2005 and Earlier Chevrolet Impala

nick01

Years ago Buick allowed us to come in groups to the factory. You could go down the assembly line with your car and watch it being built. Then you had the option of driving it home or they would deliver it the usual way. you saved the delivery fee charged by the trucking companys if you drove it home.The trucking companys soon put a stop to that. If you picked up your car at the factory you still had to pay the shipping fee. Later they discontinued factory pick-ups entirely. You can no longer pick up your vehicle at the factory from General Motors. I dont know about Ford or Chrysler but I would think the trucking unions(teamsters) wouldnt allow it.

Nick

kenbuzz

The only exceptions to the "no factory pickup" rule are for the Corvette plant in Bowling Green, KY, the Dodge Viper plant (wherever that is), and one of the foreign plants here in the US (I forget which maker).

hunter39

someone should want to pick up their own car at the factory! Those Teamsters must think we have some nerve! Is it any wonder we have to pay as much as we do for our cars?

dogsrule

Its great to find these things out first hand. Thanks for the info. I'm a do'er, not a voyeur. I'd be just too frustrated right now to go see someone else's car being built. Maybe after though!

p2001

It sure is nice to see Spring and to get the "old car" out of winter storage. Did that yesterday. Nice to see it after six monyhs. Got out the garden hose and gave the Impala a good wash on top and underneath (get rid of salt) and the Corvette a Zaino polish and clean-up of the alloy wheels. A very nice day here at 60F and sunny. No leaves on the trees yet but they will come. Summer, here we come! I have no idea of whether the A/C on the Impala works. Hope to try it soon.

norbnancy

No factory delivery for most U.S. production. Requires a new car prep dept. and special paper shuffling. Factory still has to pay dealer for new car prep. Factory security of releasing a new car out of the factory grounds is a issue. Manufacturers found it just to troublesome to continue the occasional factory delivery. I doubt if the teamsters had much to do with it, but if they did it wouldn't surprise me. F.O.B. Factory On Board go way back to the teens and 20's when the dealers traveled to the assembly plants to pick up the cars they were going to sell. This is before haul a way trucks. Many dealers drove 100's of miles to do this. Imagine the wear & tear on your new Chevrolet from the rough roads on the way back, even before you took delivery. How nice it is today. Enjoy the ride.

mediumfry

Previous posts about the heated seats are correct but they don't answer the thermostat controlled question. While you only have a choice of 'low' or 'high' I believe there is a temperature cut-off in the system somewhere. As I take a long trip with the seat heater on, the heat is noticeable right away but seems to maintain once a certain temperature is reached. Periodically I feel a little heat when it kicks in, but only for a few seconds at a time, at several minute intervals.

If it was on all the time, I imagine my tush would get too warm (Again, I'm sure there are some bathroom jokes readily available here, but I'm again leaving them alone).

Wouldn't it be nice if the rear window defogger worked the same way instead of simply shutting off after a specified time?

tomaso7

Just finished 2 days of Zaino waxing the Navy Blue 01 LS. On Saturday I applied Z-1 with no problems. The haze was noticeable because of the colour of the car. BUT the temperature didn't reach expected highs and so after applying Z-2 the haze didn't dry until SUNDAY afternoon. After using the recommended 100% cotton white towels [with the trim cut off] to wipe off the haze, I applied Z-6 gloss enhancer. As I was finishing, NO LESS THAN 6 unsolicited comments were made about the car. People were simply amazed about the shine and wanted to know what product I was using. The stuff really works!! At stop lights a while later, people were looking at the car probably wondering what was different about the car I was driving. The shine makes the car stand out! I am going to apply Z-6 again next week before I re-apply Z-2 again and according to Zaino, the shine will approach show car standards. The third application will make it so. The stuff is expensive but it's worth it. Will post pictures after I develop and scan. Hopefully, the shine will be noticeable but I don't know if video will transfer the high gloss. Thanks for reading.

bdime

Some hubby's bring home flowers or candy- mine worked next to a Chevy
dealer for 2 days and brought me an Impala t-shirt(black) and a new key tag(in silver). I guess after 25 years he knows what I like!

bdime

Hey- before you say it- he could have bought me an Impala but since he signed
for the one I have 2 months ago that would have been alittle over the top!

