B4ZINGA

2" go by unnoticed. I roll my eyes at the Michigan natives winding up in ditches and continue on my merry way, even in my old RWD Charger. Now 8+ in a RWD car with bald tires and 390 lb-ft torques... that got sketchy. Turned off traction control and let the engine sing the neighbors awake until it got moving. I'm anticipating fewer issues with the Journey. I've honestly never used anything but RWD and FWD in the past. Even when I took my dads 4x4 Tahoe out on an icy day in NJ over ten years ago, I didn't bother turning on 4x4 and let the rear wheels do the talking.

I've only needed assistance twice. The first time was when the radiator blew out on my 300M at 10pm on back roads. I didn't even think of calling my insurance company to tow it to a service shop (far too old to have Chrysler Roadside). Second time wasn't for me. A few friends and I went camping two weekends ago using my Journey and another friends Buick LeSabre. Well, he changed into his sleeping clothes behind the Buick, and toss his shorts into the trunk. His keys were in the shorts. Didn't find that out until the following morning. I didn't use Dodge Roadside, I used my AAA membership that I got shortly after I had oversize tires installed on my 300M and knew I couldn't use the spare anymore. They sent a tow truck to jimmy the Buick open, no questions asked. AAA follows the member, not the car.

They're much brighter than the rear parking lights. Picture it as though the brake light is on, while driving as opposed to stopping. In the heavy rains Detroit just had this week that shut down all the major freeways and reduced visibility, those with rear fog lights were far more visible than those without.

$180 shipped for the pair, not bad at all. I hadn't thought to check Rock Auto and only saw sets of TYC for $300+. The listing doesn't specify if they have the black bezels, so I just have to assume I'll need to paint them to maintain my Rallye appearance package. Had to go into 2013 to find it though. Hopefully 2014 doesn't have some oddball difference like the DRL code crap.

I think it was a 4-cylinder thing. My other half has a 2014 SXT Blacktop. The only options on it are the cargo cover, 8.4" screen, wheel locks, Redline Red Pearl paint, and the Blacktop appearance package. It also has only driver's one-touch down whereas my 2014 R/T Rallye AWD had both driver and passenger one-touch down and one-touch up.

I doubt it would fly here either, but they'd only be used on back roads, which are few and far between here in Metro Detroit. Michigan has no inspection, so the only way the fuzz would know is if I drove around with them on frequently. I'd probably end up looking for a way to have them come on instead of the high beam, since the high beam would go from the current nearly-useless state, to completely useless. Then put LEDs in the high beam to act as DRLs that turn off when the headlights turn on. That all solves the issue of there being to many lights, legally.

I'll certainly be interested in seeing where your project goes. I have projector HIDs in my 300M Special, and had added OEM-replica projector headlights to my Charger shortly after I bought it a few years back. I'd love to have HID again in my Journey, but I'm not a fan of stuffing HID bulbs into reflector housings. I recently drove through rural Ohio late at night and was left wishing I had projector HID and a better high-beam. I'd like to retrofit projectors, and possibly add a set of driving lights (different from fog) behind the grille.

The voice command in the Uconnect system is fairly rudimentary. And infuriating. I don't bother with it at all. I even still have to use my phone to start a call because the car doesn't understand me. Hence my excitement for Android Auto, which uses Google Now and the excellent voice dictation of that service. Heck if I can rescue my older Nexus tablet from whatever is causing it not to function right now, I'm going to try and mount it ahead of the cubby under the climate control and have that be the epicenter of my entertainment and navigation and hands-free calling.

Since purchasing my 2014 in May I've noticed something like that in my dimming rearview mirror, and it's very visible at all times. I've just figured it was residue left by something stuck to the mirror by the mirror manufacturer, someone in Toluca during assembly to tell workers what parts had to go in, someone during shipment from Toluca to Southfield, MI, or even someone at the dealer in Southfield. I haven't gotten around to cleaning it yet since I honestly never think to clean the rearview in any of my cars. It looks vaguely like a barcode, which is what leads me to believe it's just residue. If it doesn't clean off with Windex or Stoner's Invisible glass, try using a fine mesh netting in conjunction with the cleaner to lightly abrade the surface without scratching it. Invisible Glass cleaning wands available at many auto parts stores come with just such a netting for removing stuck-on junk like that. They're also fabulous for cleaning front and rear windshields without straining to reach, and I've used that netting bonnet to clean rubber transfer from the window weatherstripping. You can also try Goo-Gone. All else fails, tell the dealer and find out if it can be replaced under warranty, as it may be something beneath the glass.

I've heard a couple of people here note they could put on 265 width tires and didn't have rub issues. Didn't see any details on their choice of wheels though to compare to OEM. Offset plays a role as well. Not sure how close the stock size it to the spring cups, but once my factory set wears out I'll be looking for 255-265 width tires. Dodge had a Crossroad at Carlisle with 255 on it, and looked very nice. Much nicer than the skinny tires from the factory that make no sense.

