B4ZINGA

Daylight opening trim is what I've seen a number of times for window trim. Don't ask me why some OEMs have to make it complicated and not call them windows...

Actually, hub caps these days are only used on heavy duty trucks and police vehicles. What passenger cars have are wheel covers -- they cover the entire wheel, rather than just the hub area. This is because it is cheaper to produce an ugly steel wheel that can be produced by the millions to reduce production costs and slap a piece of plastic over it than it is to produce a better looking unique wheel with a hub cap like they did in the early days before alloy wheels became more of a thing. Most base model mass-market vehicles have steel wheels with wheel covers rather than pricier alloy wheels that cost 2-3x as much. Replacing those steel wheels still puts your wallet on a diet, though. $150 apiece on my sisters 2005 Impala LS. Meanwhile the alloys on my Special are $400 apiece at the dealer. That gets to be expensive in Detroit, so I've invested in tires with a bit more meat in the sidewall.

I remembered, just forgot to post lol. Here are flash and no flash shots. I need to position them a bit better since I vacuumed last week in the cold and threw them back in. Driver Passenger

If I remember to, I'll snap one when I leave work in a few hours.

I realize we now know the panel and screw didn't hurt anything, but it's worthwhile to point out that wire bundles tend to not be near the garnish and hard trim (carpet retainers, pillar trim, cargo hard trim), so your fire extinguisher bracket wouldn't hurt anything. I was starting to think there was a pinch in the wireset going into the liftgate. Remember, that wireset controls the wiper motor, reverse lights, and parking lights for the inner lights, as well as the interior cargo light, license plate lights, and exterior electronic lock button. Given the wiper was running when in reverse, I'd say there was pinch that connected the reverse lamp power to the wiper motor power and it energized while in reverse. The fix is likely a new wire harness and new boot (accordian-shaped tube going from the body to the liftgate),

For the slow downshift, I'd suggest checking your transaxle fluid and having it changed if it hasn't been already. Typical transaxle fluid changes are every 30,000 miles, sometimes 60,000 miles depending on the vehicle. The powertrain is your engine. Replacing tires will not effect a "cracked" powertrain. You're probably referring to something in the drivetrain (transaxle, AWD transfer case, axle shafts and CV joints). I've heard AWD systems are vulnerable to bad tires. Regarding your current noise, it sounds a lot like a bad hub or CV. Does the noise increase with vehicle speed (not engine speed)?

Typical lifespan for a Mopar battery is 7 years. The battery in my Special started to show EOL signs right around 7 years old. I've replaced it a few times with A/M batteries and just got used to having to remove the air intake and front passenger wheel to gain access. My Charger was 7 years old with the original battery when I traded it, and in spite of numerous drainings from my pocket hitting the trunk button as I went somewhere in my Special, or the dieing ignition switch keeping my accessories on, it was still going strong. I won't even be thinking of my Journey's battery until 2021, if I even still have the car.

Never would I expect a brick-and-mortar store to carry something so specific, even if the model is popular. I ordered a set of front Huskyliner mats from CardID and couldn't be happier. They're made from a flexible, durable plastic with spikes to hold it to the carpet. It comes up on all sides to effectively protect the carpet, and comes up over the entry side close to the factory carpet retainers. Once I have the cargo section, I'll be set. I don't have more than one passenger very often, so I can stick to the universal auto parts store mats for the second row.

Photo bucket. Normally I attach straight from my phone, but this forum doesn't support Tapatalk and attaching in Chrome apparently gives the full resolution HDR image.

That was one of the deciding factors that got me into my Journey instead of a Cherokee. Beyond the Cherokee that I wanted being $5k+ more expensive, and not terribly spacious enough for my dog (the main reason I was looking for a wagon in the first place), was the engine and transaxle. The Journey's 3.6L/6-speed auto combination had already been use in a mass market vehicle (several, even) for a few years. Other than the occasional "thunk" we all get going from Park to Drive, I haven't had issues. The Cherokee is the first to use the 3.2L and 9-speed combination, in the first year of production. I wasn't willing to be a guinea pig... even the auto rags continue to point out how rough the 9-speed still appears to be. I want a Journey SRT, the first MY of which should be 2017, however I'll wait for the 2018 or 2019 MY. By then my Journey will have been paid off and I can take my time selling it privately without headaches for more cash to put down on the SRT.

Not as unusual as you might think... especially around here. Last winter I read an article on the potholes around SE Michigan and there was a story of guy who had to flatbed his Jaguar into Discount Tire after all four wheels were bent on the same massive pothole. He had to submit an insurance claim for that one...

Still shining while getting some nom noms.

That's the beauty of Zaino AIO, dirt don't stick to clean! It rained a few hours after the pics were taken. Not hard, but enough to bead up all over the car. There is minimal spotting left behind after driving to work (avg 30 MPH). Most of it is on the windows, which I did not have the daylight for treating with RainX after spending time buffing out the scratches in the rear fascia.

Not to be a jerk... but is it that hard to click up the window buttons when you park and let them close themselves before you open the door? R/T trim has one-touch up/down for both front windows.

If there was any wood around here, I'd be knocking on it. I haven't been rear-ended in my Journey, yet. Every car I've owned longer than a year has been rear ended. My Grand Prix was hit twice before I sold it. My Special was hit once, but it was a good excuse to repair damage from the previous owner on insurance dime. My Charger was hit by an uninsured stripper a few months after moving to the Detroit area. I fear getting hit around here since Michigan carries the highest insurance rates in the country due to it being a no-fault state, and half the people in the Detroit area don't carry insurance at all. They get it for one month every year to renew their registration and then drop it, then proceed to drive as though the road belongs to them and TRY to get into a wreck.

