I am thinking of raising the side vinal door guards. Now that the car is lowered the door moldings offer even less protection. I am thinking of raising them about 5" and using double side tape to reattach them. That way they would help protect against SUV's and Trucks too.
I have given myself about 24 hrs. to cool off, and have gone through hundreds of posts and have found other comments much more (so called) offensive then what I put in, by attempting a bit of humour. I know that some of you do not know what this is about because my post was wiped off prior to some of you reading it. I will now leave it alone, and just post if I have what I consider appropriate or needing assistance. I have learned a lot in the year that I have been on this board and I thank everyone for it, and I also feel good when I can contribute something to this board. I have not joined the club as I can't see a benefit here in Canada, but if any of you other Canucks can convince me I might re-consider.Thanks for the support that some of you gave me. It feels good!!!!!!!!!
Jee, that sounds just like...ahh, I'll spare you all the details. 2 months ago we traded our 2000 with 18k miles on it and it was already a rattlebox. When you say behind the dash, do you mean right behind the gauges? We had a constant rattle from there that 2 dealers couldn't/wouldn't fix, but coming from Otto, I was told it was probably a loose cross car beam screw. There's a bracket on the back of the IP that's held tight against the beam by the screw. When and if it gets loose, you'll have one heck of a rattle.
I had gotten instructions on how to get into the dash and fix it, but I never really got that far into the dismantling.
Under the body? Sound like it's in the steering/suspension or is it something underneath the floorboards?
The vibration, slight though, occurs with 1/2 > throttle/ Again, it can be interpreted as "road feel" I will not go back to stock springs, BTW - my 300 is a non PHP.
Thanks for the info on the chip. You should know this drive,,,I live in Temecula, work in San Diego. The run down I15 has stretchs to let the car breath...How much is the ASE chip anyway?
I don't know how much the chip is, but if you post on the MODS section of the club board ( http://www.300mclub.org ) you'll likely find someone that has installed either the ASE chip or another (that I can't remember the name of). I know what you mean about the I15 run. YOu just have to do it before 6am or after 8pm.
I hope you will keep posting here---the host of the board can sometimes overreact---dont let one problem peeve you off---this is the best board on Edmunds with intelligent posters for the most part who are willing to help out fellow M'ers. You should also check out the club board for a different type of organized board ---its at http://pub88.ezboard.com/b300menthusiastsclub
I am having problems with my 99 300M. The glass(?) headlight covers have taken on a rather dull yellowish film. I have tried everything I know to clean them from Windex to rubbing compound and a buffer.
Has anyone else had this problem, and what have you successfully used to clean them? I am about ready to replace them if I cant get them cleaned...they look like crap. I would appreciate any help you could be.
Can you post a pic of this? I think the covers are a high impact plastic, so a plastic polish or cleaner may be in order. Check you local NAPA, they might have a good 3M product for this.
It's Memorial Day morning and I can do one of two things today. I can either wash, wax, and detail my 300M or go visit my Mother-in-law. Hmmmmm. Decisions, decisions, decisions.
Yes, I will post a picture...thanks for the NAPA idea...I will give them a try, and report back...any other suggestions would be appreciated. My dealer said that this has been a problem here in S. Florida with the sun/heat in both the 300M, and the LHS.
My 99 M has no problems with yellowing, and it sits out in the hot Arizona sun, during the day. I have seen this on early eightys cars. I do not think it (yellowing) is something that can be cleared up. They should not be yellowing after a couple of years. I would complane to the dealership (even though your cars is probably out of warranty) They are designed to last a lot longer. If your window glass, paint, or othere exterior part of the car did that, we would be screeming bloody murder.
Are the lenses transparent but yellow, or are they hazy and yellow?
Have you owned the car all along or did you buy it used? Have you (or someone) installed a vinyl headlight protection kit (like X-PEL)?
If the plastic is clear but yellowed then your only option may be replacing the assemblies because I don't think you'll get the yellowing out. If the finish is sandblasted then polishing it will help. If you (or someone) installed a headlight protection vinyl then removing it will take care of the problem. The cheap stuff will yellow because it doesn't have UV protection.
Several products exist to polish plastic, one I know of is called NOVUS that works great but might be hard to find. It's designed for polishing plastics like lexan and polycarbonate.
I have heard that regular toothpaste can be used to polish certain plastics (it seems to have just the right amount of abrasives) BUT I myself have not tried this. But for the price (zero) you may want to try it on a small spot and see what happens. If it is so bad that you are considering replacing the lenses I guess you have nothing to lose and everything to gain!
