Chrysler 300M

ajpiii

I bought it from Lister when he was still making them... Painted it blue recently to match the Blueberry Thrill Shimmers... The pic on the site doesnt do the blue justice... Looks much better in person

Im using the drop in K&N filter...

easyrider300m

Someone here may want to make a few $$$ and make that lister tube for M owners. I think there would be a good market for that tube. And assembly is easy once you buy the proper pieces. Where can I get a list of the exact parts needed, exact dimensions, and a source where they can be purchased. I like that tube (when used with the K&N filter) better than the air charger that could get wet and may pull in warmer air.

easyrider300m

good news for Chrysler workers --- http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=580&e=7&cid=580&u=/nm/20021020/bs_nm/autos_canada_chrysler_dc

easyrider300m

here is the directions for the lister tube including parts list--seems fairly easy to make but if someone were ambitious, they could run off a dozen or more and sell them on that other board to M owners.

Here is link to plans: http://www.dodgeintrepid.net/lintake/lintake.html

kosh_2258

What you're saying covers it pretty well. I don't think buying most any major consumer item is done on pure statistics. Emotion is always there to a greater or lesser degree. A 300M purchase has a large emotional content to it.

I do think that a lot of times when people are disappointed in something it's because they failed to do the digging before purchase. By not understanding the nature of the item they end up with unrealistic expections for the it. When the product doesn't meet those expectations the buyer ends up disappointed and unhappy with the purchase. I believe that's especially true of vehicles.

bigmike5

Drive a little, save a lot. Saw two adds last Friday in the L-ville papers. If you are in the market and within range, two dealers are advertising $6K off the sticker on 2002 M's and even on a Special. Blew my socks off. First one had a sticker of $29,475 less 6K = $23,475, and the second dealer had a sticker price of $30,931 and was at $24,799. The Special was $33,880 less $6K at $27,880. Dang, those are all less than I paid for my 99M 4 years ago. Can zero % financing be far behind?? I think I saw the sticker for the Special thru the Chrysler site last week, and I think it is the Saphire Blue color. Have only seen one 03 Special on a dealer site [in Indiana] and it had the roof so I wasn't interested. Gary_Berg --L-ville may be close enough for you to drive, right??

wire2

>Have only seen one 03 Special ... and it had the roof so I wasn't interested.

As I understand it, a sunroof comes standard on every "M". You can order one without it, but there's no reduction in price.
FWIW, sunroofs (sunrooves)? are quite reliable for no leaks these days. If any water gets past the roof seal, there's a ½" rubber tube draining from each of the 4 corners of a plastic tray and routed down the A and C pillars.

splatt

Actually, the sunroof is an $895 option (msrp) on the M. Both regular and special. And, I know at least one other person who doesn't have it primarily because he wouldn't have enough headroom. It's not the water concern, but the 1" loss...

300michael

I do not think I could get a sunroof.

300michael

I did about 6 months of research before my purchase of the M. The extra time allows for flaws to start showing up, not to mention minor changes in the vehicle like the guages, leather seats, ect. I did test drive both the PHP, and the Non PHP, before deciding on the Non. (I wanted to change the suspension anyway so why pay extra for something I was going to get rid of) and I liked the 17" wheels better. But the looks of it, is what started the ball rolling in the first place. It was my first choice in size and second in design (I liked the Concorde front better). I have been very happy since for nearly 4 years.

gary_berg

Bigmike - L-ville is probably close enough, but I really don't want to buy a car right now with 4 months left on the lease. That would cost me 4 months payments, which would make the deal a lot less. And I'm sure I could have swung a really good deal on the 2002's on the local dealer's lot too, but when you start off losing $1600 or so on leasing a car while buying a second, it reduces the deal.

And I would really rather not buy. Even with a car at $24K, over 6 years that is $4k/year or about $350/month not counting on profit for the lender (downpayments let you adjust the monthly fee, of course) or tax. No warranty for the second set of 3 years, and I know for sure I'll have to buy new tires and probably do brakes and such during years 4-6. At the end of 6 years the car will be worth how much? $4K, maybe? Instead I'll lease for 36-39 months now for not much more/month (dealer quoted me $371 with tax for 39 months, $400 with tax) with $2500 down.

