow years out mid west. We get those too but this winter has been more of a classic. NH has high avg snowfall thanks to the noreasters we get almost weekly. We all also get lake effect alberta clippers. I'm pretty sure we can hold a stick pretty close to MN. I snowmobile the north of the state, and live in the south part. We frequently commute up and down and at times, during snow storms. Stopping is far more important than going so awd wont help you one iota there. If ya think your driving faster with awd, your in a ditch soon. Getting stuck on the road is about unheard of unless you pushed your luck somehow. The problem is folks going into the ditch.....and many times its awd or 4wd with over-confident drivers. I also drive a plow truck. I tow my sleds with a Rwd pick-up.....I don't even need fwd, never mind awd. I understand some drivers feel more secure with 4wd and such but the driving skills of both my wife and I have never left us needing any more than fwd. Just this past weekend My wife and I drove up to Canada with my RWD pickup and most of the ride was in a snow storm....plow trucks galore all over the highways dumping salt and trashing the roads to keep them "safe". Its gonna be a long spring, summer, and fall on dry roads.......................We can discuss this further when its 70* outside hehehe.

Good point, it the other drivers that worry me the most... Personally I'm not a fan of FWD, I would rather drive a RWD vehicle any day. That being said, I bought this vehicle specifically to get to and from the rink with my child and others' with less of a chance of getting into any issues. I can't afford a big SUV and I got this vehicle for a pretty ridiculous price. So, I get capacity, mileage, AWD and a couple other perks for the price of a modest sedan...win:win.

This winter has been a bear for sure. I think we are only like 12" above average, but every time it snows there is some circumstance around it that makes it difficult. I keep putting off my snowmobile purchase and the last 2 years have been pretty good. The state trail goes right past my house and that's all I hear all winter... Of course once I pull the trigger we will get nothing and I'll have tow the thing up north to get in the snow. We are supposed to finally break 50 on Sunday... I CAN'T WAIT.

It's good to see that there are still some dealerships out there willing to go out of their way for the customer. All of the local Dodge/Chrysler/Jeep/Ram dealers that I have dealt with in the Minneapolis metro and suburbs have been a pleasure to deal with and have been nothing less than helpful in every situation I've been in. I think that Chrysler is beginning to hold dealerships responsible for their actions and we are finally starting to see the reward.

BTW, I'm SUPER jealous of the Citadel... What a beautiful vehicle.

Yes they are all the same. Its been a while since I did it but I do remember that I had to cut off a small plastic piece on the newer grill. The piece was in the back and wasnt anything cosmetic. It didn't change the integrity of anything. It took me about 20 min to do the swap out.

What I am actually considering is a black one-piece billet grill. I believe that I would keep the same shell and just cut out the cross bars for this type of setup. The grille would then install inside that shell.... I'm still a little leery on pulling the trigger on this one though... Would be tough to get my money back on if it is the incorrect shape.

Looks great!! Now just gotta de-chrome those headlight housings and you got one of the nicer journeys around.

And perhaps the lower fascia? This is all on my list. Looks great, nice job.

If your GPS is also your handsfree, then sticking it on the left side simply means that the microphone is aimed out the window.

I ran a wire from the fuseblock to the headliner to power mine and it is suctioned to the windshield so that it is centered above the rear view mirror. As it happens, I also have a dash cam which is fastened to the junction of the headliner and windshield just ahead of me seating position.

Neither device is directly in my line of sight and both work very well where they are located.

Care to post a pic?

I'm living in Sardinia, Italian island, in the Mediterranean sea

That sounds terrible... (jealous)

View settings were set to Private, changed to public. Thanks for letting me know.

Those look slick... Nice choice.

I have a 2010 Journey and I put a 2012 Grill on mine and it fit perfectly. I also changed the lower grill and fog light inserts to match the honeycomb pattern. The picture I have on my profile shows the 2012 Grill but not the lower grill and fog light inserts cause I recently did those. My front lights are in the shop now getting done to look like the Black Top. When I get it back Ill post some pictures.

Are all of the mounting points the same? Good news for sure, thanks!

Heck, in Canada we start wearing shorts at 35 degrees F and barefoot at 32F when our snow shoes melt!.

Ha! Maybe in my youth... getting too old for that crap. Besides, the pond still has decent ice at those temps which means the skates are on!