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Dodge Caliber Tire and Wheels
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I dumped this Dodge Caliber 2006 R/T and have not regretted it or looked back.
Good luck to all who can't get rid of the thing because it has lost it's value and you will be stuck with it. Just as soon as they put new tires on mine, I turned right around and went back on the same lot before I left, and bought a used 2004 Pontiac Grand Prix GT. The Car dealership was so happy that I was going to actually be out of their hair with me giving this car up for good for them to re-sell to some other poor fool. I tracked the sale of the car and it was re-sold to a person just about
40 miles from me in Traverse City, Mi. I went on line to the CarFax site and reported that this car had a problem with cupping tires and alignment problems.
When I see the Calibers going down the road, I actually want to hold up a sign as I pass them to say "toot your horn if you have experienced cupping tires." It is not funny to say the least even, but it has humor in it for me as I am now stress free from this sorta ugly car anyways. :surprise: I give those customers on this site to never give up if you have to or just walk away from the whole mess if you can like I did.
My dealer has been accommodating so far. They stood in my corner when I contacted Chrysler regarding this issue. The dealer stated he had similar issues with other Calibers, which the Chrysler CSR also admitted. Chrysler purchased new tires for me with a slight deductible. Just for safety measure, I paid for a 4 wheel alignment as well. They checked the suspension and found it was secure and tight. But, the problem is not over. After driving home from the dealer, the noise was gone, but I could still feel an extreme vibration in the front end. It was the same vibration I had in the past, but without the road noise. I immediately took the car back to my dealer and left the keys in the night key drop with a note. I don't want to drive it until the problem is corrected, because I don't want the same thing to happen to my new tires. I still like the car, but I will not drive it until this problem is corrected.
The car is at the dealer right now. I'll post updates as things progress.
Good Luck Everyone!
I also filed a lemon law against them, i did receive a settment for the inconvience
I did get my money back that I put down on the car. So far I have had the michelons on for a year now. I have them rotated and balanced every 6000 miles.
They have hardly warn at all. It took crysler 3 set of tires before they finally
came up with the michelons.
Good luck.
I will be getting rid of my caliber in about a year. I do not like the way it handles.
I will never purchase a crysler product again.
*****They further stated that they contacted Chrysler Corp and no other complaints of tire cupping/vibration have been reported.
I really dont know what else to say here, so I'm going to leave it at this for now, because I'm a bit frustrated.
So I say, either dump the car, or be frustrated all the time. I HATE that car so much that I can't stand it when I see on going down the road............
Good luck, and I know your frustration. The BIG THREE are losing their butts, and it shows in their workmanship and customer service with Chrysler.
I am in the process of buying a Kia Sorento that has a 10 yr/ 10k miles warranty, and if you took off the KIA emblem and stuck a GM or Ford or Chrysler emblem
on it you would not know the difference. The Japaness and the Korean cars are awesome, and the USA could learn from them. They attack KIA because it is giving them a run with customer service and that huge warranty, and now 7k to 10k rebates out the door!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! As you can see, I am still trying to get my NEW shiny car back instead of a used one that I had to take to get out of that piece of crap of a Caliber R/T. :mad: :mad: :mad:
Now it's winter number 2 and I have 35k miles on the car. Last winter I knocked the alignment out of wack from all of the off road snow driving and took it to the dealership to get it fixed. Once the alignment was fixed it drove like it did when I bought it-no pulling to the left, no vibrations (except when filled with snow). The road noise is still fairly loud but I know it's due to the tires.
So this year winter I have been driving in snow for about 25 days (Seattle got hit with a major snowstorm and I have spend half my time driving up to Crystal Mtn) and the handling is nothing like it was last year. It sucks so bad that I almost crashed more times that I can count due to the car not griping the road as it did before. The car slides and I got stuck in a an area that previously not have been a problem. All 4 tires are spinning. The alignment is not off but what i did notice happen a month ago is that on smooth pavement the car makes this slight thumping noise. So I assume the tires need to be rotated and take it into a Les Scwab. They told me I have a major nail stuck in the sidewall of my tire causing it to be unbalanced AND one of my other tires has a flat spot and told me I need to get all 4 tires replaced at $950.
One other thing I did notice, the tires tread are showing the presidents head on the penny. I'm shocked on how fast the tires wore out.