Agreed... I'm irritated that my Journey does not have hard buttons for simple things like the heated seats and heated steering wheel. I can easily adjust the climate control, radio volume, etc. with little to no time with my eyes off the road. However anything that requires using the touch screen means I need to take my eyes off the road for more than a few seconds, or the task takes longer as I glance back and forth. In my 300M, I've replaced the radio with an android tablet to get the best nav experience and to have my entire music library in the car and directly connected to the audio system. I chose Android because I can customize the home screens to make it car friendly. BUT when the Android L update lands this fall and Motorola pushes it to my Moto X, I'm seriously looking into aftermarket options. Kenwood, JVC, Alpine, Pioneer, Panasonic all signed onto the Open Automotive Alliance and will produce head units that take advantage of Google's Android Auto system. It's a very clever system that uses your smartphone for all of the nifty things we want to do in the car. You plug the phone into the USB, at which point the phone's screen displays nothing more than a stylized "A" and doesn't do anything other than mirror itself to the radio screen. The radio screen takes all of the functions of the phone and presents them to you in a very clean and very simple way that looks to do a fantastic job of reducing not only driver distraction, but driver irritation as well. It's very clean and very simple/easy to use. I like the bragging right of saying I have an internet tablet instead of an actual radio, but I think the Google Android Auto (and the Apple CarPlay that works in much the same fashion) will solve almost all of the infotainment problems that have come up in the last ten years. I'm crossing my fingers that there might be a way to adapt the Uconnect system used in the Journey and millions of other Chrysler cars to use Android Auto or Apple Car Play via firmware flashing, since Chrysler Group and Fiat S.p.A also signed onto the OAA. May not happen since everyone keeps saying it would be for 2015 vehicles and onward, and aftermarket options don't look to exist given the 8.4 controls more than the radio.

You can safely drive with as few as three nuts on the car, though I wouldn't recommend it. Driving with four out of five is fine to the repair shop. I haven't looked at the wheel hubs for Journey's, but I doubt Dodge's usual design has changed since my LH 300M was produced. On my 2002 300M and my 2007 Charger, the wheel studs were pressed into the hub from the backside. It should be a simple repair for any competent shop.

Sounds like the major differences are visual styling. The V6, 6 speed, and AWD have to be added if they're desired (and I definitely wanted them). R/T guarantees you the mechanical goodies, and gives you a sporty look. Crossroad is optional and gives a different unique look and feel.

As was stated already, factory-installed tires tend to be lower in overall quality. My Charger had the factory Goodyear RS-As on it when I bought it at 28,000 miles. By 35,000 miles they were overdue and dangerous, and were never really all that good to start with. I replaced them with Kumho Ecsta 4X, which got me to about 71,000 miles. Replace them in February after spending this terrible winter powersliding around every intersection with Toyo Proxes 4, which gripped in the snow like superglue. So far the factory Kumho Solus on my R/T are fine, but I don't even have 4,000 miles on it yet. When this set wears out, I'm hoping to pick up a set of Grand Cherokee SRT wheels, 20x9, and fit them with a good set of Hankook tires, then fit the OEM 19" wheels with a set of Toyo Proxes 4 for winter duty. I have Hankook Ventus V12s on my 300M year-round (sits from November through April while old man winter has his way with the Great Lakes region and Detroit area) and so far I like the grip they provide, though I did notice some hydroplaning while driving through a nasty cell at 75 MPH a few weeks ago... nasty enough that other people were pulling over and I had to reduce speed to 35-40. Still didn't lose control.

What's the price difference? My 2014 R/T Rallye AWD retailed for $31,300 according to the window sticker (I bought it very lightly used and bought it when the dealer was having a sale on bunch of used SUVs). It has red stitched seats and steering wheel, 19" anthracite wheels, body color grille and door handles, R/T sport-tuned suspension, roof rails deleted. Some of these are unique to the Rallye appearance package, including the black headlight buckets. I bought my Journey because it fit all my needs for an amazing price, and looked cool to boot with the Rallye package. If I was going to order one from the factory, though, I'd get the Crossroad and then look into having the grille blacked out and the chrome-ish trim on the front fascia blacked out as well (not sure if it is already... I just hate the chrome grille on non-Rallye and non-Blacktop Journeys, and the front trim on the Crossroad is awkward to me). I like its wheels the best, and I wish my R/T had the lower side rails and darker tail lights. I might look into adding them down the road.

That's correct. On my 300M it is known that a TB spacer is pointless. A lower-intake-manifold spacer, however, has produced a dyno-proven 30 ft-lb torque improvement across the range. Your best bet is to see what other vehicles equipped with the Pentastar V6 are managing with regard to performance parts. The Avenger would be the closest cousin in engine layout and engine bay design.

Has the battery been replaced? As cars get to be more and more electronic in nature, an inconsistent power source can cause all kinds of havoc. Each time my Chargers battery died and I jumped it, I had to drive it around and restart it before the HVAC system would work properly (driving 17 miles to my old office in 5F weather with no heat was not fun). Just yesterday we put an RB1 Navigation system into a 300M special, and in the process the battery somehow died. Had enough to turn on interior lights and lock/unlock, but not start. I jumped it, and the screen on the RB1 did work right until I ran the engine for 20 minutes and restarted a couple times. The batteries on both cars are probably due soon (couldn't care less about the Charger now, traded it for my Journey in May). Batteries do go bad and with the volume needed to support Journey production, it would not surprise me in the least if you got a bad one that passed the production line quality checks and took some time to start failing.