The dealer's rates convinced me that there was no way that made sense to buy my 2000; residual is about $16.5K which is what the loan company says I will owe if I buy it. No way that makes sense compared to $400/month for a new vehicle...

mikeyjohn

Anyone interested, check out www.canadiandriver.com and see what they have to say about the Intrepid police car. What is interesting is that they come equipped with Goodyear Tires!!!!!!

wire2

>sunroof is an $895 option...

I stand corrected. In my post I was repeating what the dealer told me when I bought my '01 new. Perhaps it's changed since then. I'll be asking around.

wire2

>...they come equipped with Goodyear Tires!!!!!!

Goodyear has lots of radio ads on around here in which the spokesman points out to a supposedly unobservant female that all the cruisers in the donut shop parking lot have Goodyears. The drift is; the police protect us, the Goodyears protect the police, something like that.

fastdriver

wire2-

"In my post I was repeating what the dealer told me when I bought my '01 new."

That was your first mistake! LOL....

fastdriver

ruski

maybe they protect everyone by making sure that we don't drive too fast?

muskateer3

I Have these on my 2000 non PHP M. I cannot recommend them.

I find the noise unacceptable, and the side tread wears too quickly despite inflation to 34 psi and numerous alignment checks.

I am leaning toward the Yoko YK420's for my next set.

Hope this helps.

300mspecial1

I just wanted to pass along an update on the status of my car. As you may recall, I described a minor case of the shakes between 50-70mph and received some feedback that other Special owners with the 18-inch wheels were experiencing a similar concern. Here is my first experience with my 5-Star dealer...

Arrived at 8:00am and was promptly waited on at the service desk. I was also scheduled for my first LOF and asked about Mobil 1. Service writer advised to do this one with dino oil and then switch over to give the rings time to properly seat, etc...I said OK. Service writer asked about the shake problem and if it was still a concern. He wrote up my exact description of how the car behaves and at what speeds. I then go sit in the waiting area. About 15 minutes later, one of the service guys comes in to talk to me. He does a QC audit on all the cars before they're given back to the customer to ensure the service visit corrected the problem. He hands me the keys to another Special and asks me to go for a drive. He explains that they've had numerous complaints from other Special owners about vibrations and a stiff ride. He wants to make sure I understand that the Special has a more aggressive suspension tuning and will ride noticeably harder than even the PHG equipped cars. I take the car out and decribe for him how this Special compares to mine. This car had no up-down bounce in the steering wheel like mine did, but was much worse in the SOTP. They pulled my car in, and road-force balanced all 4 tires. They took the car back out and then told me that it rode better but still wasn't right, so they were going to replace all 4 wheels and tires. Since they didn't have any in stock, they pulled one of the new Specials fresh off the truck and put its wheels and tires on my car. They took it up the road again and came to get me to say it was better. They were going to let me go, but I asked instead to road test the car myself. I opened my driver's door and found a huge smear of grease all over my pristine Taupe seats and door sills. The QC guy apologized up and down and 25 ways to Sunday for the stains and had the tech clean up the car immediately. We then went up the road. The up/down bounce was gone, but the overall ride quality was much worse than when I brought it in and I informed him of such. When we got back to the dealership, he told me he wanted to talk to his boss and see what could be done to fix it. He acknowledged that I wasn't happy and said they wouldn't give me the car back like this. This was BTW almost 4 hours into my visit. They gave me a rental (POS Neon) and said they were going to have one of their master techs go completely through the car.