I have used white polishing compound made for car paint--(not the red stuff)----if it works on paint without scratching, it makes sense it should be fine enough to use on plastic---Im not sure but I think Simoniz makes it----should be available in most auto parts stores--I believe it comes in a green and white can---the yellow may be through and through the plastic so I am not sure this will work--this is mainly to take out fine scratches-----I have used it on plastic watch crystals with good luck---
Hope the little tip shed some light on your situation, even though I thought it was help, of course someone had to tell me to get a life! Boy, the M boys are being nice today I see...!
I was just curious...while washing my M today I saw this grimey paper sticking out under the wheel near the axle on the front drivers side. I pulled it out (looks like it's seen some serious heat!). It's a label with bar codes and most of it I can make out. It says Deep Slate, Chrysler 300 Front... something. Has VIN, ECN and a part number (ORW52VAWAE). I figure it's just a part label, but must be important...also has the date 9/10/98 at 12:22:39 pm. My car was built on 9/15/98 at 12:51pm (this is off the label inside the door). Is this maybe the engine or transaxle?
It's been pretty much clear blue skies today. M looks nice and shiney. Weatherman says it's going to rain starting about 3am tomorrow morning. Great. Just in time for the dirty road grime to get all over the car. 8-( (hopefully he's wrong...usually his half the time anyway)
Last night when I got in my M in total darkness, I noticed that the interior lights were awfully bright, too bright - all 8 of them! Today I picked up 4 194B blue bulbs and replaced the bulbs in the 2 overhead console map lights and also the upper rear lights where the assist handles are. I left the front and rear door lights alone primarily for safety reasons. I know blue light isn't to everyone's liking, but it really cooled down the harshness and adds a nice effect. I liked it so much that I added a thin 4" blue neon tube just behind the overhead console. I simply spliced it into the left map light so that it comes on automatically or I can turn it on manually by pressing the light. It's bright enough to read by, but gives off a beautiful blue glow. Anyway, the whole deal was under $20.00 and took all of a half hour. Those bulbs, as well as the neon, come in many colors, so have fun if you wish!
you promised in the past to stop discussing the problems you had with the 300M that you sold due to rattles and other problems etc which worsened after you nearly totalled your car----you no longer own the lemon M so while you are welcome here, I would think you would have more interest in the board relating to that fantastic quiet trouble free ugly plastic Avalanche TRUCK that you now own.
So how bout keeping your promise ---most people here already know you were disatisfied with your lemon M so I dont think it needs repeating.
other 300m SPECIAL owners of the Chrysler 300m Enthusiasts Club. Please contact me via my home email address. In particualr, Ted S.: your OLD @home email address no longer works, and I have been unsuccessful trying the cox.net address that many @home users wound up with.
Ted: please contact me at my HOME email address which is on the club Contact Us page. I tried your old @home email--no dice. Hope you had a great Memorial Day weekend.
For anyone who has had tint put on the M, a rear window application question. Do you know if the tint was put on in two pieces or one? The place I went to (Ziebart) said they put it on using two pieces and match them up along one of the defroster lines. My last M was one piece I'm 99% sure, and I've had three other cars done (all at a different place) and no one did it that way on the rear windows. Is Ziebart feeding me BS?
I had it done on one of my past vehicles and it was 2 piece---I think they mentioned they do it that way due to the curve in the window or the large size---I never really noticed the seam
There are probably three reasons that Ziebart said that it has to be done in two pieces. 1) They do not stock large enough rolls to do the window in one piece. 2) They are not using heat shrinkable film that is a must when doing one piece install on windows with significant curvature - the 300M does not have much of a curve to it. 3) They just do not know how to do it in one piece.
If you go to the window tint forum you will see that the common opinion of Ziebart is pretty low! One person stated that they would not let Zeibart install an air freshner on their rear view mirror!!
I came across this site via the profile of a visitor to the EZ board. This guy has some serious mods planned for his new 300M Special. He already has done some mods and has lots more planned. guess he wants to break the 10 sec quarter mile barrier http://members.rogers.com/gborges/
On the pics, I thought I had sent you hardcopy photos before that you put up for me, but maybe I sent em to Rogor2K. If you can't post em, then I guess you can send em back to me. Had really hoped to get the Dream Cruise one up on Edmunds. I'll just hope that someday soon they will let me post attachments to messages from my work computer.