Exactly. Every other car I see around the Detroit area is a Journey. It's a very popular vehicle, enough that it was a major point for Fiat in its acquisition of Chrysler since it wanted to sell the Journey badged as a Fiat in Europe. Trouble is, buyers want it for its versatility and family-friendliness (I wanted mine for toting the dog around and having a lot more cargo capacity than my Charger offered). They don't buy it to see if they can turn a 10-second quarter mile or lap M3s on the road course. Next year I'll be looking into wider wheels and tires and more low-end torque to satisfy my cravings... but that's it. Diablo is successful with the LX cars because there is a large following that wants to blow the doors off of Mustangs. If I want to do that, I'll buy a sports car as a toy, not a crossover.

Dealer service departments typically won't do anything that isn't specified as a dealer-installed feature. It's installed at the factory, which may mean some unique way of installing the OEM wiring and antenna that the dealer service manual doesn't describe, and they don't want to be liable for anything. I heard there's a module you can buy that mounts behind the 8.4 screen, and when you turn the screen off it automatically switches into Garmin nav mode. I don''t have a link for it and haven't looked into it, but there was a YouTube video showing the installation in a Charger.

I tell myself that every time... I'm moving at the end of the year hopefully into a house. If it remains within 5 miles of the office, I'm investing in a bicycle and leaving the Journey and M at home.

I haven't, largely because they do more harm than good, and don't function very well. If I was going that route, I would just shoot a coat of flat clear Plasti-Dip on it instead. The problem with clear bras is they don't cover critical areas such as corners and many edges, they leave a line along the hood and fender (the marketing team can swear up and down that it's invisible until they're blue in the face, it's not invisible), they're prone to marring and weathering that necessitates replacement, and I've heard that peeling it off after it's been there for several years is arduous and dangerous for the finish. I'd rather use something I can remove and install at-will. The full bra would be used for long trips to other regions of the country. The hood bra would be used for trips within a few hours of home that involve highways.

The worst I have seen was about 16-17 MPG, or 14.7-13.8 L/100km. I've yet to consume one full tank with strictly commuting, since I drive a lot to the gym, post office, and grocery store after the rush when the traffic is better and I don't spend much time sitting.

Exactly. It's more of a bright indicator than an actual light with a usable beam. Usually another variant of the 3157 size bulbs. Some have pairs, some that were designed on other continents swap out a reverse light for a red rear fog light. If you've ever seen Top Gear UK early in the series reboot, when the car used for "celebrity in a reasonably priced car" was a Suzuki Liana, there is one red and one white light flanking the number plate. Red for fog, white for reverse. A lot of newer cars on US roads have a pair of reflectors in the rear fascia down low because the EU version has lights there, and the manufacturer wasn't interested in paying for multiple expensive large rear fascia tools to have a US version and a EU version. Cheaper to buy reflectors in bulk for markets that don't require rear fog lamps.

Does anyone have or know of a front-end mask for the Journey? More specifically, for the 2011+ style front fascia. My 2014 R/T already has a small chip or two in the paint, so I'd like to get a full mask for long trips, and use the hood piece locally, to guard against rock chips. I use a genuine Mopar front mask on my 300M Special for long trips and the hood bra for shorter trips and it fits very well. JC Whitney appears to have a Colgan bra for the 2011 (strangely lists nothing for 2012, 2013, 2014) for $160. I've seen links for Covercraft and LeBra as well, however never any images of the actual product. LeBra and Covercraft make bras for the M, however the LeBra has a terrible design for the lower section of the fascia, and terrible way of mounting it under the hood, while the Covercraft has a poor mounting system around the sides. The genuine Mopar bra is the best fit of the three. I'd like to see each model before pulling the trigger... I found an image of a LeBra on a Journey on eBay that appeared to also suffer from terrible underhood design (top edge of the lower bra section stops at the hood line, rather than continuing under the hood and connecting there, resulting in exposure of the upper edge of the grill and fascia). The only Covercraft image I could find is of the early/AVP style front fascia. I can't find any images of Colgan or Mopar bras. I believe those would be the best fit, as my OEM Mopar bra and the Colgan bra are both like second skins on the 300M. Anyone??

My daily commute is 6 miles round trip of pure stop-n-go. Sometimes I'll be pleasantly surprised and have to sit through only 2-3 traffic signal cycles per intersection. Most of the time it's 5-6 cycles. If traffic is bad, 10+ cycles. Takes 40 minutes to drive 3 miles if I don't spot the backup and take the empty side roads instead (which still involve heavy traffic). Troy is busy replacing huge swaths of concrete on one of the cross roads between the lab and my apartment, which isn't helping. I'm at 3800 miles now, so that's why I got to thinking about it. I'm thinking I'll have it done either when the light comes on, or at 5,000 miles. Whichever comes first. I used to do 5,000 OCIs on my Special with synthetic oil before the lab told me I could do 7,000 miles, which puts that car at fewer than one change per year...