They called me at home about 2 1/2 hours later to say the car was done and that it was riding as smooth as glass. When I asked what they had to do, he told me that basically with my Special, they had a total of 6 Specials on the lot and that they pulled all the wheels and tires off of all 6 cars and gave me the best 4 sets of the 24 they had to work with. They road-force balanced all of them, including my full size spare, washed and reconned the car for free, and then asked me to drive it to make sure it was fixed. They weren't BS'ing me, the car rides as smooth as glass at ALL speeds. I thanked them for the time they spent on it and suggested that they elevate this to DC since it took 24 sets to get 4 good ones. This problem was solved through brute force and nothing else. They told me that they will elevate through Michelin as they think the tires are the culprit.

In my case, I got my car fixed, but I feel sorry for the next guy because I got all the good tires now. In all, they worked very hard to fix my car. They threw some parts at it, but it was the right parts I guess. They just had to get good ones. My first experience with this 5-Star was an overall favorable one. I had to more or less stay on top of them, but they worked hard to satisfy me and they DID fix it properly on the first service visit. On the downside, they need to take more care handling customers' property. I did not appreciate that grease stain, AND I had to re-train my tire pressure sensors myself. They forgot to do it.

Whatcha think ??

splatt

Fastdriver, you beat me to it. I was just going to say, "and most dealers know how muchabout the car their selling anyway? :-D "

gary_berg - don't be fooled that you have to pay the remaining payments on your car if you turn in a lease early. That's a common misconception. What happens is this - you bring the car in and get a bid on trade-in value the dealer will give you. You compare it to the buyout. If it's equal to or more than the buyout, you can get out of the car, no prob. If it's more, you actually make money (many people miss this possibility when they turn in leases). If they don't offer you as much as the buyout, you just wait till the end of the lease.

If you have a 99 or 00, then I bet your buyout is less than trade-in. I had an 01 which I bought out myself (leased, changed jobs, too many miles and actually saved a fortune in the end since they buyout on my M (01) was far less than actual value (I was 18 mo into 48 mo lease).

You don't have to trade it if the deal isn't in your favor, but if you don't ask, you won't know. Good luck

oh - on a side note - the difference in money you spend to buy is basically the buyout you won't have in the car if you lease. Pay more up front, own it... pay less up front, don't own it. And leasing on the chryslers recently sucks. They've dropped the residual substantially, so the payments are much higher.

fastdriver

300mspecial1-

Better service than I ever received from my "5-STAR". Is this time spent really acceptable to you for a $32-34,000 brand new car? If so, then you're willing to accept more then me. I did all this crap too, but felt it totally uncalled for on a "flagship" brand new car.

Glad it is as smooth as glass now. Hope it lasts. Could it be that now the Michelins are defective like the Goodyears? What will they tell the other customers who buy the other Specials and experience this shaking? Guess that's their problem now.

Good luck. Thanks for the update.

fastdriver

wire2

>good news for Chrysler workers...

Yes and no. The unfortunate end effect of this (and other) lucrative contracts is to feed an inflationary spiral. Pyramiding 3,3,and 2% plus signing bonus etc. works out to close to 9% increase.
Obviously that's a labor cost increase so new car prices will have to rise by a portion of that amount.
So now fewer people can afford (or are unwilling)to buy new cars at that price and we have layoffs to "adjust inventory". At this moment the entire Brampton 3rd shift is on indefinite layoff, and shifts 1 and 2 are on a 2 week layoff with more to come.
Now as an auto industry employee I'm not complaining about getting more money, and I commend Mr. Hargrove and his crew for negotiating the gains for CAW members.
I do feel that wage and benefit demands have to reflect current economic conditions.

OK, I'm off my soap box now...

gary_berg

Well, the buyout on my 2000 M is just about exactly what the black book is according to the bank I leased through - not a D/C lease, a bank lease. Bank said I'd have to pay the full residual, which was pegged at lease time at 51-52% as I recall. Residual for a 2003 M is pegged at 42% right now.

But at least in the case the dealer ran, at my request, he came up with a 36 month lease which was less than I got 3 years ago. Part of that is Chrysler incentives on the lease, part is a customer loyalty incentive, and part of it is lower interest rates. I figure Chrysler has bumped incentives on the lease _because_ the residual is lower than it used to be.