Accordint to the Discount Tire site these Yoko's are "specially made in cooperation with Yokohama" or something similar. SOunds like an OEM'd brand, but I've been reading good things about it. A V-rated Yoko performance tire for about $120. Sounds like something to consider when the Michelins wear out.
I couldnt find a source that ships the Yoko 420---I did a search for location and michigan and found them there but that is a store location, not a warehouse---the warehouse doesnt seem to stock this tire for shipment---it does not list a location in Massachusetts for American tire--I do know of a dicount tire around her though.
Sounds like a great tire. I wonder if it is much better than the T rated avids. The 420's show a price of $112 in the Detroit area. The avids can be had at tirerack for $91. Being V rated, the 420s would be better at very high speed and maybe better at cornering due a probable sturdier sidewall. It is an all season so dont expect the performance of a solely performance based tire. I would like to get some reviews by anyone who purchases that tire.
I watched my Ziebart dealer do a two piece install. The technique was flawless and well practiced. They did do some shrink wrap on another install while I was watching and that also went well. It can probably be done both ways and if done right they are probaly equally as good.
SDMike--What did you think of the mods on the photos?
I can honestly say yours is the first M I've seen with most of those mods! I wish I could post the pictures (anyone else want to volunteer to scan and post them?). While I'm not a big fan of strips and lettering it doesn't look bad in the gold on the silver. I think the gold wheel caps look nice with the overall theme of the car too. Now, if you can just do something with those military stickers. lol. What I *REALLY* like is the irridescent (sp?) material on your shifter. Did you have the chrome before or did this cover the leather? It's very cool looking.
How many miles do you expect to get from the Michelins? Are they wearing evenly? I ask as I have seen quite a few M's (mine included) that seem to suffer from premature wear on the outside edges of the tire (particularly the front tires). Have you experienced this as well?
You must have a different weather system over there. It's bright and sunny here in PQ. I might actually have to wash Big Red today.
Oh, my neighbor just got a Yawnry (camry) in dark red. Every day he's out front washing it. Looks nice from a distance, but up close it looks like crap. He seemed to be very happy, but my gosh I wouldn't be able to stand it. I'd go over and Zaino a section for him except that he's a jerk. lol
Mine look like new with about 11k miles on them. I keep them properly inflated (32 cold) and I rotate them every time I get my oil changed. They seem to be holding up very well. Time will tell though.
Yeah they changed the forecast to "scattered thunderstorms" today, but hopefully they'll scatter somewhere else as I got to work too late to park in the parking garage.
I have an obsessive neighbor with a camry too (a couple years old). He's the kid with the "slammed" one with the 5,000 watt stereo. Green with yellow flames, duals, custom grille, etc. He even changed the CAMRY in the back to spell MYCAR. Sounds horrid, but it actually looks fairly decent (doesn't have the hugh wing in back thank goodness). For awhile there he was washing/waxing the thing every Saturday and Sunday morning. He literally spent at least 8 hours claying it one day. It made me feel a little better as I always felt the neighbors think I'm weird for waxing the M as much as I do. He says he uses the "cheap stuff" -- whatever it is...it looks pretty good, but not as good as Zaino would look.
I know a lot of you have mentioned trouble with this. I had a problem for awhile, then in the winter it seemed to go away with zaino, etc. Then I had 3 of the 4 window bezels replaced and the old one matched perfectly. They remained perfect looking until last month when we had light, occasional showers on and off throughout the day. From what I can tell, when it rains lightly then the sun comes out, it makes stains. I think it's dirty or an acid type rain causing this. Mine were getting bad, and then I washed the car yesterday and they were horrible. Very dull and spotted/streaked (I have the 99 with the flat paint)it almost looked like someone had sprayed bleach on them.
I decided to take what I had in the garage and experiment to see what would work. Here's what I came up with:
Z5: no help, just sightly shinier spots/stains
Macquires Cleaner Wax: slight improvement, nice waxed look but spots/stains still there.
Turtle Wax Color Cure in Black: Now this says not to use on flat paint or metalized plastic but I was brave and tried it anyway. First coat took out most of the water spots, 2nd coat got rid of them all. It left the bezels with a dull residue, but better than the spots that were there before. So I tried a coat of the Macquiers on top if it and it took out the dull residue.
Final analysis: Color Cure Black (2 coats) then a coat of Macquires Cleaner Wax resulted in an almost new finish. I topped it off with some Z2 for a little extra shine (but the Macquires left it looking pretty good).