I love the car so I'm going to get some snow tires for it, so the questions is azcfc, what tires and wheels did you get for winter driving and have you noticed an improvement in the relation to noise and vibration?
I have no headaches anymore after I dumped that car. My tires were changed to Michelins that I had to pay for mostly so at that point I let the car go.
The car is probably 3 yrs old now and "normal" average milage
would probably see the tire near the end of it's safe life if you
have followed manufactures recommended inflation and tire
rotation periods in the owners manual.
I took delivery of my SXT with Firestone Affinity tires (el cheapos)
August of 2006,I have just hit 25,000 miles/40,000 kilometers and
amazingly they still look quite good and perform reasonably well
however due to my personal habit they will be replaced this fall
with Michelin Hydroedge models.
How long did you keep the Pontiac that you got after
the Caliber?
If I recall your first post about the tire problems related to an RT AWD.
"HUGE tire issues with my Dodge Caliber AWD R/T by dodgeman6"
There were a number of RT owners who had the experience you had
and it has been/was resolved in most cases with 4 wheel alignment
and better quality tires.Then again you may have just had a "lemon".
Anyway glad to see your happy and all the best.
I sold my Grand Prix to my grandson!! It is still running great today. Fell in love with the new Nissan Altima 08 just recently too. No problems with Pontiac or Nissan to date.
Anyway glad to see you are happy with your Caliber too.
My Nissan Altima 3.5 is tops as well. Good luck with your Caliber, and I am sorry you are having these issues like I did.
If you like the car, just change the tires.
It was brand new at the time. You are the lucky one. The costs to fix vehicles that is the tire co. fault or the car mfgr's fault should not be placed on the customer. That is my beef. They said they would make me pay for repeated alignments, and new tires everytime the the issues came about in the future. I said..........I'M DONE...and walked away from the mess.
"Big Mac" here--[Germany]-- I've got 44,000 miles on MY 2008 Dodge Caliber
RT / AWD. Just had the brake-pads replaced, but no problem with MY tires--
knock on wood. However, I DO have a DIFFERENT set of tires I use from
October to April (long winters).
The only problem that I THOUGHT I had was "NOT" being able to see over
my backseats. It IS a S=A=F=E=T=Y issue as I'm tall. I've discovered you
CAN tilt those back-seats back a notch-- giving a better view. Ditto with re-
placing the back-window wiper with a bigger-- after dealer' purchase-- arm&blade.
I can NOW see through MOST of the back window, instead of about, what?,
seven-inches? MUCH better view... and bigger wipers LAST longer! I did the
same on front... I look out over the TOP of the windscreen/shield-- not the
middle. This allows a fella over 6'5" to see out the back-- even in a heavy Ba-
varian snow-- or rain, for THAT matter!
If you've followed my pearls-of-wisdom, you'll remember [see] that I put 100-
miles-a-day, at 100-MPH, usually, on cruise-control. The recommended
speed-limit IS 90-MPH, however, driving at THAT speed is usually during in-
clemment weather with fog-lights on. A heavy rain will bring the speed down
to maybe 70-MPH, depending upon the traffic. There IS traffic that COULD
make you wish you HAD depends on. Ha! Other than my horrible linguistic
skills, it's very enjoyable driving my white Caliber around the rolling European
countryside. Wish I had one of those newer ones {but they QUIT making
AWD-Calibers} that have the words "DODGE" emblazzened atop the Ram.
Often, a German will ask "Cool! What's the Make?" The Caliber is, now,
VERY popular, here. Maybe THAT is WHY the new ones-- finally-- have
"DODGE" on them. My previous car had DODGE badged on the back, and
Chrysler on both sides... about time. :shades: :P
The speed limits that you drive at in Germany is unbelievable! Wow!!! I did love the Caliber 2006 AWD look when I had the car for sure. I hope it keeps improving for those that like it. Now if I would have driven my Caliber in Germany at such fast speeds, I probably would have went deaf from the road noise, and the tires would have shredded off from the wheels.....lolol. My Caliber had severe cupping of the tires, and no alignment could correct it either. Tires were changed, but no improvement. Back then rumors were surfacing that Chrysler knew it had a problem but would not admit.
Since mine was only 6 months old with same problems over and over, and NEW, I became very leary of owning it. I am glad you are enjoying your Caliber on the speedway!!!