300M Special Air-Dam Problems

[Phil Breau]

[QUOTE="Thomas Bell" wrote:
My wife bought a silver 2001 300M Special a while back. She has parked
it too close to curbs a couple times and popped out the driver's side of
the plastic front end "Air Dam" or whatever it's called that runs below
the bumper (too) low to the ground and this last time, she popped it out
just by going over a dip in the road at an intersection a little too
fast. The first couple times I simply took it to a Chrysler dealer who
basically used a small tool to pop it back in without replacing any
parts at all but nicely charged us $150 for the 5 minute job.

I'd like to simply do it myself or take it to a mechanic who *might* ask
only 25 bucks for such a simple task. But I'm not having any luck with a
body mech who feels comfortable doing it(!) so I just want to do it myself.

The part itself is fairly flexible but I'm afraid of kinking it or even
cracking or breaking it if I just muscle it back into the little plastic
grommets. Obviously, I need whatever the small tool is to do this. Can
anyone point me in the right direction?

Thanks in advance,

T.B.[/QUOTE]What is your problem? Your body mech did solve your problem. You should be happy with it. So what about paying him $150 for a 5 minutes job ? You just supported the American worker. You should be proud. Plez.. Be proud driving American car. I hope you are very happy man.

 

[Thomas Bell]

My wife bought a silver 2001 300M Special a while back. She has parked it too close to curbs a couple times and popped out the driver's side of the plastic front end "Air Dam" or whatever it's called that runs below the bumper (too) low to the ground and this last time, she popped it out just by going over a dip in the road at an intersection a little too fast. The first couple times I simply took it to a Chrysler dealer who basically used a small tool to pop it back in without replacing any parts at all but nicely charged us $150 for the 5 minute job.

I'd like to simply do it myself or take it to a mechanic who *might* ask only 25 bucks for such a simple task. But I'm not having any luck with a body mech who feels comfortable doing it(!) so I just want to do it myself.

The part itself is fairly flexible but I'm afraid of kinking it or even cracking or breaking it if I just muscle it back into the little plastic grommets. Obviously, I need whatever the small tool is to do this. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Thanks in advance,

T.B.

 

[MoPar Man]

2001 300M Special parked it too close to curbs popped out the driver's side of the plastic front end "Air Dam"

That's the problem with the ground-effects options that Chrysler had to resort to to make the special "special".

As it is, the dam on my regular 300M barely clears most curb stones that I encounter. In fact the underside of it is being slowly scraped away by running over them. I've thought about removing it completey (anyone do this?)

 

[Bill Putney]

My wife bought a silver 2001 300M Special a while back. She has parked it too close to curbs a couple times and popped out the driver's side of the plastic front end "Air Dam" or whatever it's called that runs below the bumper (too) low to the ground and this last time, she popped it out just by going over a dip in the road at an intersection a little too fast. The first couple times I simply took it to a Chrysler dealer who basically used a small tool to pop it back in without replacing any parts at all but nicely charged us $150 for the 5 minute job.

I'd like to simply do it myself or take it to a mechanic who *might* ask only 25 bucks for such a simple task. But I'm not having any luck with a body mech who feels comfortable doing it(!) so I just want to do it myself.

The part itself is fairly flexible but I'm afraid of kinking it or even cracking or breaking it if I just muscle it back into the little plastic grommets. Obviously, I need whatever the small tool is to do this. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Thanks in advance,

T.B.

The dam is held on by 1/4" plastic pop rivets. It simply takes a special pop rivet gun. $150 for doing that? My dealer put a new license plate holder on my daughter's Mercury Mystique while we waited on the parking lot beside the car for free using the exact same pop rivets. $2 worth of parts and a couple of minutes. You got taken.

You can get other types of plastic fasteners that fit the same size holes at Lowes - in the hardware section in the specialty fasteners (tiers of drawers - maybe labeled "Automotive Fasteners" or something similar) that do not require special tools. They're just like the auto mfgrs. use on wheel well liners and similar.

And yes - some people do take the dams off.

Bill Putney
(to reply by e-mail, replace the last letter of the alphabet in my address with "x")

 

[Thomas Bell]

Phil Breau wrote:

(snip)

What is your problem? Your body mech did solve your problem. You should be happy with it. So what about paying him $150 for a 5 minutes job ? You just supported the American worker. You should be proud. Plez.. Be proud driving American car. I hope you are very happy man.

Good Lord. Do you understand that I think it's outrageous paying a dealer mech a 150 bucks to pop a stupid plastic part back into place that I can probably now do myself armed with a couple tips another person (thank you, Mr Putney) who replied to this thread gave me? If your attidtude is pay whatever someone asks for a service without looking for a better deal, I got a bridge I wanna sell you.

BTW, one other thing about this car: It's had 4 complete brake jobs in under 20,000 miles. The dealer has done the last two gratis and as much as admitted this particular car has some problem they can't figure out. Ina ddition, a mechanic confided to me that they don't even have the proper equipment to align it after a brake job because of the "non-standard" tire size on the 300m Special.

Can you say "Lemon Law?" I knew you could.

After dealing with all sorts of bullshit with a 2001 Ford Explorer and now this beast from Chrysler, I'll never by another American car again.

T.B.

 

[Mike Behnke]

Since when does one need to do a front end alignment after a brake job.

As far a having a "non-standard" tire size, can't be that "non-standard". TireRack.com lists 31 different 245/45R18 tires for the '02 and '03 300MSpec. Sounds more like the dealer just don't want to pony up for the adapter, most likely because most 300M's are of the "standard" variety, with 225/55R17 tires.

 

[Art Begun]

I have a 99 plain 300M. Best car I've ever own including my 2001 Avalon which is a rattle box. Sorry you are having trouble with yours but problems with the 300M are uncommon.

 

[Ted Mittelstaedt]

Good Lord. Do you understand that I think it's outrageous paying a dealer mech a 150 bucks to pop a stupid plastic part back into place

Hold on there Thomas, Phil is a troll, you just gave him a hard-on by reacting. Now he is a very happy man.

BTW, one other thing about this car: It's had 4 complete brake jobs in under 20,000 miles. The dealer has done the last two gratis and as much as admitted this particular car has some problem they can't figure out. Ina ddition, a mechanic confided to me that they don't even have the proper equipment to align it after a brake job because of the "non-standard" tire size on the 300m Special.

Can you say "Lemon Law?" I knew you could.

Sounds to me like your dealer service department is run by a bunch of money-grubbing skinflints. They probably don't pay a decent mechanics salary and so the mechanics that work there are the bottom of the barrel. Most likely what is going on is the dealer service department is just using the softest pads they can find - probably not even rated for the vehicle - figuring that they are going to wear out fast that the people will come back often.

So far it seems your dealer's service department does the following:

1) Charges ridiculously high amounts for simple procedures that others would do for nothing or for very little.

2) Admits they are incompetent in being able to figure out a simple brake problem

3) suggest procedures like an alignment that has nothing to do with the problem your taking it in for.

4) Does not purchase appropriate equipment for servicing your vehicle, no doubt in violation of their contract with Chrysler.

So, please explain again why your blaming the manufacturer?

Ted