Hi Gang, I may be in the wrong place for something like this, and I apologize if I am. But hoping someone can give me a little direction. I've had my '09 Challenger now for three weeks and simply love it! Unfortunately, not the Hemi, but hey...still looks good, drives nice, handles like a dream, and gets plenty of attention! Too bad I'm not 20 yrs younger. Anyways, I'm concerned about the windows going down automatically when the doors open. I understand their reasoning, as I remember how quickly the seals used to go bad on the frameless windows. But, and this is a big one, I live in Ohio. We have ice, snow, 30 degree temp drops after a rain, etc., and she won't be in the garage all the time. Windows & doors do have a tendency to freeze and not go down until the car warms up. Is there a way to disable this feature? I'm afraid there'll be damage done to the mechanism when things are frozen. I would ask my dealer, but the service manager doesn't know a whole lot about this car yet (trust me!!), and I like to do my research before hand.

Thanks!

 

No, there is no way to disable that. It rolls the window up tight against the seal so the door will not open well at all. I also have an SE Challenger and live in Ohio so I am concerned about this also. Mustangs have this as well as some BMW's and I believe the Camaro might as well. Where in Ohio are you? I am in Columbus and attempting to create a Mopar type club. I have gathered emails of about a dozen Challenger owners and we are going to get together again maybe Saturday eve. PM me if you are in the Columbus area and want more info.

 

I finally talked w/Service Mgr. He said they didn't have any problems with it last winter (we did have a couple ice storms and other times where my Bonneville windows froze up) and the motor seemed pretty strong that it should handle it. However, it would be covered under warranty for the first three years; after that we'd have to deal with Chrysler direct. The only things I can come up with to leave the window down just enough to where it wouldn't rain in, but be past the auto-down, or get a cover for it. Guess we'll just have to wait and see. I figure the engineer(s) either has never seen snow/ice or has enough vehicles and a large enough garage to park it during that time. We only have a 2-car, and our '87 Firebird Formula 350 under cover (only 30,000), his Gold Wing, and our Alaskan Malamute take up all the space!

I live in Dayton and haven't checked any of the clubs in the area as of yet. This is the first Dodge/Chrysler product I've ever owned. As a kid in the late 50s-early 60s that's all two of my Uncles ever had...big tail fins, fender skirts & curb minders included. It would be fun, but I've got my Mom (82 yrs old) with us right now getting her strength back from a mild heart attack a couple weeks ago. Kind of limits me for the moment.

I do wish it had the same rumble of old.

 

While I'm not a new Challenger owner (yet), I had an original. Back in the day I'd just wipe the weather seal with a good coat of silicone lubricant before winter weather hit and maybe give it a fresh wipe at some point through the winter months. Just make sure that you work it in well by going back over it several times. This is a trick I use to this day to keep from tearing the weatherstripping out of my truck since it has to sit outside. It might also be advisable to keep an aerosol can or spray bottle of liquid de-icer (it works and doesn't hurt the finish) as well as a scraper in the trunk. I live in Illinois so I know about that ice as well.

 

Good suggestions, thanks! It's been so long since I've had frameless windows. My '78 Mustang had them (got rid of it in '96) and when it froze, everything froze except the hatchback, so I just climbed in through it and got it started.

My better-half is a diesel mechanic and we've always got silicone, de-icer, and any other thing you can think of around; with every new car I always buy a new ice scraper to match the color.

As long as I don't have to transport my Mom anywhere, I'll probably be driving either the Expedition or Explorer in the winter anyway.

Sue