B4ZINGA

Lows on with Highs is something Chrysler does... my Intrepids, Charger did it. My 300M and Journey do it. Turning the foglights off with high beam is a state/federal requirement I believe. I'm not sure if all states have that, but manufacturers do it to be 50 state legal (kind of like all cars passing CARB requirements even though that's only needed for California). Every state I've lived in (Florida, Jersey, PA, Michigan) limits drivers to three sets of lights on at any given time... and parking lights are counted as one set. Cops in those states can pull you over if you have the fog lights on along with lows, highs, and parking lights. I haven't seen it happen... but then I also don't see many people modding their foglight systems.

It's my understanding that Magnaflow mufflers drone far more than Flowmaster units. I had Flowmaster Super 44s (2) on my old 3.1L Grand Prix. They sounded very nice with no drone. They replaced the single rear resonator using a Y-pipe. A friend of mine had a complete Magnaflow cat-back installed on his 2008 300C SRT 6.1L at Carlisle... He drove the car back home to Boston and the severe drone made him want to throw up. He dumped it as soon as he got home and got the Corsa cat-back. On my 300M Special, I replaced the OEM rear resonators and 3" tips with Cherry Bomb Vortex mufflers and generic 4" tips. The sound is perfect and drone is minimal. There is some driving locally, however the RPMs constantly change and the drone isn't loud, so it hasn't been an issue. Almost unnoticable even to passengers who would normally b*tch. Gone when music is playing. The idle has a nice growl to it.

Leatherique: http://www.autogeek.net/leleca.html Zaino: http://www.zainostore.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=Z&Category_Code=interiortires Journey very likely uses leatherette, and not real leather anywhere in the vehicle, so Zaino Leather-In-A-Bottle should be sufficient. Actual leather is used in more expensive vehicles, such as high end Chrysler, Lincoln Black Label. Cadillac, etc.

If you're willing to get spendy, a customs shop should be able to make an air-ride system that allows you to raise and lower the vehicle within a certain range. I doubt there is an existing system that can bolt in, so it would have to be custom. You can probably fit the air tanks and compressor in the load floor if you have a 5-passenger model.

Products I've used in the past are Lexol Cleaner and Lexol Conditioner, Meguiar's Leather Conditioner (Gold Class), Leatherique ($$$), and Zaino Z-9 and Z-10 (cleaner and conditioner, respectively). Run away from Armor All like a scalded cat. For the casual vehicle owner, Lexol and Meguiar's are the way to go to get something fast (available at parts stores) and cheap. For those wanting to go a bit further, Leatherique is a good product that goes deep into the hide and pushes out dirt, industrial fallout, etc, and is advertised to make stiff leather supple again (I have not had that success, yet). Zaino is my go-to product. The cleaner works better than Lexol at getting the Light Taupe seats in my Special clean and the conditioner is stupid-easy to use, and succeeds in making the leather feel new and smell new again. On paper, Zaino is pricey, however the trick is "a little goes a long way". Minimal amounts of the product are needed, and the bottle will last a long time. What I do is use Leatherique once per year in the Spring, and use Zaino whenever I detail my interior (monthly). Leatherique requires at least a day time investment to allow the rejuvinator oil to sink into the hide. It's also pricey and available online only. Zaino is also an online product. Something to note: Leather is not common in cars. All cars that don't have cloth interiors are vinyl, vinyl/leather, or leather. Bentley's use leather. Chryslers use leather where your hind-side sits and vinyl elsewhere. Dodge definitely uses vinyl on its seatbacks and sides, and more than likely where you sit as well, except for maybe the high dollar optional leathers (that aren't offered on Journey). My Journey gets only the Zaino treatment, as there isn't much point to using the Leatherique on vinyl. The makers say it works on vinyl, but I found I was better able to clean my seats using Zaino. The leatherique I use in my Special to help hydrate the material and stave off cracks.

If I shine a good light on the fenders, or the sun is at the right angle, I can see the metal. I can also see where the clear coat is almost non-existent on the edges of the fenders next to the hood. I have to remember to take it in for warranty repair.

