Neto

I have mine fastened on with pull ties. Now 6 years that way. I just cannot bear to drill holes in the bumper skin.

I think this post has a clue as to what the problem may well be. I've had several vehicles (none were Journeys, but all with disk brakes in the front) that had this clunking noise when going over some irregularity in the road surface. Raise the vehicle under the lower control arm. Have some one hold the brakes, then see if you can get the clunk by rocking the wheel back & forth. What I have encountered on these other vehicles (Some Chrysler products, others not) is that the sliding half of the calipers is banging back & forth against the stops. So when you are on the brakes a bit it won't do it, because the extra drag will hold it against the one side. It may be the slides or pins that are worn out, but in my case I needed to replace the calipers for other reasons anyway, and it stopped the noise. (I do live in the "Rust Belt".)

I tend to think that if they designed it into the body structure from the beginning, it shouldn't add too much material or cost. I'm thinking that if it was done that way, that structural member would serve for some other functions as well. And if you've ever pulled the side panels on these vehicles, you know that it is a good deal of work. Small planes (like the Cessna 206 we always flew in) are not built real hefty inside - they can't be and stay as light as they are. The grass airstrip we always flew into was only a bit over 500 meters. The planes all had the STOL (Short Take-Off & Landing) modification, but it could still be touch & go, if the grass was wet, or if the wind changed directions on you just as you landed. (Happened one time. The pilot did a ground loop, where they spin the plane around and use the prop to stop it.) I should look at out Journey in the back, to see if I can tell where the third row seat belts would have attached. (Ours came w/o the 3rd row.) The net itself would be the biggest expense. The easiest place to install something like they have in small aircraft would be in the floor. They have these runners set into the floor, and you use special clips to attach at any place along the length of the runner.

Speaking of hazards in case of a collision (or roll-over), this is something I've been concerned about since we got our first minivan (1993 T&C, in 2000). We did a lot of traveling back & forth to a remote village in the Amazon via Cessna, and all baggage was always secured or covered with a net. I have always wondered why this is not a concern in vehicle safety. A 50 lb suitcase could do a lot of damage to passengers. Just wondered why it is not at least an option. All they would have to do is design in some latch points along the side just below the windows.

The whole idea of driverless cars.

2009 with no 3rd row. I have never missed it, and like the extra storage space back there. It's a 4-banger, & I imagine the weight difference helps the MPG, and acceleration. (But I have a 2010 Caravan for work that has the stow & go, so we have another option in the rare cases when we need more seating.)

I just said: "Welcome! (I am an American, but I lived in Brazil for 18 years, the majority of that time close to Porto Velho, in the state of Rondonia. We returned to the States 13 years ago.)"

Seja bem vindo! (Sou Americano, mas morei no Brasil para 18 anos, o maijoria perto de Porto Velho, RO. Estamos de volta nos EUA uns 13 anos agora.)

In the years since I got my first car (1976, at age 20, almost 21) I have never once taken a car in to get the oil changed. I like to evaluate the oil myself, its color, viscosity, any grit or shavings, etc., and to let it have enough time to drain out as completely as possible. I won't argue one brand over another, but always use the same brand consistently. (I also use the largest filter I can find that will fit the engine. Again, I won't argue about it, but it's what I do.)

In general I would be pretty leery of a modern uni-body car that had been wrecked, because there can be all kinds of hidden tears & stress in the metal that might compromise its normal & proper performance in another accident. (Older uni-bodies were more like integrated chassis - the body itself was not so much of the actual structure of the body as a whole. Now even the windshield is considered structural.) But all that said, this one appears to have been damaged only behind the rear axle, so it might not have any of these problems. So if the doors operate correctly on the right side, maybe there is no damage to the main body structure. But as already said, I would also think that it should be regarded as a long-term purchase, possibly to be driven until it is totally spent (because of limited resale value due to the salvage title).

We have a 2009 with the 2.4 4 banger in it (since December 2010), and while yes it is under-powered in comparison to the V6s, it has been a good engine. It is a base model with no third row seating, which helps weight-wise. We do only have 70 some thousand miles on it, and it is regularly maintained. (Our previous MoPar family cars were a 93 T & C w/ the 3.3, a 2000 T & C with the 3.8, and my current work vehicle is the 2010 Dodge Grand Caravan w/ the 4.0. So yes, I know the difference.)

I guess I will if I have to, but didn't want to use two different sizes of tires. Do the 17 inch ones have a shorter sidewall, to prevent throwing the odometer & speed off?

