Chrysler 300M

on1wheel

deniseformca1, i have the 20 inch KMC Tramps on mine,i had to add a 3/8 inch spacer behind my front wheels to clear the struts, but that was no biggie. all wheel shops should have them. if you want to see a pic, email me at on1wheel@aol.com. i`d be glad to send you one.

cebteb

Alright, I'm taking heat from the wife about the seemingly increasing roughness of the ride in our 1999 300M (non-PHP). Not to mention the road noise.

Getting our new Olds Bravada really brought it all out. How come a truck rides smoother than a near-luxury car, she says. Since she is the 300M's primary driver, if I don't improve things, she'll be new car shopping next Spring.

I convinced her we should pop for replacing the BadYear tires with a set of YK420s. That will happen by the end of the month and I hope for some substantial improvement.

But, I'm also doing some contingency planning. I noted in a post on this forum that, at least in 1999, Chrysler produced the 300M chassis with 3 levels of suspension. The "softest" was in the LHS for a "boulevard" ride. That post noted that different springs were used. What about the struts? Does the 1999 LHS suspension use a softer strut cylinder than the non-PHP 300M?

If the answer is yes, I'm considering strut replacement. Better to sacrifice a little handling control for ride comfort than lose the 300M altogether. Our 300M is great looking inside (light tan w/ camel accents) and out (Slate), and fun to drive w/ sunroof and upgraded sound system. Love it, want to keep it. Help!

easyrider300m

what pressure are you running the tires at? I pump em up to 34 pounds. If you're running 34 or higher, you may want to try 32. You also may want to add some spray foam into the wheel wells---see 300Michaels site for method. Dont know if softer struts is a good idea--maybe it will be slightly quieter, but you lose that M handling. They yokos should make a good difference as thats what I got but you will notice the wind noise more. You may want to get the window deflectors from weahtertech to cut down on wind noise.

And then get some of your wife's favorite songs on cd and tell her to crank it up. Maybe get a basslink too to help drown out any chassis noise.

good luck

99_300m_ric_va

It's sad that this little Edmunds rule about linking to other sites is running people off again. I don't want to argue policy or start a debate, but I just think it's sad to see Brent (denverm) leave.

greasykid1

Thanks for the reply. How are the Dunlops for ride and quiet? My Michelins are very noisy on concrete. Does the nc in your name stand for N. Carolina?

bigmike5

If you go with the HUJO design on the duals, and depending on what rear muffler you choose, feel that it is too loud, you can add a Magnaflow 10416
4" tubular muffler [$70] behind the front collector, and I guarantee it will be a lot quieter in the cabin. I did this recently. Kept the stock collector, added the Magnaflow 10416 and have a Camaro [not further identified by brand] muffler in the rear. Quiet and smooth with a slight rumble and no loss of performance. I chose the Ractive T-813 dual circular tips with resonators. Just my 2 cents. See the HUJO set up diagram and my duals on SDMikes 2nd page of his site.

russklass

Was it something we said?

denisefromca1

I posted this somewhere else on this site but bare with me here as I am new to this forum. I wanted my 300M not only to look fast but to sound fast, so I had the the second muffler removed and had the 1997-2001 Corvette flowmaster installed with a thick crome oval tip that matches the 00 in the 300 installed and she sounds incredible.

blonda

I replaced the stock collector with the Magnaflow mainly for less restriction based on the opinions of many of the 300M club members--plus I felt the resonance would be a little less in the cabin. I also was fortunate enough to first be able to hear SDMike's with the exact same setup as me, and Glennbp's who has the Flowmaster with the stock collector which sounds awesome, but being I have a 99 with less sound proofing I felt it would get on my nerves after awhile.