bh0001

I bought all the Zaino stuff on Friday and I'm taking May 14, 15, 16 off work to pick up my brand new Navy Blue Impala LS and spend three days Zainoing. I'm soooo happy to hear that it looks as fantastic as they claim on darker colours. Maybe we'll have to get our cars together to really wow everyone with twins!
Brad

nosirrahg

I rotated my tires this weekend, and used my handy-dandy torque wrench to tighten the lug nuts to the recommended 100ft-lbs of torque. Just wanted to note that this is probably not as tight as I'd normally have torqued the nuts by hand had I not had the torque wrench (I usually snug them up by pushing down with my foot on the lug wrench for the final tightening). So, I can only imagine how much over 100ft-lbs they might tighten them down with an air wrench at your typical tire place.

I did notice the lugs nuts did seem to be at the proper torque when I took them off; I was able to remove them without undue force, which has almost always been required when rotating tires that have been installed "professionally".

tomaso7

OK bh0001 - where do you live? If you want to e-mail me, please see my profile page by clicking on my header name. I will be checking out my dealer for some Navy Blue so actually compare the difference.

tpken

Brad - where is this town or city located? Anywhere near Toronto?

I'm a Bonneville owner Impalaphile but would love to see the factory tour you mention particularly if it is in that area - looking for an excuse to get up that direction.

BTW - that navy blue color is OUTSTANDING. Best wishes to you and tomaso7 on those gorgeous Impalas!

Ken

crosley4

We were in Tucson AZ on saturday looking at a 1949 Crosley pickup that was "for sale" and to visit Old Tucson. After leaving the "new" Old Tucson the car & seats were warm from sitting in the sun.

A few miles up the freeway towards Phoenix the seat is still warm. Thats when I noticed that I had bumped the seat heater button to low heat. LOL

I wonder if they heater button is in the same location on 2001-2002 ?

I say "new " Old Tucson since the original movie sets of Old Tucson burned down in 1995 and they rebuilt the place.

36,200 miles on the ol 2k Impala LS now. Time for another oil/filter change in a few hundred miles. I still use Mobil 1 oil.

hunter39

Well we already hit 100 back on April 21 which was one day later than last year but still ahead of normal schedule for those kinds of temps. Weather says we will be "cooling off" to lower 90's this week, oh Joy!

Still have not heard from my dealer regarding the wheel liners, Question for those of you that got them, How long did they take to come in? I'm on two weeks now.

Someone mentioned awhile ago about removing the resonator to get a deeper sound from their catback exhaust? Or was I dreaming that? I was wondering what effect that would have on my Flowmaster. I like the sound it makes when I accelerate but at idle it sounds the same as it used to (you can't hear it) Will removing the resonator make it really loud? I don't want that but wouldn't mind it being a little more loud. The resonator on these Impala's is almost 3 feet long which I think is really big.

bh0001

Oshawa is located about 40 minutes East of Toronto (depending upon traffic and how you drive ).

The interest in a tour seems to be growing (slowly). As I said before, I'm willing to try to organize this so we can all go together. If people want to e-mail me privately about it, send a message to bnh@campana.com.

Brad

cookie01

It takes some hubby's longer than others, but once you get them trained, don't let them go!
Mine is finally getting it. For my birthday early in April I got a nine game ticket package to the new baseball team in town. I know for many women this would be dangerous and ill-advised but I jumped up and down!

It's a shame when that gender thing gets in the way. I love a good baseball game as much as the next "guy!" Ha!

hggray

It took ten days for the dealer here in Prescott to receive the liners after the order was submitted, and about 30 minutes to do the installation.

tpken

Cookie - do you like your pie regular or mile high? Sound like you've got 2 out of three items of that old advertisement going there already!

Ken

bdime

I've held on for 25 years and no plans to let go! We're race car fans and I was just as excited as you are with the baseball tickets when he signed us up for preferred seats at the new track in Joliet. This is proving to be an expensive but fun year!

kenbuzz

I'm wondering whether I should saunter over to the dealer and ask them to pre-order the liners so they can install them when my LS comes in next month. Any thoughts?

sim3

Is anyone else using CD-Rs ("burned" CDs) with the CD-player of your Impala? I used them for a few weeks and they seemed to work beautifully, but then I noticed the player was scratching the CDs in the worst possible way - circular scratches near the middle of the CD, essentially ruining a track or two in the process. I took the car to the dealer thinking it's a problem with the player, but they called me back with a very surprising answer; "GM doesn't recommend using burned CDs with the player, so that might be the problem".