The only issues with my 2014 R/T have been the washer fluid sensor crapping out at 13,000 miles (for some reason, Dodge sensors after 2007 dissolve when using RainX solvent), an annoying whine from the 3.6 that I'm hoping is just the idler pulley that has a TSB out on it, and thin paint. It seems Toluca's paint shop is in need of upgrading. Otherwise it's been a great car, almost 18,000 miles now. I plan on keeping it at least until I buy a house in a couple of years.

I don't know how the roads are in St. Louis, but I'd be willing to be the two wheels in question got out of round during normal driving and a recent rotation/re-balancing revealed the issue when they couldn't be balanced, so a tech wrote BENT on the wheels and the service adviser either wasn't informed, or neglected to mention it.

Downshifting while coasting downhill is normal when it detects the vehicle is gaining speed without driver input via the accelerator pedal. AWD is normally off, and kicks on only when the traction control system detects wheel slip at the front wheels. Switching off the traction control (or as much of it as the TCS button permits), turns on the AWD all the time (until TCS is turned on again). During the winter months, when the snow is fresh, I'll locate a large empty parking lot and have some fun with my AWD R/T's TCS dialed down. Yes, you can kick out the rear end of a Journey, and do donuts. When it's snowy, anyway.

It looks like these were written on quite a while ago. I haven't seen assembly line operators write on parts, they usually enter notes on a piece of paper or plastic wrap stuck to the vehicle. Suppliers will write DEFECT, D, S, SCRAP or some indication that part is no good directly on the part so it does not get shipped, but their operators sometimes let things slip. I would think it would get caught at the assembly plant. The plant for the headliner program I'm on isn't shy about telling us when a defective part hits their floor and the assembled vehicle has to go in to the repair station. If it did somehow make it through inspection like that, I'd be surprised that no techs in two years have discovered it until now. But, it's not relevant now. The wheels need to be replaced. Hopefully your warranty is still good, since you can't prove it was delivered like that.

Depends on the trip. When we drove to Alpena and back, I used a front end mask to catch the bugs and washed the car when we got back. Driving to Port Huron for work, I do it when I do it. I need to do it this weekend...

My plan is to find a set of Toyo Proxes 4 in a wider size (preferably 255/50/19). I had this model on my Charger (245/45/20) at the end of Winter in early 2014 and it performed very well. I didn't have the car long enough after they were installed (traded on the Journey) to find out how they performed once they start wearing, however they performed better than the Kumho Ecsta 4x they replaced when those were new. Quiet, excellent traction in snow and rain. My Kumhos currently have 17,400 on them and measured 7-7.5/32" depth last week, so I'm expecting to get get 40,000 miles out of them. Won't be for another two years, minimum.

Even though it's a 2014, I'd say it's a write-off. Looking at the way the hood is cocked over and the passenger doors are sticking out, there's a lot of structural damage. But, the important thing is wife and child are okay. They'll be shaken and should be checked out for whiplash... but I'm guessing you already did that if her wrist was found to be broken. That's going to hurt quite a bit, hopefully the doctors set it right and she won't need surgery. Friend of mine was rear-ended in his Mercedes C300 a few years ago and pushed into oncoming traffic. The car saved his life and the worst was a broken ankle, but he had to have surgery and still isn't 100% right.

AVP and SE still have the old style front and rear fascias, however SE has the LED tail lights and both have the split grill and DODGE across the liftgate, as well as the new style interior.

FYI, a later model R/T with body color door handles (such as my 2014) is likely a Rallye. Rallye also deletes the roof rails and trades the chrome grille and headlamps for blacked-bucket headlamps and body color grilles. For some reason they didn't put a Rallye badge on it like they do on the Dart Rallye and new Charger SXT Rallye. Seeing chrome handles is more likely to be a Crew (up until 2013) or Limited (replaced Crew).

It's optional. I'm glad I have it, thought I wish the second row headrests weren't so tall, or folded down as well. Kinda of annoying having to recline the front seats forward each time I want to fold the second row down.