300michael

I also have a noisy (or I should say did have a noisy) 99. I did add sound proofing mats in the interior and expanded foam in the wheel wheels and outer cavitiys. I also changed the dreaded goodyears, to Bridgestones Potenza's now only on the roughest roads do I have a sound problem, but nothing like before. I run my Potenza's at (mas psi is 52 on these tires) 45 pounds so I know I could make it even a little quieter if I took off 3-5 more pounds. The wheel well sound proofing helped too. I was running 90db sound levels on one streach of bad road it is now 74db. If you do one thing change the tires. Tire rack allows you to check for noise levels on the tires it is a good indecator. I used roof ice dam prevention elastomeric material with a peel off self sticking backing instead of dynomate. It was a lot less expensive and I got 3 times the material. I did the hole interior and trunk.

on1wheel

i sent you some pics, but it said your mail box is full. i`ll try again later

99_300m_ric_va

No is wasn't anything we did.

denisefromca1

I've read about the concerns of depreciation on the forum and I too had that concern, but I truly believe that these 300M's are going to be known as a classic someday. So keep yours in awsome condition! They are extremely appealing and very few cars appeal to so many different ages as the 300M. I sure hope I'm right

cebteb

easyrider300m
Thanks for the feedback. I run the tires at the DC recommended 32 psi. Though noise is an issue, ride roughness is the number one issue right now. I hope the YK420s help to reduce the slamming we experience on every bump in the road. But, maybe if the road noise is reduced, the rough ride won't be so apparent. Hmmm!

300michael
Thanks for the response. I searched the forum and noted that you had done some pretty extensive work on sound deadening. Some of which DC eventually copied in the late 2000 300Ms. Most of the mods look like a summer project. Besides the wife already commented that she doesn't want me ripping out the interior of the 300M. There are a lot of fairly fragile fastenings in the interior. Did you get some kind of chassis service manual before you removed the seats and console?

Looking for some quick help that doesn't add to my home "To Do" list, I checked into sound deadening undercoating in the metro-Denver area. No Ziebart franchises and I haven't found any others that so advertize. Which noise reduction mod do you think had the single biggest impact on road noise?

300michael

Laying in the mat took a day. I do have a service manual but I have remove so many of the parts before I can do it in my sleep. I did remove the seats but not the center console. I got that from underneith. with under coating. I did take out the seats (front and rear) and the door panels. The expansion foam I put in the wheel wells between the plastc liner and the floor kick areas. and anywhere I could. This helped more then the mats. The wheel wells and front door areas are where you get the most noise. Changing to the bridgestones made the biggest differance off all. so for reduction I would say 45% reduction from tire change, 35% foam, and 20% mats. Some of the reason is the M already has some matting installed.

kosh_2258

I think different struts would help. I had a 98 Intrepid ES which essentially has the same suspension as the standard 99M. What I noticed was that the ride deteriorated over time especially over small irregularities. The struts passed the bounce test but the car still rode poorly over uneven surfaces.

I'd suggest going for aftermarket, not OEM. Check out Monroe, Gabriel, or other name brand struts. Look for the models that provide an adaptive ride feature. Soft over small stuff but firm up quickly over the big jolts. Tires will make a difference too, but how a tire feels is dependent on the tuning of the suspension.

I have a bad attitude about the Goodyears also. The set of Eagle GA's that were OEM on my 93 Vision TSi were worn out in 30K. I replaced them with Michelin MXV4's and it was quite an improvement in both ride and road noise on that car.

Blonda,

The Pacifica isn't supposed to be for sale until spring. My guess would be you saw a pre-production unit out for testing by DC or perhaps a car magazine. Lead time on car mag articles is like two months so they might be out testing for articles to appear in their March issues, just as the car goes on sale. Of course that's just a guess.

blonda

You're probably right. San Diego appears to be the favorite place for Chrysler to debut their cars to the press (i.e., the 300M and the PT Cruiser just to name a couple).

blonda

DC finally has some new 300M ads on tv. I have seen 2 different ones in the past week. Looks like they are marketing to women this time(who are known as the biggest decision maker in car buying), but they still run most of their commercials during sports events and on ESPN.

The one I've seen the most is a woman sitting in a room talking about power, class, etc. then they show her driving a silver M on a mountain road (not a special). As in other ads..they only show the car briefly. It made me think...can we get a different color than silver for the ads? and can we show the M in it's glory a little more?

They listened...

