B4ZINGA

Detroit is supposed to get above freezing, to the mid thirties, for a couple days starting Sunday (Happy March! Three more weeks until Winter succumbs to Still Winter!). I just might get the opportunity to wash it... if it stays that warm after work. I hit the touchless Tuesday night, then it snowed overnight and the wet roads Wednesday turned it white again. Went back the touchless Wednesday night, and it snowed yesterday. It's white again. I give up.

I tend not to click on threads more than 4 or 5 pages in length unless the title is enticing.

Thanks for the picture, it does look like a decent cutoff for an aftermarket projector. It's difficult to tell if there are hotspot, though, given how close you are to the house. Are you able to take a picture of it from a further distance from the wall? With the car 15+ feet (25 preferred, but I don't know how long your driveway is) back from the wall. That will tell us if there is any hotspotting or glare above the cutoff. Almost looked like there was, but I think that was the light on the house lol. Found it on Amazon... wow, $720 shipped and before buying bulbs/HID kit. But that makes two models to choose from if you don't do your own retrofit. The other set is $660 shipped and resembles the OEM design, with DRL along the bottom.

I honestly haven't heard about pressing the defrost twice for anything... I guess that's somewhere on the forum that I'll eventually run across lol.

I'd be interested to know if you had a local shop make the headlights, made them yourself, or bought them complete as-is. If the latter, is there a link? Regarding cutoff, as Lobitz said it's the line the low beam lights make on a wall where the light stops, and turns to darkness. On some aftermarket assemblies that cutoff isn't very sharp, or isn't flat. I'm curious what this looks like as well.

I get no album art from bluetooth! Back end gets filthy fast?? Sounds horrible when it's -10F! *never comes back* *FYI, only kidding, you're stuck with me until I sell it in a few years, bwa-haha*

I'll wait for you to come back from vaca (hope it's someplace that escapes all this horrible artic air!), but I have two 2014 VINs ready for DRL!

Holy old thread... I giggled when the OP said he was taking it to his dealer. Because of all creatures in the universe, dealer techs have the ability to rewrite the laws of physics... all my years in college studying for my degree in physics were wasted!

You can search for 3757 as well. I wasn't aware JC platform uses 3757.

They're common on eBay. Search "3157 switchback" and you'll get many many hits. I have a set in my 300M Special that I had to put in after I upgraded to clear lenses. Note: They are LED. I don't know if the JS/JC platform was fitted with electronic flashers. If not, the system will think the bulb is out and switch to hyper-flash. I had to upgrade the flasher on my M concurrently.

Hopefully this fixes some of the LOUD noises my R/T makes when I start it. It hasn't risen over 10F in a while and the noise is apparent every time after it sits for a few hours.

This is why no one should ever open their door until they're ready to leave the car, and have checked for traffic... Cost to fix depends on the body shop you choose. You're looking at a new door, door panel, fender, hinges, paint, and possible unibody repair. Many thousands of dollars.

You should smell the area of the lab I work with after a round of deployment tests are finished... whoo boy... Glad you're alright, and good to know these cars do a good job of protecting their passengers.

If I wasn't already set on selling mine in 4 years, I'd be chopping off the rear mufflers and welding Borla Pro-XS mufflers in their place, possibly replacing them with straight pipe first just to find out what that's like. I imagine straight pipes would produce some drone though, especially since the cargo area isn't walled off like it is in a sedan.

Best of luck. Three things sold me on the Journey over the Cherokee. I'm not ready to buy into the 9-speed until it has been out for a few years on several popular models, the cargo area was just too small for my 40-lb retriever to be comfortable, and I made out well on the price of my Journey, since I am actually the second owner and got it with 2,000 miles. First owner's wife wanted "more content" and a Grand Cherokee, so I got $7k off MSRP buying it used. We'll see what the next Cherokee, Grand Cherokee, and Journey-replacement are like around 2018.

My Special is the one I'm OCD about. Right now there are only four sets of hands in the world I seek out when work is needed. Mine, my friend Bob in NJ, a trans place near my office, and a mechanic about 30-40 minutes away in the next county. I also trust most of the people in the enthusiast's club who know those cars inside and out blindfolded. My Journey is my daily driver. It's my truck, my beater, the car I intend to get rid of once something better comes along that I can afford. I'm comfortable taking it to the dealer for warranty work, oil changes, tire rotations. When it needs tires I'll take it to Discount Tire or Belle Tire (I take the wheels off my Special and run them over to Discount Tire when it needs new shoes, I won't let them touch the car and I stand there watching them work on my expensive wheels). When it needs repair outside of the warranty it will go to that same mechanic. When it needs brakes I'll do them myself with better components than a dealer would use. As it ages I'll look more into doing the work myself, but I don't see myself owning it after 2018/2019 when the new Grand Cherokee and Journey-replacement have been out and are ready for me to make serious offers on. It has 10,500 miles now, so I expect it will have close to 60,000 miles, and I don't anticipate there being a need for anything more than fluids, tires, rotations, filters, and front brakes.