I have Husky liners for the front seats, and cheap parts store rubber mats in the rear seats, both work well. I have rear passengers maybe 2-3x a year, so that isn't a concern. The front seat mats are molded to the car with a rollover section near the carpet retainer, and covers the dead pedal. I always have my foot on the dead pedal, which the OEM mats don't cover, and the one in my old Charger got ruined after one nasty winter. Not taking that chance on this car. The driver's molded mat does seem to be wearing where my heels go, but it hasn't been a problem. I've had them for almost a year.

I'm already aware of the information on that page and what octane means, and I'm sure the lack of ethanol helps (do any metropolitan stations offer ethanol-free fuel anymore?). I have seen data collected by hypermilers, people who go out of their way to eek out every millimeter they can from a gallon, and reducing the cents-per-mile cost of their car, supporting premium octane fuels performing better, though the improvement is far too small to be worth the price increase. I have seen no data supporting the claim that premium fuel results in lower economy when it isn't called for. Do you have that data to share?

More often than not, high octane results in better fuel economy. However, the cost differential does not support using the higher octane as the increase in economy tends to be minimal. Lately my R/T AWD has been in the 17 range, driving four miles one way to work with plenty of stops and traffic on the way. On the highway, I can get 26-28 at 75 MPH with four adults and luggage. I rented a base SXT V6 AWD for a trip to Toronto, and at 65 MPH with just me, my suitcase for the week, and my computer bag, I got 32 MPG.

Anyone with a Crossroad that wants tinted tail lights... I'll switch lights with you so you can tint my basic lights and I can have the Crossroad style! Tinting tailights is something that never really stuck with me, and I've never done it. This winter I'm hoping to have the time to open up a set of tail lights for my 300M, paint the turn signal and brake light sections gloss black, install custom made LED arrays, paint the turn signal portion of the lens red to match the brake section, and have a pretty cool looking set of lights. Depends on how the chrome reverse light section reacts to being taped off, as that needs to stay chrome for optimal rear visibility at night. We'll see, one planned winter project among many.

Not precisely true. 300 SRT was axed for much of the world, except for the Middle East, South Africa, and Australia. There is a 2016 300 SRT that us Yankees and Canucks are deprived of.

My thoughts exactly. Referring to him as a douchebag is a nice way of putting it.

Not necessarily... I've seen some horrible projectors, and given these are halogen projectors it's a sure bet that the effect of throwing in HIDs would not be too far off from throwing HID into the OEM lights. It would be better than the factory setup, though.

Good to see it was just a computer barf. 16,800 trouble-free (and tow-free) miles on mine so far. The transaxle is controlled entirely by computer in these cars. I can tell the difference when I get into my older 300M that has cable-op throttle and gear input, with snappier response and better "feel" (resistance). Sometimes I wonder what I'll do when the best replacement for my car ends up being entirely electronically controlled... doesn't sit well with me at all.

Just to correct some information. Regarding offset, the lower the number, the further away from the suspension the wheel is. So, a +25 offset will stick out more than a +35 offset. Likewise a +35 offset will be tucked in more than a +25 offset. I did some searching on Journey wheels and found that the Journey 19" wheel is 19"x7", 71.5" hub bore, +35mm offset. When I buy 20"x8.5" wheels, I will try to get them in a +30 offset to ensure they're pushed out to the fender edges for a more aggressive look than stock. Generally speaking, I've found that for every 0.5" of added wheel width, you should also add 5 mm to the offset to avoid the wheel and tire sticking out beyond the fender. A +40 offset seems a little overkill to me as far as tucking the tire in, and may explain why your 265 tire was rubbing. Looking at those Helo wheels, I'm not surprised they were clipping the calipers. Brake pads generally aren't thicker from pad to pad. There may be minor tolerance differences from manufacturer to manufacturer, but there is only so far your caliper can extend, so they tend to be the same. The design of the Helo wheels is to blame. They were designed for cars with smaller rotors and calipers. You would want the 22" version to fit on your Journey. Installing fresh pads and rotors brought the calipers out to the factory dimensions, which the Helos crashed with.