Saw one last night with a black M (again not a Special) in a darkly lit showroom at all different angles, with flashes here and there of an exotic looking man and woman, and a tarantula (yes a tarantula) crawing over the 300M logo (pretty cool). I had the volume down so couldn't hear what they were saying. Hope to see it again.

bigmike5

Too bad they couldn't have actual owners like SDmike, Glenn, John Wyche, me or you do some commercials showcasing the car. Would probably bring too many customers into the showrooms. Just a thought for DC marketing. Are you listening Dieter??

pster

Hello all. FYI, I just replaced the wonderful Michelin XGT's that came with my 1999 PHP 300M with Dunlap Sport A2's. These tires are not any quieter than the Michelin's, but they handle emphatically better in the rain. So far, I like them very much. Sort of pricey though, a few bucks cheaper than the Michelin MX's.

Well, the freon leaked out of my a/c system again. I had it recharged and it lasted a couple of months. Even though it is winter, I really need the a/c for defrosting. So.....I am thinking about just buying some freon at the auto parts store and adding it myself. I haven't done this in 15 years, so not sure I remember how. As I recall, there is a hose adapter that punctures the freon can and is attached to the a/c system, but I can't remember if it is attached to the LOW or HIGH pressure side of the compressor. Can anyone tell me? There is a nipple attachment to the a/c line that is very visible and in plain sight - is that where the freon can is attached? Thanks for any advice.

silverbullet4

I have noticed a slight shuddering when braking from 60 mph to about 45 mph. Also, I had what felt like a tire inbalance between 55 and 65 mph. (I never drive faster than that ;>))
Sears said the front rotors were slightly warped, and that the pads had about 25% wear left. I had the rotors turned, new ceramic pads installed, and a four wheel rotation after balancing. It is "all good" so far. Cost was $193 total. There was a note on the invoice that said to bring the aluminum wheels in for "retorquing" after driving 25 miles. The counter clerk dissed this advice, but I will certainly have it done this time. It might have saved me the warped rotors resulting from my last rotation. Any thoughts from anybody on this practice?

Silver

bigmike5

Maybe just a language problem, but... I don't think "freon" is the answer anymore. I'm pretty sure that they are using something else now, but I can't think of the numbers for it. Someone know what the new stuff is called??

bigmike5

Never heard of the practice, but I always loosen and retighten the nuts after I get it back from the shop on a rotation or anything else that gets a wheel off. Don't trust the guys with the torque wrench to hit between 80-100 and I know what feels right on hand tightening, so I redo it.

ottowrkr

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1872775596&rd=1

 I know someone was looking for one of these before

beach15

If it was the same "BET" version I saw about 2 weeks ago, there's a very nice music beat playing and the people keep saying "300M...in black!". Kind of catchy, and finally an ad without a silver car!

mrl859

It's called R134a. It is completely different and INCOMPATIBLE with R12 (Freon). I would assume that it is just as easily available at parts stores as "freon" once was. I'm sure you can also buy a cheap recharging "kit".

mrl859

What's wrong with silver cars?????????????

ruski

At the end of the 3-year lease my 300M's AC started leaking somewhere. I bought the AC charging kit and a few cans of 134a. It was quite easy to recharge.

tedd

I just traded my '99 non PHP 300M in for a new '02 300M Special (manufactured May 2). I really like the sportiness of it and find the ride not to be so different from the '99. I took it on a test drive (1,300 miles) to Southern California. It rode great and really hugged the road nicely. In fact it rode too great. I got a speeding ticket on I-5 in the San Joaquin Valley. The chipper said I was going 85+. No way! I think he was just bored and wanted to check out my new beauty. I think the dual chrome exhuast pipes must have turned him on.

Questions: What's a good tire pressure to use on the Michelin Pilot tires? Also, the tires have imprinted on them "No Rotation." Is that true?

beach15

tedd- Yes, very important. These Pilots are uni-directional and can roll only one direction. Thus, a rotation is not something you want to do, unless going just front to back and back to front, on the same side.

mrl859- Nothing, it's just nice to finally both see and have it emphasized, something other than a silver car. It's still the most popular for obvious reasons, but not everyone wants to buy the same, or see the same in commercials.

mrl859

PHOOEY!

silverbullet4

I have a bright silver 2000, but I think the M looks good in most of the colors (although I have seen some pretty sad looking white ones with NO apparent polish or wax TLC) Black looks great, but you could never keep it clean in our dusty city. Silver doesn't show dirt as much as black or navy. They are tearing up all the residential streets in out little city to install new water lines and curbs, so the dust and debris is everywhere. The price of progress.