The dealer didn't express any interest in buying out my 300M lease. I didn't really talk to him about this issue, but he didn't bring it up even though he would have been very happy to get me in one of the 2002s he had on the lot.

The lease people, of course, want to compare the residual to the price I could buy the car from a dealer. I, of course, would rather compare it to the price I could get from the dealer if I sold it to him/traded it. Guess who holds most of the cards in this deal? Not me, since I don't own the car, they do.

I'm not sure I really want to buy the car out anyway unless I could get a major deal off of the residual. It would cost more to buy it than to lease a new car for the next 3 years. Repair costs over the next 3 years might well come close to equalling the value of the car at the end of 3 more years. Especially if I can earn anything from the money I don't pay out if I pay cash or take into account the loan interest if I borrowed.

splatt

I understand the percentages, but the buyout on your car should be fixed on the lease you signed. If you called the leasing company and said "how much to buy the car today?" they would just give you a number. At the dealer, just ask what they would give you for trade-in. It's a simple as that. If the trade-in is greater or equal to buyout, go for it. If it's less, wait.

You don't actually buy it out - the dealer you trade it to buys it directly from the leasing company. If they would buy for $16.5k, and that is your buyout, instead of them giving you the money, they give it to the leasing company. The leasing company could care less who gives them the money (unless it's a closed end lease - didn't think about that. Closed-end lease means there is no buyout since you can't. But that is rare). The leasing company doesn't want the car, they want the cash (if they got it back, they'd just sell it anyway and hope to recoup).

300michael

I hope they just didn't put the bad ones on another car for someone else to purchase.

300mspecial1

fastdriver, 300Michael,

My concerns exactly. I started out getting pretty PO'd about how long it was taking to fix the car until I understood WHAT they were doing. Then it made a little more sense. Like I said, they resolved MY concern by brute force, which is not often the right way to go about it, and I truly feel sorry for the next Special owner who goes there with a shake problem like mine. I got all the good wheel/tire sets, so what're they gonna do next time? They said something about integrating with the sales team on this issue. Likely, they'll come up with SOMEthing to tell the customers about this problem. They truly believe the tires are the culprit. They were even talking about implementing a weekly rotation schedule of the Specials on the lot to mitigate any potential flat-spotting. And yes, they do acknowledge that these particular tires DO flat-spot.

The only thing that really "saved" this service visit for me was their willingness to keep the car until it was right. Honestly, most other dealers would have taken their best shot at it and then fixed or not, they would have given the car back with the excuse that they did everything they could and I'll have to live with it, OR, "that's normal" for this car. I set the expectation level with them that a $34k luxury car should not shake when you drive it down the road. Put that way, it's a pretty hard position to argue with. They found a solution for me, albeit not an elegant one...

mrl859

I think the dealer treated you pretty well, all things considered. You didn't mention (I didn't notice, anyhow) whether or not that was the selling dealer. As far as the grease mark is concerned, that was a sloppy oversight and infuriating, but a mistake (to err is human.....etc.). That's one of the reasons I hate anyone else working on my car. However, they were very apologetic and cleaned it immediately. That is not always the case, believe it or not. Also, all they were REQUIRED to do is order you new tires. They didn't have to pull them off other vehicles in stock. Additionally, Chrysler does not provide for rental cars under warranty. Unless you bought an extended warranty with first day rental, that was a gimme from the dealer. It's unfortunate that any new car should have these type of issues, but the dealer seems to be doing everything within his power to satisfy you. I'm sure trial and error with all those tires took some time. Chrysler is not going to pay the clock time it took for all that. The dealer is working hard to resolve the issue to your satisfaction, IMO. They sound like a good one. I've also been (and still am) fighting vibration/shimmy issues on my new Special. I think it's a combination of the very stiff suspension/tight steering which transmits any motion at the wheels directly up through the steering wheel much more than any other 300M, and a balance issue created by the wheel design/tire design. I hope Chrysler comes up with a solution soon. Obviously, we are not the only ones. It's interesting that the Special 18"ers seem to be the only tire/wheel assemblies shipped to the manufacturer already balanced/assembled.

gary_berg

Yep, I know the dealer would buy out the car from the bank, not me. The only variable in the buyout is that if the "black book" value of the car is less than the residual they'll let me buy it for that.