I found the answer very strange as the burned CDs are, to the player anyway, identical in structure to the "regular" ones. (Clear plastic coating on the laser side). Granted, the coating _might_ be softer on the burned CDs, but that only means the regular CDs would get scratched slower, not that they wouldn't scratch at all.

I called Chevy about this and they in turn are contacting AC Delco to see what they have to say. I'll keep you posted on what's going to happen, but I'd be interested in hearing whether anyone else is using burned CDs in the CD-player and if you've had any problems like this.

tomaso7

Forgive me if I am wrong, but I thought the liners were for 2000 Impalas and not the 2001's. Apparently GM fixed that problem for the 01's. Is this right anyone?

cabello

2000 impalas crusty wheel liners
2001 cool wheel liners

I have used for the past 5 months, a lot of burned cd's with no problems.

Later

duraflex

I checked my most frequently played CD-Rs. NO scratches.

Yes - CD-Rs and RWs are more easily susceptible to scratches and other damage than manufactured CDs but I have not had a problem with either in the Impala.

2 Questions:
1- Are you sure that they are getting scratched in the Impala and not on some other CD player you might be using like a cheap walkman or boombox?

2- If the damage is being done in the car player, how many plays does it take to cause the scratching?

sim3

To answer your questions.. I did some practical research before taking the car to the dealer in the first place.. first, the CD(-R)s haven't been played in any other player than the Impala's, so they couldn't have been damaged elsewhere. Second, I also ruled out the possibility of my CD-case scratching them by carefully inspecting the CD before inserting it and again after ejecting it. It doesn't scratch them every single time, but I have with 100% certainty seen the player scratch a CD with just one play. One time a CD even had tiny, tiny plastic shreds near the scratch when I ejected it.. :-( I've used very few regular CDs in the player and haven't had problems with those. I make copies of my normal CDs for car-use, mainly in case they're stolen, but apparently the copying proved useful in more than one way..)

hvan3

Brad:

It is my understanding that it's NOT a good idea to wax a brand new vehicle, especially the vehicle that has recently been delivered to a dealer. My understanding is that the factory paint needs certain amount of time to "cure".

I believe a few detailers had made that suggestions to me in the past. FWIW.

nosirrahg

I've got a stack of about a dozen CD-R's that I run almost exclusively in my Impala (no one else in the family seems to fight over my compilation of every version of "Route 66" for some reason). I haven't noticed any problem with these vs. standard CDs, but I'll take a look this afternoon when I leave work and see if there are any differences.

00impala

The Commercial Store Bought CD's are "Pressed", therefore the Tracks are pressed into the Disc, the Burnt ones are very easily damaged, I mean very easily damaged, scratched. The Real CD's are very durable, just a price you have to pay to make your own, I know my Wife is going nuts when I put Buck Owens or Marty Robbins on the same CD as Bon Jovi and Van Halen! ha ha... Don

duraflex

It does sound like your Impala CD player has a serious problem and that you have already tracked it as the source of your scratching.

CD-R quality and durablity does vary by brand.

I have had excellent results with TDK brand CD-Rs and play them in the Impala, the computer, the home component system, a boom box and walkman.

I'm burning my CDs on an HP 8250i.

duraflex

Please post the make, model and s/n of your new trunk amp.

Do the connectors appear to be the same as on the 2000 model Impala?

Thank you.

fathertyricius

Since Ive owned my 2001 Impala LS (Feb), Ive been using nothing but CD's that I personally burned, and ive had no problems... NONE. Ive looked over my collection (40..just for the car) and not one is showing any damage, and they are playing great. There could be an obstruction in your player sim3 that is creating the damage. Check it out. Even playing these cd's in a walkman or boombox if properly used should'nt damage them, unless the unit itself was defective. Have your cd player's laser assembly checked.

hunter39

Well now that just might explain my problem too, I just assumed that I had a crappy copy off of Napster and that's why my cd were so bad. The wife burned two different ones for me off of Napster awhile back and both have horrible skips. Maybe I have the same problem. I don't play them that often because of the poor quality.