300jw

I put on the YK420s right after I bought the 99 300 Non PHP in January of this year. The tires now have about 10K. The tires have been great and the recent trip we took just confirm, for me at least, how good these tires are under adverse conditions. Before the trip I increased the tire pressure to 32psi based on earlier threads. The recent trip consisted for 3800 Miles over a two week period. Mostly Interstate(alot of construction in some areas) and lots of rain. The roads suck in some states as I felt like I was going over speed bumps , which is why there is so much construction. The tires were quiet over a wide variety of road surfaces. Only a few times the tires got noisy due to the surface of the road.

The other part I was delighted with concerned the mileage. Averaged 26mpg over the entire trip, which was excellent considering the weather and speeds I drove.

Another plus were the seats which were so comfortable that we didn't get sore seats or have aching backs driving as much as 12 to 14 hours on some days.

drpixel

been a while since I've posted here, like a lot of folks....and am sad to see Brent/denverm moving on to other things. I hope that the road ahead for him is full of fresh powder, the air is clean and clear (I know he's an avid skier) and wish him well on whatever road life may take him.

I can only wonder at why he has decided to 'leave' this forum. I hope that it was nothing any of us have said or done--and I don't think that was the case here. I haven't followed this discussion about posting links to 'other sites', and cetainly hope that that wasn't the catalyst (and I don't think it was).

I know that 'this thing of ours' is going through a time of flux, and for one reason or another many of us will be less involved due to work (or in my case LACK of a job..), retirement, or whatever reason. I only hope that the people who became part of the club will stewp forward and consider continuing the good work that the original 12 started in 2000. (end of flagrant pleas for volunteers).

Me and eMily? Still plodding alone, 16, 900 miles (on emily) and I'm still looking for a job. The more people I talk to, the more people I hear about being downsized.....I will try to post on a more regular basis, but understand that priority ONE right now is JOB number 2: Doc's career continues--I'm hoping....

Was nice to see soome familiar 'faces' posting here.....silverbullet, bigmike5, fastdriver, blonda and of course easyrider...otto, wire2....one thing's for sure, I'll find a new job, and then the Doc WILL be back.....You can STILL reach me at the home email location...

Doc/drpixel/Glenn and Angel the wonder Cat!

easyrider300m

I just checked their site for my right mirror and my grille. Their prices are great and they have free shipping for orders over $100. $195 retail grille is only $144-an over 25% discount. And the mirror lists at 192 and they sell it for 140. If you want the 2001 tail lamp assembly, its only $123--marked down from $169--again an over 25% discount. Such a deal!

EZ

99_300m_ric_va

Good to hear from you. Here's wishing you luck on that job search.

On Brent, he got some posts deleted and the reason given was linking to the clubs other message board for the reason of getting people to move there. It was, in his mind, a link to information, to benefit the posters here. Edmunds thought otherwise, so he's over there now and not here.

easyrider300m

Sorry to see Brent leave this message board. It was his choice to move to other board. On occassions, I have mentioned Edmunds on the other board and always felt both boards could coexist. It's sad that Edmunds has rules concerning links to the other board. I will continue to visit both sites but will favor using the most liberal board. I feel it's a mistake on Edmunds part but they are free to run the board as they see fit. Posters will make their own decisions on what boards to visit depending on where they find the best information and value. Competition is the American Way and choice is an American Right.

EasyRider300M
silver Y2K M with all the toys....

pster

Thanks for everyone's thoughts and ideas. My error, it is not "freon", it is in fact R134a as mrl859 mentioned. I decided that the 5* dealer who wanted $1200 to remove my dashboard to repair an evaporator leak was being disengenous, or lying. What he did not tell me of course is that you can put a can of leak sealant into the system, immediately followed by R134a. The R134a is only $6.00 per can. I added the sealant and two 12 oz cans of R134a yesterday (low pressure inlet, the only nipple the applicator will fit so it is idiot proof) and the system began cooling almost immediately. I did not want to add more as I did not know the capacity of the system. I understand overcharging can damage the compressor seals, etc. Does anyone know how many ounces of R134a the 300M's a/c system holds? Thanks to all for the advice. phil

pat

Please feel free to address your comments about any policy of the Town Hall to our Community Manager, Sylvia, at sylvia@edmunds.com.