Right now, buyout would be about $18K on this car (taking into account remaining payments and residual). I've seen similar cars advertised in that range, so I doubt the dealer would want to buy it out. I'm not sure the dealer would even want it in 3 months for the residual - $16.5K; I don't think he can mark it up enough to make it worthwhile for him.

gary_berg

Does anyone have an idea what the time lag is on ordered cars? How far ahead would I need to order a car to get it towards the end of February? (I know, part of that would require seeing the future ).

300mspecial1

I concur. They did alot to try to make it right and I am grateful. I wasn't aware of the rental policy. Hmmm.... This dealer was the one to sell me the car. I'm not sure that another dealer would have tried so hard if I hadn't bought it there.

The service visit started to go bad from my perspective as soon as they started down the path of having me drive another Special, building the case that this shaking problem is normal for this car. When I drove the other Special and pointed out how this car differed from mine and what was "normal" feedback, what was suspension related, and what was IMO tire related, they quickly changed tacks and went all out to resolve the issue. That's where I started feeling better. I'm delighted they stuck it through because this is an inherited problem as far as I'm concerned and many other places would have thrown in the towel long before this place did. It's tough when the OEM parts are bad to begin with. Their only other option would have been to offer a different manufacturer of tire to try and even then, they wouldn't have been obligated to go that far. I'm pretty happy with them for the effort they put in on this.

wire2

There's about 14 days of orders outstanding at the plant, shouldn't take much longer than that to get one in. The holdup might be waiting for a full truckload (7)to that area. Cities tend to get delivery more regular than the boonies. Also, take distance from Brampton to destination into account.

ottowrkr

Just to let you know , we stop building 2003 model cars sometime around the first week of Feb .So if you want a 2003 I would order just before christmas . Dont forget we also will not be building cars from Dec 21 till Jan 20. This is our two week Xmas holidays with a two week layoff added on.

splatt

This is true But you might want to call the leasing company just to see what the buyout is. When I started going way over my miles, and rates were rock bottom, I called just to see what it was, and it was almost $6K less than my best (lowest) estimate. Boy was I happy. I was 18 or so mo. into a 48 mo. lease. In the end I figured that I paid about $28.5k or so for the car. Not too bad (was an 01 with chrome wheels, sunroof and upgraded stereo).

300mspecial1

I noticed in the brochure for the '03 Specials that the 18-inch wheel is now an option, with a 17-inch wheel as standard. Is this wrong or do you think this is the way DC decided to address the shake/vibration issue on the '02 cars? I haven't seen any Specials with a 17-inch wheel.

beach15

No, it's not wrong. Chrysler did indeed make the chrome 17" wheels standard on the Special. To the best of my knowledge, it was not due to shaking problems, but rather the many logged complaints that if a Special buyer lives anywhere where it snows, they're forced to go buy snow tires just to make the car road-worthy. So, instead of offering another 18" tire option, they just decided to put a set of chrome wheels and tires off of a normal PHP-equipped car.

This is the way they come standard, and I recall about a month ago, otto saying that they built a bunch of Specials this way, and it just didn't "look" right. Now, the 18's come with a no-cost option package.

I'll have to go get a new 2003 brochure myself, I collect them from dealers and auto shows every year.

beach15

It's a weird thought, but if either of the two dealers we took our 2000 M to (one seller, the other just the closest) was even remotely as concerned about fixing what the car was brought in for, we would still have the car.

