Welcome a new member of the family: Balto!

[bri2203]

next mod- black out your rear wheel wells!
I removed my liners and sprayed the wheel wells with undercoating

[MP81]

next mod- black out your rear wheel wells!
I removed my liners and sprayed the wheel wells with undercoating

I like that idea! I will definitely do that. It'll look much better than the "two-tone" job it's got from the factory!

And on the couple corners I was able to take semi-quickly around work this morning...the difference is immediately noticeable. Wow. Can't wait to get into a big parking lot and really push it to learn the new behavior pattern (now that it doesn't just want to go straight instead of turn) before Autocross this Saturday.

[MP81]

Hmmm...=D =D

[meissen]

nice

[MP81]

Saturday I got started on the install. Pulled out the rear deck and removed the stock rear speakers:





A/D/S 5.25"s Versus stock 6x9s







Empty rear deck:



A/D/S speakers ready to go in!



---


Had to stop on Saturday due to time constraints, so I finished up the install tonight:






All back together!



Crossovers zip-tied up




The sound, to say the least, is incredible. So clean. So clear - the perfect match to my A/D/S front components. Can't wait to get my JLs back in the trunk. And eventually, an actual head unit, and the 8-channel A/D/S amp.


Also, something I found out today - these rear speakers are bi-wireable or bi-ampable...pretty awesome!

[MP81]

Well, I guess it's been a while since I updated this...been so busy lately after work there's no time really to jump on, and Chrysler blocks the site. Gonna try and get on during lunch via my phone.

Anyhow, to catch the topic up... In January the battery took a shit - as in, it would drain overnight, especially since that was during those weeks where it was REALLY cold out. Luckily Brian (bri2203) came to my rescue and hooked me up with a brand new Delco 60-series (I believe) battery, and that front has been great ever since.

Next on the list happened the day before Valentine's day. We were on our way home and got off at the Pierson exit of 75, like we normally do. There are three lanes, the middle turns either way. I was in the far left lane, as is typical. Unfortunately, since Michigan doesn't take care of their roads at all, and this being in Flint, so it's even worse, a giant chunk of the road had come up in front of me. I had a guard rail to my left and a car to my right, and vehicles behind me - I had nowhere to go, and I slammed into it. I'd estimate this piece of concrete was a good 8 inches in diameter. It smashed into my heat exchanger first, luckily barely touched the radiator, and then slammed into the engine crossmember, going under it (the car essentially climbed over the chunk of road) right below the front trans mount. It seemed to split into a few pieces - one of which continued to the back of the car where I believe it took a nice chunk out of the powdercoating on my brand new swaybar...Since this happened, the car has developed a new vibration, and seems to act different when braking...I'm just waiting for it to get warmer out before I can truly see what happened - and then submit a claim for the damages to the state of Michigan. I'm
just glad the heat exchanger doesn't leak...

Pics below...

A view of the heat exchanger dent from above the vehicle.
IMG_1604.JPG

And from below...

IMG_1606.JPG

IMG_1608.JPG
IMG_1612.JPG
IMG_1611.JPG

The little dent in the radiator
IMG_1610.JPG

The nice giant scrape where it went under the front trans mount...

IMG_1607.JPG
IMG_1609.JPG

Scrapes on the bottom of the trans pan
IMG_1613.JPG

The view back
IMG_1614.JPG


Then, about a week ago, I came out to my car, which had been parked in the garage for about four or five days, and noticed that my grill was cracked and a chunk of it was missing. The last time I had driven my car to work, I parked it with the nose facing the outer fence...I have no clue how this even happened...

2013-02-23_15-59-51_996.jpg

A few days after that, on our way into work, I was behind a pickup with a plow (this was a morning at 6:30AM - and it hadn't snowed in days...). The bottom of the blade was all chunks of snowy ice. He hit a bump, they all fell off and sprayed my car with pretty decent size icy snow...I was more worried it would have cracked my bumper - or my windshield...but it did leave a nice big chip out of my hood...ugh...


Definitely was a rough couple months for my little Balto...after I hit that chunk of concrete and found the new vibration, I honestly didn't even enjoy driving it anymore because I was so worried at what it might be. I've driven it more since then, obviously, and there's been a good many times I've gotten to enjoy wide-open throttle again in this car...and that really reminds me that I do love driving it. Just not in the winter anymore. No more of that.

[meissen]

So wait you're going to get a daily driver and your Cobalt isn't going to be a daily?

[c0ncEpT]

This is why cars from the south are so much cleaner than Michigan cars. Michigan winters destroy a car.

[meissen]

Heck yeah they do, but if it's a fun economy car like a Cobalt, drive it and enjoy it. I love driving my v6 Camaro year round... it's just a fun car to drive.

[Gregs_gsxr]

did you replace the door speakers too

[MP81]

So wait you're going to get a daily driver and your Cobalt isn't going to be a daily?

Heck yeah they do, but if it's a fun economy car like a Cobalt, drive it and enjoy it. I love driving my v6 Camaro year round... it's just a fun car to drive.

It's for the same reason you stopped driving Red Alert year round. I have a lot of time, money and love into this car. Just don't really want to put it through another winter. Plus...it being lowered really isn't fun to drive in anything more than 2-3" of snow.

did you replace the door speakers too

Yeah, I did that in later summer 2011. I have the A/D/S 335is component speaker set in there. I think I posted pics around that time in this thread.

[meissen]

Haha to each their own, I just can't picture an economy car like a Cobalt being a garage queen.

[MP81]

Haha to each their own, I just can't picture an economy car like a Cobalt being a garage queen.

Garage queen? Hardly.

And i wouldn't really consider it an economy car anymore...it just happens to get decent gas mileage occasionally, haha.

It won't be all winter it is parked. Just shit days. We take the Cav for those anyway.

[sman]

Does that mean its getting real wheels now?

[MP81]

Does that mean its getting real wheels now?

Also one of the perks of not driving it snow