Dealer called today and my wheel liners showed up, just need to make an appointment to get them installed.

crosley4

I just started burning CD's. No trouble with the Impala or Silverado scratching the CD. I will watch it.

hunter39 ........ completely listen to every tune that you down load from napster a couple of times before burning a CD. I have down loaded several low quality tunes. I then go looking for better quality. I watch the file names on napster to see if I am downloading a tune that I already did and it was not very good.

People have told me to buy CD-R's by price, quality is nearly the same. I wonder if that is true??

It will be interesting what GM/Delco has to say about playing CD-R's in the Impala CD unit.

Tony

lrymal

Have a GrandAm here with a CD unit and noticed that it doesn't tolerate the 80 min music CD-Rs well. Going down to 74 min CD-Rs has resulted in discs that have held up well for six months of regular use.

I also have made sure that I use 16x CD-Rs. Was told by a friend at Apple computer that 16x CD-Rs are higher quality. He also said that some CD units in vehicles have varying tolerations for higher minute CD-Rs but that the 74 minute CD-Rs were the "standard" for car CDs.

As usual, YMMV...

bh0001

Thanks for keeping an eye out for me. However, what you said didn't mesh with the dealer's claim that the car ships with a coat of protective wax. I was pretty sure that the paints used today don't take much time to cure, so I decided to ask Sal Zaino himself. Here's what he said:

"Todays paint technology uses a chemical reaction caused by a catalyst to cure the paint. Factory paint is fully cured in 36 to 48 hours. The funny thing is that this same dealer who tells you to wait 30 days before waxing, usually puts a coat of wax on your car when he preps it. Sounds a little contradicting. Don't you think??? Polish your car as soon as you get it. That factory paint is already cured and needs protection against airborne contaminants and UV rays."

I'll be Zainoing within hours of getting the car home.
Brad

00impala

Boom type Box, and on the top of the CD Door it reads "CD-R Compatable" So what makes it "Compatable" I do not know, They Seem to play in all of my other CD Players, What makes my New Boom Box so special? Don

mediumfry

CD players are optical devices. That is, a laser beam reflects off the microscopic angled mirrors in the CD and pickups inside the CD player read the reflected light and turn it to sound. In no case should anything physically touch the CD except light. There is a problem with the player.

CD-R's may be of varying quality, and some may scratch easier, but we're talking about handling, sliding into the cases, etc. Not playing.

Compatability has to do with the depth of the 'cut' in the CD. CD-R's are cut to a certain depth that may differ slightly from a factory CD making it incompatible with some players (particularly older DVD players). CD-RW's continue to burn deeper and deeper, requiring multilayer technology in the player (ability to read a variety of depths of cut). Newer CD and DVD players have this multilayer compatibility.

I've got factory and CD-R CDs and none have either skipped or sustained damage in my Impala or any other player.

hunter39

I was not the one pilfering the music from napster. Wife handles that, I don't have fast enough speed to sit around and download so she does it at work. I think time doesn't allow her to spend too much time being picky about which track she downloads so I'm sure that is the case. I haven't noticed poor quality on any other cd played in my Impala.

"Blue" got a coat of wax this evening. He'll be a year old on May 11 and this is only the second coat of wax. Still looks great!

crosley4

I understand. Did you get your correct CD unit for your Impala in hand yet?

We have the Sprint broadband wireless stuff at home. usuall download from napster is at 50-60 kps.

I can get 20 meg file in 90 seconds if the server I am downloading from is fast.

I have run CD-R (12x 80 minutes) in the Impala, no problems so far.