Next test is to see how it holds up again with these light rains. I'm thinking the Zaino does nothing to protect and am hoping the Macquires will do a better job.
I did take a comparison photo and will try to post it tonight.
Comments
I had gotten instructions on how to get into the dash and fix it, but I never really got that far into the dismantling.
Under the body? Sound like it's in the steering/suspension or is it something underneath the floorboards?
Good luck with those pesky rattles!
Easyrider300M
I am having problems with my 99 300M. The glass(?) headlight covers have taken on a rather dull yellowish film. I have tried everything I know to clean them from Windex to rubbing compound and a buffer.
Has anyone else had this problem, and what have you successfully used to clean them? I am about ready to replace them if I cant get them cleaned...they look like crap. I would appreciate any help you could be.
Thanks in advance,
Jack
Can you post a pic of this? I think the covers are a high impact plastic, so a plastic polish or cleaner may be in order. Check you local NAPA, they might have a good 3M product for this.
Thanks again,
Jack
Have you owned the car all along or did you buy it used? Have you (or someone) installed a vinyl headlight protection kit (like X-PEL)?
If the plastic is clear but yellowed then your only option may be replacing the assemblies because I don't think you'll get the yellowing out.
If the finish is sandblasted then polishing it will help.
If you (or someone) installed a headlight protection vinyl then removing it will take care of the problem. The cheap stuff will yellow because it doesn't have UV protection.
Several products exist to polish plastic, one I know of is called NOVUS that works great but might be hard to find.
It's designed for polishing plastics like lexan and polycarbonate.
Sorry Mom. See ya on the 4th of July.
Keep us posted...
Good luck and happy Memorial Day everyone!
So how bout keeping your promise ---most people here already know you were disatisfied with your lemon M so I dont think it needs repeating.
And have a nice night
Easyrider300M
Doc
Doc
If you go to the window tint forum you will see that the common opinion of Ziebart is pretty low! One person stated that they would not let Zeibart install an air freshner on their rear view mirror!!
It had the ubiquitous "Florida Limo Tint" on it (He HAD to have a Black one.. oh well..) and the back window was done in one piece.
It can be done. Just find a qualified tint guy.
Bill
Sounds like a great tire. I wonder if it is much better than the T rated avids. The 420's show a price of $112 in the Detroit area. The avids can be had at tirerack for $91. Being V rated, the 420s would be better at very high speed and maybe better at cornering due a probable sturdier sidewall. It is an all season so dont expect the performance of a solely performance based tire. I would like to get some reviews by anyone who purchases that tire.
SDMike--What did you think of the mods on the photos?
http://community.webshots.com/album/39187498pGrVjG
M3
Oh, my neighbor just got a Yawnry (camry) in dark red. Every day he's out front washing it. Looks nice from a distance, but up close it looks like crap. He seemed to be very happy, but my gosh I wouldn't be able to stand it. I'd go over and Zaino a section for him except that he's a jerk. lol
Mike
I have an obsessive neighbor with a camry too (a couple years old). He's the kid with the "slammed" one with the 5,000 watt stereo. Green with yellow flames, duals, custom grille, etc. He even changed the CAMRY in the back to spell MYCAR. Sounds horrid, but it actually looks fairly decent (doesn't have the hugh wing in back thank goodness). For awhile there he was washing/waxing the thing every Saturday and Sunday morning. He literally spent at least 8 hours claying it one day. It made me feel a little better as I always felt the neighbors think I'm weird for waxing the M as much as I do. He says he uses the "cheap stuff" -- whatever it is...it looks pretty good, but not as good as Zaino would look.
I decided to take what I had in the garage and experiment to see what would work. Here's what I came up with:
Z5: no help, just sightly shinier spots/stains
Macquires Cleaner Wax: slight improvement, nice waxed look but spots/stains still there.
Turtle Wax Color Cure in Black: Now this says not to use on flat paint or metalized plastic but I was brave and tried it anyway. First coat took out most of the water spots, 2nd coat got rid of them all. It left the bezels with a dull residue, but better than the spots that were there before. So I tried a coat of the Macquiers on top if it and it took out the dull residue.
Final analysis: Color Cure Black (2 coats) then a coat of Macquires Cleaner Wax resulted in an almost new finish. I topped it off with some Z2 for a little extra shine (but the Macquires left it looking pretty good).
Next test is to see how it holds up again with these light rains. I'm thinking the Zaino does nothing to protect and am hoping the Macquires will do a better job.
I did take a comparison photo and will try to post it tonight.