With work and school everyday, we always would take the car over either the night before or early in the morning of the appointment, and get a ride, always being sure to leave a detailed list on bright colored paper in the car, in addition to calling during the day to check-in. About the only time we have proof that they actually were in the car was when one service guy once drove us over to Wal*Mart, and when the service desk lady ran it over to pick us up. Other than that, it was as if they did absolutely nothing, and to this date, we never got a single receipt for any of the visits (over 10). We would always ask for them, and even threatened one time, but they still never gave us a single document for proof. The dealer we took our Voyager to in PA was great, and there was always a detailed service receipt and personal concern of the service department that we were satisfied before leaving.

This dealer in question has also had the same fully loaded blue 02' Special just sitting there for more than 6 months, I wonder if it's tires have flat-spotted too. I can't tell you how tempted I was to stop by yesterday in the Av after school and got for a drive....

gary_berg

>> But you might want to call the leasing company just to see what the buyout is. <<

I did that a month ago. They told me it would end up being full price because the black book rate was higher than the residual. I thought I'd made that clear, but of course I experienced it, not just read about it here. Sorry I wasn't clear.

I'd been hopeful because my boss had gotten a good deal on his Ford Explorer from the same leasing company, but apparantly his black book value was significantly less than his residual and he got the benefit. I got told there was no deal on my car; basically the 2000 M's were holding their value right about at the residual.

gary_berg

Otto,

I was planning to order in the first half of December, which sounds like it ought to slot right in to the schedule you are on. I'd assume they'd build it in the first part of February, or the very end of January. That should get it to Dayton, OH by the end of February, I would think.

The dealer told me that they only scheduled customer cars in the first week or so of the month. Not sure if he meant build them then or go through the scheduling process? Obviously if you folks are laid off the first part of January you won't be building them then. Tough for you guys; you have my sympathy.

If wire2 is right about the 14 day backlog, I can see why they'd be reducing capacity. It may work to my benefit, getting the car in a good timeframe at a good price, but it's sure tough on the guys working the line. I gather from what I'd read here that they will be switching over to producing 2004 models to ship in the spring?

fastdriver

wire2-

Glad you're "safe" for the next three years, but with the sorry DC dealers out there, your sales will never improve. Like I told ottowrkr, WHY can't the CAW and the UAW MAKE these dealers improve their service? They can dictate to the dealers about remodeling and square footage of sales and service areas etc. SO, why can they enforce those "5-STAR" rules??

Can't your union complain that the dealers' lack of concern, effort, ability etc. is AFFECTING YOUR job security! Makes NO sense to me. I think that unless you force this issue, you're screwed! I hope not, but I see it coming. There is only so much people can put up with, especially with all the nice choices out there today that don't need regular dealer visits!

300mspecial1-

I agree with you now. You really can't bad mouth them at this time. They did really try to solve the problem as opposed to just giving the car back and telling you that "they're all like that"! You are INDEED lucky in that sense!

"They said something about integrating with the sales team on this issue."

LOL... THAT will really help. They just want to get their story straight for the next 300M Special that they sell that shakes/vibrates! I just DON'T believe that all those tires were bad! I still say that all these tire issues have something to do with their "cab forward" design. I think you'll see these issues disappear when the new LH designs come out.

Hope this ends your problems for a long time now. Glad it's resolved.

beach15-

Never mind driving around looking at cars with that wacko sniper lose down there. Be careful!

fastdriver

fastdriver

Take a look here-

http://www.acura-cl.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=83942

Maybe Chrysler will build this? ;-))))))))

fastdriver

easyrider300m

that's an Acura concept car -- interesting but the M looks much better--hopefully the 300N will have the right look, power, size and comforts to satisfy present M owners looking to upgrade in a couple of years

EasyRider300M

kosh_2258

Nah,let MB have it. They're the ones getting into the hatchback thing again.

