CCCacher

New pics added to my gallery of the canoe loaded up.

I found a pretty good way to do this. My 15' canoe when centred on the roof racks only sticks out to about the bottom of the wind shield. I didn't want to run a rope over the front of the hood as it would rub paint and break my bug deflector. Under the hood I found two brackets with a slot in them that was about the size of the fabric of my ratchet straps. I cut off about a foot from two straps (leaving more than enough to hold down the canoe on the racks) and looped it through these slots. I tied a knot on the the loose ends and pulled the loop tight. It sticks out between the hood and the plastic trim that surrounds the wiper area. They work great for holding the front of the canoe secure. You have a bit of a rope in your view out but it isn't too bad. Check out the pics in my gallery.

Hey Jason, pretty sure we've met at a few of the local geocaching events. Probably see you in a few weeks. The journey certainly has made geocaching easier. I've been down a few hydro roads and other trails that my car wouldn't have made it down. Fits lots of people and gear for out of town runs as well. I have the nav system and can load geocaches as POI's which makes navigating to them much easier. AWD has certainly come in handy especially this winter. I've driven backwards single lane access roads for 100's of meters with the backup camera. Certainly an all purpose vehicle. Yes, I agree with the window tinting. It was the first thing that I did.

I had the problem of the rear passenger door speaker not working. They found a loose ground connection at the amp which is under the front passenger seat if I remember correctly.

It is likely an occasional "perfect storm" event where at that particular moment the sensor is a little messed up at the time you happen to lock the door and walk away but are still in range. I always lock the door from the outside via the handle button or fob. I'd have the dealer check/change the door handle sensors. I'd be really surprised if it is a fob problem.

When I wash the Journey with the keys in my pocket I can hear the doors "unlocking" when I spray water near/on the door handle. The vehicle senses the key is near and thinks that the water is a door handle touch. I would assume that the door handle sensor works on some sort of capacitance (static charge) or grounding detection. I know the sensors works from a certain distance as my kids can open the front doors when I am still some distance from the vehicle. I bet that when you lock the doors and exit the vehicle that it takes the outdoor sensor a few seconds to determine that you are outside the vehicle (and while you are walking away you are still in range) and that the door handle touch sensor has an issue and think it "detects" you touching the handle and unlocks the door. Maybe make sure everything is clean and that there is no interference with the handle sensor (or suggest that the dealer replace the door handle sensors).

Thanks for the tips. Looking forward to doing this in the spring. One more question. I didn't get a ball and mount yet. What is a typical "ball" size for towing (be honest about the size of your ball ) and what offset puts it at a good height. Just want to make sure when my ball get mounted that it is a smooth ride! (sorry, just had to write this! )

My curt hitch arrived today from http://canadianhitches.ca/, 24hrs from ordering to delivery, Bday present for next week. Part # 13335 for the class 3, I wanted the 2" hookup. Got the hitch and a bike rack for $350 with taxes and free delivery (about $160 each before taxes). I'll have to wait until the spring to install it, way to cold to be working outside. I have the trailer prep package so I already have the wiring harness, are there any tips/instructions on how to install it when the time comes? I'll have to go to the dealership to have it enabled, I assume that they should do this for free.

I find between winter gas and winter tires, my milage goes up/down/whatever, it gets worse by a few liters/100km for my normal around town driving. Once I get on the highway and things stay warm for a while it gets closer to "normal". As an aside, I noticed that in Canada we measure fuel over distance (Litres per kilometer) where as in the states it is distance over fuel (miles per gallon). It makes it very difficult to talk about milage in forums like this. If my "milage" goes down I am happy (less liters to go 100km). I'm happy when I get under 10L/100km. If I told an american I was getting a "milage" of 9.8 they would think I was driving a tank!

Hope your insurance is up-to-date, don't let your broker see this pic.

Just learned this week (after having my Journey for a 18 month) that the blue tooth volume and radio volume can be set separately. My blue tooth volume recently became really low and I would turn up the volume but the radio would come in really loud after the call. I was playing on the way home one day, calling my office line since I knew it would just to the voic email and it appeared that I could sometimes set the bluetooth volume separately from the radio. I still need to tweak it a bit but is seems better. Can someone walk me through setting the volumes if they have experience with it? I have the 8.4N unit. Thanks.

AWD with winter tires had proved unstoppable for me. I have great control on snowy roads as long as I don't push it too much. I've seen many other vehicles struggling and I just keep going. Now if I push it too far, usually in the parking lot at work first thing in the morning, I find it will 'snow plow' easily if I turn too sharply without my foot on the gas. Last year during a big snowstorm I left early for work expecting a longer drive time but the drive was only a few min extra and the parking lot was empty. I turned off the traction control as I wanted to see if I could get all four wheels spinning. I did a couple of AWD donuts no problem and in control (as much as one can be) the whole time. I have a pic, I'll see if I can find it. I've been nothing but impressed with the winter handling so far. Now we haven't had much icy driving lately but at that stage I find it doesn't really matter what you are driving vehicle wise but winter tires make it a little better. If your vehicle is darting around maybe check the allignment. Could be off a little and the tires are fighting each other for grip and direction. One would think you notice uneven tire wear on your all seasons if this was the case. ----------------- Even my kumo's were OK in the snow. We returned from Florida in November to a snow storm and the 401 (big highway) closed due to an accident. I hadn't changed over my tires yet. During our 10km detour around the accident down really sippery secondary roads I had very few issues, got a little squirrelly once for a sec but I was doing far better than the poor BMW in front of me that probably had summer tires on and couldn't manage more than 40km and was constantly on the verge of ditching. Even when back on the highway, while I had to slow down for some snowy spots, I was still fine at near highway speeds.

I have the same tires, great in winter. No problems so far after one winter.

I moved from a 2006 Impala SS to a 2012 Journey R/T. Sounds like we both had the same colour of blue. Yes, with the winter rims I usually had people checking me out to see if I was a cop, especially with my tinted windows. Good times.... I enjoyed the switch, AWD had be great with the winters and the light off roading I occasionally do. I took my Impala down a few roads that I probably had no business being on with that car, the Journey is much better for that and quite comfortable. I'm enjoying the heated seats that turn on with the autostart in the winter. I got snow tires and rims last year from Costco for around $800 (thread on here somewhere about that) and it has been unstoppable. Enjoy.