Thanks, guys. Never have and never will buy any sort of deflector for any vehicle. For long highway trips I use full car bras. Daily commute is in town.

Finally had a warm day to clean the daily. Hit the self-serve, then dried and went home. Used a spray wash from Griots Garage to clean the rest of the grime. Zaino AIO applied to the paint. Cleaned the windows and mirrors. Cleaned the wheels and tires with citrus purple power. Applied 303 Aerospace protectant to the inside dash, door panels, console, weatherstripping. Also took some Meguiars M105 compound to some scratches in the rear fascia.

It can be hit or miss. When I traded in my 2007 Charger, the salesman was knowledgeable about the Grand Cherokee's and Journey's I looked at. But, when his appraiser test drove my Charger, they insisted it was worth less money than I wanted for it because of some hesitation and they thought there was a problem. I politely informed them that all LX vehicles of that vintage are like that by design, and they would not be permitted to low-ball me because of their franchiser's designs. People in the LX community corrected that by way of retuning the PCM for better response. I told them unless they pumped up that number by $1,000, there would be no deal. Thankfully they didn't notice that one foglight was out, the passenger headlight was hit or miss due to HID on a CAN-BUS car, and the crack in the rear fascia due to a negligent uninsured stripper rear-ending it last year...

Not all turbos require premium. 1.4L Turbo Chevrolet cars run 87. Hopefully Dodge and Chrysler are better at designing turbo engines than Ford is. I've heard of a lot of Ecoboosted engines, at the least the early ones, having turbo problems. Turbo Mazdas as well... the turbocharged Mazdaspeed3 didn't even have warranty coverage for the turbo system, I'm told.

There were rumors of a Journey SRT for 2010, that never came to fruition. The Journey-replacement SRT is an unknown at present. Unknown meaning there's no confirmation of platform for the car, dimensions, 5- or 7-passenger options (there are Hemi 7-passenger Durangos... no SRT version?), or even the name of the vehicle. It's constantly referred to as "Journey-replacement". The two best rumors at this point are it being on the CUSW platform with Dart, 200, Cherokee (none of which are 7-passenger mall-crawlers) or follow the trend set by the current Journey and be the stretched SUV version of the Dodge sedan that winds up on the D-RWD platform co-developed with Alfa Romeo. Either of those platforms will certainly make a sport model like an SRT easy and justifiable since both platforms are designed to be much more than simple A-to-B cars. I can't wait. Journey is the last FWD Dodge car that has no performance attributes in current production with no confirmed future plans beyond the rumors (the dead Avenger was a half-decent attempt that Dodge passed up the opportunity to have fun with, and Caravan is slated for discontinuation in the US).

This is true. There were one or two times in Detroit's record winter snowfall last year where I wish my old Charger could send a little bit of its 390 ft-lbs to the front wheels. I didn't get stuck, but it would have been nice. I had to keep traction control turned off (or as "off" as the TC button granted me) just to get going from a stop light. With the Journey this year I've driven in accumulated snow only once (rather worringly, it hasn't snowed significantly yet, which might be an omen of what's yet to come...) and I felt the AWD kick on a few times with a rear bias to help make turns onto the unplowed residential roads in the metro area. For kicks, I kept my foot in it coming out of the labs parking lot with no traffic and managed to powerslide a bit. I'll admit it, I'm a child from time to time... On a side note, regarding driver skill, sometimes the opposite is true. Last winter I recall overtaking a Range Rover 4x4 in my RWD sport package Charger in several inches of snow, and I wasn't even trying to show off. A few years ago I drove a rented 2011 Ford Focus SES (the sport model) from Philly to Knoxville and back for Xmas. It snowed while were there, and naturally TN and that part of VA aren't equipped to plow the roads. Local drivers and their big 4x4 Tahoes, Durangos, Expeditions, Yukons, Higlanders, Titans, etc. were overly cautious in the slow lane. The fast lane was relatively untouched and snow covered, and I had no problems passing them in the Focus, which has relatively poor inclement weather motoring abilities (almost got stuck going uphill in a minor blizzard the week before in the same car). Other end of the spectrum, I suppose, proving that 4WD is not inherently superior to 2WD, absent the operator using the organ in their skull. I know, I know, that's asking too much of some people...

Exactly. Drive like a jerk, and even a Jeep won't save you. Drive cautiously and you'll be fine with 4x4, AWD, SH-AWD, FWD, RWD, 1WD, 0WD... sorry, carried away.

You can upload the video to YouTube, then share the link.

Being an engineer in the Detroit auto industry, I was told I need to consider CR to be gospel. I couldn't disagree more. I can't help but notice how they give high praise to the tin cans that Toyota produces, and then turn around and run Mopar vehicles through the meat grinder. I've owned many Mopars, including two deep within the Daimler years (still own one of them, my favorite) and I haven't had any unusual problems. Yet I'm always hearing about people being on a first name basis with the service manager at their dealer for other makes, primarily the Germans. Toyotas and Hondas are reliable, I'll give them that, but there is nothing pleasant about them and so far they're no more reliable than any Dodge or Chrysler I've owned.

It still doesn't make sense to me. With 4.4 miles, that means the car was loaded onto a hauler in Toluca in 2013, delivered to your dealer, and has sat for two years. That would explain why the price is so good, I just have a hard time understanding why a dealer would let a car sit on its lot untouched for 1.5-2 years. Must be a massive dealership. I've heard of people buying cars and trading them pretty quick. That's how I got my Journey R/T. A guy bought it for his wife with 157 miles on it as a surprise gift while she was out of town. She returned, and hated it because she wanted more content. They traded it a month later with 1500 miles for a Grand Cherokee. The dealer must have driven it a lot after that, because I bought from them a month after it was traded with 2086 miles for almost $7k off MSRP. Their loss was my gain!