Tony

sim3

The story continues but doesn't get any better. A Chevy representativee called back yesterday citing a bulletin from Delphi, the player manufacturer. It basically just recommended to not use CD-Rs or CD-RWs in the players without going into any surprising details why. So I called Delphi and finally got a hold of someone there who faxed me their 2-page document "Playability of CD-R/CD-RW Discs in Delphi-D CD Players". The document is as expected - it states various reasons why CD-R(W)s may not (and for CD-RWs, _will_ not) play in their CD-players, mainly:
- the reflectivity of the discs differ, CD-RW reflecting only about 1/4 of the light that CD does
- data formats (the disc must be in audio format and not multi-session.. well, *duh*)
- remembering to close the CD-session
- the playable CDs must conform to the Red Book-standard, of which it states "CD-Rs may or may not meet this standard. CD-RW will not"

Anyway, since it has no word whatsoever of _scratches_ as was expected, I think I'm just going to use a regular CD in my player for a while until it develops a scratch too and take it back to the dealer. Let's see what they say then. I feel bad about having to destroy a CD to make the dealer believe there's something wrong with the player, but if that's what it takes, fine. Maybe they'll pay for the CD ;-)

As already mentioned, CD-players are optical devices that shouldn't create scratches regardless of how screwed up the data format is. Oddly, Delphi wasn't at all interested in this view but rather insisted the document they faxed explains everything. Chevy representatives at least agreed it shouldn't do that but were unable or unwilling to do or say anything more about it. The dealer just dismissed the issue with the GM "suggestion" without even looking at the scratched discs.

yurakm

Cheap CDs are available at Odd Jobs and other "Dollar stores". Usually cost about $1-$3. Or, to save time, $5-$9 CDs are plenty at supermarkets.

Just for testing the CD player, without scratching / destroying a real thing.

cookie01

I love Pie, who doesn't Apple it top notch. But this time of year the mind and tummy turn to strawberry/rhubarb... Right?

tpken

Cookie - I'm glad it's lunch time here - and I do love the Strawberry Rhubarb combo. Fortunately for me, my kids aren't so excited by it so my wife and I don't have much competition when it's around.

Ken

hunter39

Don't have the new unit in my hands yet but I expect it today or tomorrow at the latest given the time it takes for packages from TN to AZ. I will post what happens with it. I think people could be happy with 10 discs as opposed to 12 if they could save about 50.00 don't you think>?

shamino

I was just wondering what some of the implications of getting the 'new' wheel liners installed in the '00 impala would be??

One thing I can think of is that they will have to drill new holes into the body work to make the liners fit? Wouldn't this increase the risk of rust developing on the body of the car??

As for the hot topic that everyone is talking about: CDs. I use the cheapest no name brand and all my cds are fine. I burn it on a HP 8100 burner.
The only quality issues as someone mentioned is probably a bad copy being downloaded from napster. Another possibility is the computer is not fast enough. I had problems when I tried burning music cd's using my 486-33mhz.

The Oshawa plant tour should be fun..I just have to find time to get off work to go there. Why in the world would they make it on a thursday?? Why not the weekend???

Does anyone know any specific changes made for the '02 Impalas???

larryhart

The above message displays on my LS' Message Center at start-up. The message disappears but the ABS and TRAC lights remain on. Turning the Traction Control on/off has no effect - - both the ABS & TRAC lights remain lit.

It's going to the dealer on Thursday & was curious if anyone else has experienced this. (30K miles on my Y2K LS with new 2K1 cradle, wheel well liners & original steering shaft). . . . LH

00impala

If you have a 2k Impala and you look under the wheel well there is an Existing metal Flange, they drill one hole in that flange and that secures the wheel liner in place,, it is one big piece of plastic that covers the front and back of the wheel well with a cut out for the Strut in the middle, they rest against the existing area of the wheel well and that one screw prevents it from moving, And it uses the existing flange that all 2000's already have in place. I think it may utilize one additional screw that is already there, they have to take out the screw that holds on the rocker moulding,(bottom front of wheelwell) It may go thru the liner to hold it also?, But if you read the Service Bulletin on this item it tells you the step by step installation. No Implications. Just a better looking area after they are in place, You would run a better risk of Rust from the X-tra Hole you have to drill in the Fender to install the Moulded Muds Flaps,that is why they give you a few screws that have a "Dallop of Grease" on the ends, Be sure to use these particular screws in the holes drilled in the metal and not in the holes drilled in the plastic, or you defeat the purpose. Don

yurakm

to Impala / Monte Carlo only, or to other W-body cars?

I had read at Buick site, that the 2001 Regal get the new liners, but do not know if it is available also to the 2000 model I have.