If you intend to do *any* towing, and think you'd want AWD (living in Alabama I'm not sure AWD would be useful to you, but you know your needs better than I do), then the 4-cyl should not be on your radar. It comes with a towing rating of 500 lbs, and is strictly FWD. Car rags will hate the Journey for only one reason... the 4-cylinder. It's not that it's a bad engine, it's just incredibly anemic and pointless in a 4200-lb vehicle. If I had to go into a dealer today for new FCA vehicle, it would not be anything with a 4-cylinder engine (and that sentiment won't change until the Hurricane engines are in production for a year or so). It will have either a Pentastar or a Hemi, or a diesel (obviously PStar in the Journey). As for the year, I wouldn't even bother with a pre-12 Journey. 2009 was the first year and had the most issues. 2010 was better, but still had issues like pre-mature brake failure and a chintzy interior. For 2011 many of the issues were fixed, especially the brakes with new 14" front discs and dual-piston grabbers, which you can upgrade to if you got the 09. The interior was completely overhauled and is lightyears ahead. Exterior wasn't very different initially, but by 2012 all Journeys except AVP had the upgraded fascias that differentiate them from the Caravans and make them look like true CUVs. They also finally got into the 21st century by offering the Pentastar instead of the old 3.5, and 6 cogs instead of 4 or 5. Only issue with the 6A is there is the occasional jolt when you shift into drive from park or reverse. I'm not aware of any issues caused by that, but I found that it can be reduced if you pause in neutral for a few seconds before going into drive and setting off. The issue doesn't exist if you shift between reverse and drive, and park and drive, if you've already been driving since starting the car. The newer years also gets you a few modern enhancements such as keyless enter-n-go (handle senses your hand and fob and unlocks the car for you, push button start, button on the handle to lock the car), LED rear tail lights, LED interior lights, etc.

I've been counting my blessings so far. Since my Grand Prix, every car I've owned has been tapped in the back at least once. My Grand Prix, my 300M Special, my Road & Track Charger... Not my Journey, yet. It's only been just over 8 months so there's plenty of time for a dingbat to hit me. Especially since Michigan appears to have no driver's ed course... they just hand licenses out to anyone who pays the fee. That's gotta be it...

If there is a difference, it'll be in the rear springs.

The snow mounds on either side of my driveway are more than halfway up my Journey. My Journey left Mexico in a black color, and Michigan has repainted it white/brown/gray/nasty. .... not especially interested in hearing about "nice days" hundreds of miles away while my back and ab muscles scream. I really need a snow blower...

From my limited experience with our R/T Rallye AWD and SXT Blacktop FWD (I'm not allowed to drive the Blacktop), the Blacktop's suspension is a step under the R/T in terms of performance and a step above the 2013 Crew we tested early last year. I would imagine that Crew had the touring suspension. My R/T is more composed during spirited driving, and we bang our hands on my lift gate more than the SXT due to it being closer to the ground. The SXT Blacktop is a decent performer, though not as stiff as my R/T. That Crew was definitely plusher and absorbed the meteor impacts and canyons on the roads a lot better. My guess is Dodge accomplished this by using lowering springs with higher spring rates, and thicker sway bars, and matched the springs with higher valve rate struts. When you upgrade to stiffer springs, it's a good idea to match the struts and a bad idea to stick with the softer strut -- they'll wear out faster. So, if you wanted to get the R/T suspension, it would be best to get the springs, struts, sway bars. If you go onto cars.com you can search for R/Ts, get the VIN, and ask the dealer parts department for suspension part numbers on that VIN. Then you can go onto online parts discount sites to get the cost. Is it worthwhile? Personally, I would have repeated what I already did and bought the R/T (you get more than just the suspension). If I was in the position you are in, I would get aftermarket struts, H&R lowering springs, R/T sway bars, upsize the wheels, and call it a day without trying to get OEM part numbers together. The sway bars alone are probably enough to get what you're looking for, in tandem with upsize wheels (thinner sidewalls reduces tire flexing). Whatever you decide, don't expect the ride to go from a what it is now to a GT race car. You're gonna have a bad day if you have that expectation.

Dodge traction control systems are a hated miserable relic from Mercedes. They're excellent for lane-keeping in inclement weather. Around town, it sucks all of the power away from you and stops you cold, which only serves to get you even more stuck and can be hazardous if it leaves part of the car in oncoming traffic. I find it's best to turn it off (to the extent the button allows) driving around town in order maintain traction and momentum. The rear bias in my AWD system kicks the tail out, which I prefer as I can get better control and point the car the direction I want to go. Doing that, I had no trouble driving around last night or this morning in spite of the 16.7" recorded at Metro Airport last night. Other people... not so much.

As I recall, the later models received dual-piston calipers with 13" rotors. They fill the void inside the front wheels rather well. My 14 Journey hasn't had any unusual brake issues.

Incidentally I notice some odd sounds yesterday while the hood was open and the cold engine was running. Seemed to last a lot longer than I'm used to, a few minutes. Wasn't high pitched though, it sounded more like a louder lifter tap. I figured it sounded louder simply because the hood and hood insulator were upright, and not blocking the sound coming from the engine bay.

Current 5-year plan calls for Journey-replacement D-segment CUV launching mid-2016, SRT trim launching late 2016, 2017 MY. Current rumors on the the vehicles underpinnings are CUSW (Dart, Cherokee, 200), and D-RWD. D-RWD is being co-developed by Alfa and Dodge for RWD mid-size sedans. It is primarily to improve Alfas portfolio, with Dodge assisting to increase ROI on the new platform. I'm leaning towards and hoping for D-RWD, as it would certainly be interesting and would fall in line with FCAs plans to make Dodge the sports-car brand. In support of that they've already dumped the FWD Avenger, are planning on dump Grand Caravan in the US, and have major changes planned for Dart and Journey (D-segment CUV, still no confirmation that it will be called Journey). If they follow through using D-RWD, use styling from the Dart concept car shown last year at SEMA and the SRT Charger, I'll be listening very intently and my wallet will be sweating bullets.