I would appreciate it if we refrain from debating policy here -- your thoughts and comments do not reach the folks who can change policy and it really is an off-topic distraction.

Thanks!

wire2

"Freon" is Dupont's commercial name for R12 refrigerant, the actual name is dichlorodiflouromethane. As everyone knows, it was replaced by R134a around '93.
24 oz. added to a low system would be close to a proper fill, we put in 820 grams at the factory.
If your A/C quits again, you can add it slowly while touching the Hi and Lo (larger) lines at the compressor alternately. When the Hi gets quite warm and Lo is cold you've got enough refrigerant.
$1200 is pretty steep for an evaporator change, the flat rate here is 6.5 hours and an evaporator rad costs $180 CAD (about $120 US).
The sealant will work only for small leaks, so if the hole gets bigger due to corrosion you may have to get a rad eventually.

ottowrkr

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1872865921&rd=1

pster

Thanks wire2 - I did in fact exactly 24 ounces and stopped. It sucked the 24 oz into the system pretty fast, I was a little surprised. Cooling nicely now. Adding some refrigerant ever couple motnths is still cheaper than a big repair. Sadly, I lost all faith in my local 5* dealer. I actually reported them to Chrysler as I think they perform unnecessary and unnecessarily expensive repairs. They never even mentioned trying to use a sealant.

wire2

I think it's the same one. Same writeup, same seller, same buy it now for $325. I suspect the first deal fell through.

pster;
>... sucked the 24 oz into the system pretty fast.
It'll do that. The boiling point is about 40 below so a tin of it at room temperature will be at 130-140 psi. and the suction side of a compressor low on gas will be near zero.

greasykid1

Has anyone driven a 2003 with the 17 in wheels. If so did you like it?

wire2

I think it's the same one. Same writeup, same seller, same buy it now for $325. I suspect the first deal fell through.

pster;
>... sucked the 24 oz into the system pretty fast.
It'll do that. The boiling point is about 40 below so a tin of it at room temperature will be at 130-140 psi. and the suction side of a compressor low on gas will be near zero.

300michael

You can now sign up for a time and date. I picked Chrysler 10am, Jeep 11am, and Dodge 12pm, on December 7th. Hope to see some of you there. It will not be a formal meet as no one contacted me. But you are all welcome.

kosh_2258

I keep the tires on my Special between 34-36 psi.

You can rotate the tires but only front to back on the same side because they're directional tires. If you look on the side wall you'll see an arrow molded in showing direction of rotation.

Just don't forget to retrain your tire pressure monitoring system when they are rotated. Otherwise the display will report the pressure at the wrong location because it "thinks" the tire is still in the previous spot.

splatt

The evic for sale on ebay I don't think fell through. I think he has access to them and is selling them. He made a post somewhere else that if anyone was interested he had a slightly different model and also that he could try to get the 02 with the pressure guage if interest was there.

Pathost - unless you deleted posts, I don't see where anyone is discussing policy directly. There was a question about why someone left this board, and then an answer as to why. Yes, the why had to do with board policy, but I don't think it was meant to affect policy, but to answer a question. I'm not questioning policy, I'm just asking in reference to your post in this forum.

pat

I did not remove any posts. People were commenting on their feelings about the policy. I would like for the Town Hall management to know how folks feel, but they aren't going to find out if you don't tell them.

Now please, any further comments about any of this need to be handled via email, either to myself or our Community Manager as I mentioned earlier.

Thanks.

drpixel

thanks for response to the light show problem. Many here have commented about this problem, and seems the 'fix' is to back off the full brightness on the rotatory dimmer switch. Seems to me, and this is just my VHO, is that WHY should any one have to adjust THEIR way of driving (in my case, I like the bright lights...) just because DC doesn't want to fix a known problem. Those BCM's go for a $1K a pop; and you'd think they'd fix this problem 1-2-3. Of course its just my opinion..what do I know, right?

Easy, can you put up a poll/whatever in that other pl__e asking how many had this problem and what was the local dealer's 'fix'?...

Thanks, and hello to you Pat!..been a while, but I'm trying to find a new job....
Take care,
Doc