I'm still searching for a second set of 16" steel wheels for our 2009 Journey, and found the following information on a site called GetAllParts DOT com. Is this a correct list? I would have thought that 16" wheels would be all over the place, considering how many people think that the smaller brakes used on the early Journeys were insufficient. (We have had this vehicle since December 2010, and have never found the braking to be subpar.) I can find new ones for sale, but no used ones at reasonable prices. Vehicle Fitment This part fits the following vehicles: 2008 Chrysler Town and Country 2009 Chrysler Town and Country 2010 Chrysler Town and Country 2008 Dodge Grand Caravan 2009 Dodge Grand Caravan 2010 Dodge Grand Caravan 2011 Dodge Grand Caravan 2012 Dodge Grand Caravan 2009 Dodge Journey 2010 Dodge Journey

I ran all weather treads on all of my cars from about 78 on (before that, I had just regular summer treads, and that was in Minnesota) until my wife found out about Blizzacks, when our oldest child started driving (around 2003). I still have them on my work car, but last winter will probably be the last time she lets me get by with it.

Either they have an extra car, or she got her spokes figured out. Here & gone.

On my 46 Plymouth the access is from the top. People used to complain about the mess it made when you pulled the filter element out of the canister. One of my Uncles had one that used a roll of TP as the filter. But back then an oil filter was an option, and if they did have one, it was a bypass filter, like on my Plymouth. (It would be inteesting to know how much of the oil goes through the bypass valve on the modern engines, and if & how much that changes as the miles since last filter change mounts.)

Our 2009 still has the more common filter type. When did they change to the canister? (I know that way back pretty well all oil filters were the canister type, but that's been a good long while, something only the older folks will remember.)

We used to disconnect the battery after a jump start to check for battery vs alternator at fault, but I've been told that you shouldn't do this with the newer electronic systems. What's the real scoop on this? Will it damage the electrical system to disconnect the battery while the car is running? (I assume that even if the battery is dead, running the car with a dead battery would still allow the battery to absorb the charge, even though it is not holding it. That is, disconnecting the battery may produce different results than just running a car with a dead one.)

Sorry, I was thinking of the single part type, the kind that are used on the bumper skin. Now that you mention the two-part deal, I remember that mine had philips heads on the center part, but they didn't hold anymore (kinda' stripped out), so I went to the hardware & got stainless screws just a bit larger. But I may still be thinking of some of the parts on a different vehicle, because I recently installed a factory hitch on my 2010 Dodge Grand Caravan, and you have to remove the rear skin to do the job. The Journey I worked on longer ago, when I replaced the battery. But not sure now which one I'm remembering.

They usually destroy themselves in the removal process, at least in my experience. Our hardware store (Do It Best brand) has them in stock.

I hadn't thought to check the time interval between when I reset the notification, and when it comes on again. I had assumed that it was the many starts & short runs that was making it come on at such a low point mileage wise. Maybe it is just timing out at 6 months.

Ours seldom even gets up to 3,000, but it's my wife's car, we live right in this small town, and she does a lot of short trips. We only put 6-7k or so on in an entire year. (It's a 2009, built in early 2008, and it's still under 68,000 miles.)

We live in East central Ohio, but south of the Snow Belt. So we don't see the heavy snows here that people just 50 miles or so north of us do, but we have a lot of hills, and my business responsibilties take me over a lot of narrow back roads that are really just dirt roads with a bit of gravel on top, and some are rather steep. (The county roads are pretty well maintained, but the township roads are often not, and they are probably the last to be graded after a snow. It does vary a great deal from one township to the next - some have a lot more funds to work with than others.) I am looing for a more general response - I'm not actually talking about our Journey, but another bigger vehicle. (My wife insists on snow tires for the Journey.) What I'm trying to get a feel for is whether people think that tire chains would be a workable substitute for the much more expensive option of getting full snow tires. (Currently running mud & snow treads on my work vehicle. That is all I ever used in the past, but the first snow of the winter was a really wet snow on top of ice, and this vehicle, which is new to me, seemed at first to be rather helpless on snow.) I'll just drop this here, because I don't want to aggravate anyone by talking about other vehicles. I suppose now that I should have posted this thread in the Off Topic section.

I should have said that I was looking for personal impressions, not "information". I've seen them used years ago, but thought of them as more or less a thing of the past. It started as a curiosity first, so I did research on the technicalities before I posted here. Maybe this is not even the right forum to ask a question of this type. I already know that you are not supposed to drive over 30 MPH with them on, possibly it's even illegal in some states. There are probably also legal limitations for their use seasonally in some states or areas, as there are for studded tires. Thee are also a lot more different types out there now than there were back in the 60's, when I saw them in use.

Has anyone here used tire chains/cables for traction aids? (I have never had any, but am considering it, just looking for information at this point.)