With those wheels it looks like it would corner as if it were on rails, or should be.

splatt

Oh well, but maybe it'll get you into an 03 instead

300michael

I like the top one but isn's the bottom on the new Nissin MTX? At least I can look at my car and be inspired instead of board. I also love the reliabilty of the M.

jona57

While my 01 M has been trouble-free, my local Chrysler dealer makes it a PITA to get scheduled maintenance. It's still waiting in line for the service bay to open, and hope you are not too late to get done that day. Even Car-X takes appointments!!! OTOH, a good friend of mine's new Audi All-Road (a $40+K vehicle) has needed a blower motor and TWO sets of brake rotors replaced in less than 2 years & 15K miles. (More $$$ does not guarantee a more reliable car.) While my friend is annoyed with Audi, he remains an Audi customer because his dealer is very supportive. As another example, I believe the reason the Korean makers have gained a foothold in the North American market so quickly is that they offer a reasonably valued product through a very attentive dealership network.

I cannot agree more with fastdriver on the need for the unions to raise the dealership quality issue with DC (and the other manufacturers). Customer satisfaction or DIS-satisfaction can be the difference in their next car purchase. I know this has been the deciding factor for my wife & I on more than 1 occaision over the years. Job security in any industry is ultimately about continuing sales. Continuing sales depend upon satisfying the customer, and a car dealership network which mistreats customers is a prescription for mass unemployment. UAW and CAW members are held to job performance standards, so why are so many dealers allowed to continue treating good customers like s@#$!!

-stepping down off soapbox

Jon

ruski

that guy is a lousy Photochop artist.

300M Special looks perfect to me.

I don't know anything about 300M everyday problems. After all this board is not the one that has a special forum dedicated to transmission failures (unlike the CL board).

300mspecial1

Thanks for the good wishes.

I know exactly what you mean about integrating with the sales team. They'll preface any test drive with a disclaimer about the ride quality.

It is possible they have a supplier quality issue with these 18-inch wheels/tires. If they are supplied pre-assembled and balanced, they should be pushing back through the supplier to get to the root cause and take the right corrective action. It was probably a little premature to blame the tires right off the bat. I know SLP had big problems with peeling chrome on their optional 10-Spoke chrome wheel for the SS Camaro in the '01 model year. Their supplier had some issues in their process and they wound up having to warranty a huge qty of chrome wheels. I had all 4 of mine on my SS replaced under warranty. SLP was very supportive and moved quickly to address all concerns.

The only concern I have now as I go forward is what will happen the next time the tires require a balance? Hopefully, with a good matched set, I may be OK. FWIW, we had our first snow up here this morning. It didn't accumulate much, but the car was fine down the road.

bigmike5

Man this discussion on bad wheels and tires on the Specials is like deja vu all over again. You guys are making me queasy about considering a 03 Special with the big wheels. I do not want to go thru another Badyear type of existence with a new car. The key question is whether the wheels come from a supplier balanced and ready to be mounted on the cars at the plant. If they do, then someone up there needs to kick some butt and find out why there is a problem with either the tire, the wheel or their mating. If the work is done at the plant and they have a good crew doing the balancing, then they ought to be able to figure out what the problem is on their high speed test machine. This should not be like the Tranny speed sensor that the plant manager did not know was causing a universal [almost] problem. Someone needs to let Mr. Desjardins know of the issue and get it fixed at plant or supplier level.

pjyoung

Haven't seen them on this board.

mrl859

Here's what it looks like. I took the new spare off my '01 and put it on my Special just for you guys. I finally figured out a place to post it. Go to:http://community.webshots.com/user/mrl859.

300mspecial1

I can see how you'd feel queasy. If it's a supplier issue, there's so many rat-holes to go down to resolve the problem that it may make more sense in the short term to go with the standard package on the '03. You could always upgrade later and you'd still have your original set for bad weather driving, if that's something that you need to worry about.

It's unreal to me the lengths my dealer went to fix this. It all worked out fine for me, but they couldn't possibly do that for everyone who came in that couldn't be persuaded to live with it. AND, why should you have to live with it? Noone that I know would ever buy a car with the expectation that it would shake. It would be one thing if you complained about a vibration at 100mph. You can't legally drive that fast anyway, so why should they honor a warranty claim for it? It's another matter altogether though for a car to shake at speeds that are legal on any highway and many secondary roads all over the country.