chefduane

Get a new steering wheel cover at Walmart. One must expect some wear on an 8 year old car.

I run Goodyear Eagle RS-A P245/50R20's on my '11 LTD AWD. About 25k miles so far and no problems. Lots of tread left but I don't drive all that aggressively.

Yes, I've also heard that ^. Its been suggested that over the winter you turn on your AC every few weeks and let it run a while to avoid the aforementioned leaks.

^ That's roughly 140 miles day EVERYDAY for 3 years straight! That's a lotta' driving!

Thirdgenlxi and prinzll: Both 3.5L's I assume?

Glad to be of help. Also, me & the wife used to live in SF.

In lieu of yanking the bulb or snipping the wire, I think it would be easy enough to install an in-line switch (perhaps even lighted) next to the interior light recess mount. That way you could turn it off when you wanted to raise and lower the hatch without the light coming on, and when you want the light to come on, turn the switch on and it will when the hatch opens and raises. I only mention a lighted switch so that if you raise the hatch in the dark you can find the switch and turn on the light if you so choose. The surface mounting is just plastic so carving out a small area for a surface mounted 2 position switch should be fairly easy. Secure it with some epoxy and you'd be good to go. You could even mount it closer to the hatch opening (instead of near the light itself) so that if you wanted the light to come on with the hatch already open you wouldn't have to reach very far. (Heck, as I'm thinking through this, this might be a mod I'd consider doing just because it would be kinda' cool just to have the option!)

You need the roof rail inserts to cover the rail channels. Do you have the roof rails themselves? I might be interested in a trade for my rail inserts. Let me know! Don't know anything about the antenna. Sorry.

My '11 Limited didn't come with any type of cargo cover. Certainly not a retractable one like I had on my '92 and '98 Explorers! I installed an aftermarket retractable cover by Kaungka www.amazon.com/dp/B0145IN3X8?psc=1 and it really had been a nice surprise. Works great and looks great. I've been very pleased with it. It does require some drilling and anchoring into the side panels but for an actual working and retracting cargo cover (like there SHOULD HAVE BEEN on a car with a Limited Trim level) its been great.

I've done it once or twice but it really doesn't provide much hard information. I thinks its more of a feel good measure by Ford for their customers. Frankly, I won't miss it.

If it does start to look bad, I can always do that. I paint matched and clear coated my front grill and am experienced with how to do it. If it starts to 'look like ass after a while' I'll fix it. Thanks!

I finally got the rear emblem Plasti-Dipped and it looks great. I also used some Glossifier to make it shine. I eventually decided to remove it from the hatch to avoid any issues with overspray. Pretty simple with some super duper Harbor Freight trim removal tools I have. I used some of the 3M adhesive tape mentioned above to re-stick it on. I think its pretty secure. I like the blacked out look much better than the fading and peeling chrome that surrounded the oval. Thanks for everyone's input. I'm pleased with how it came out.

Wally's has motorized tub ice cream makers for around $29.99. Add ice and rock salt. I don't think the actual hand crank ones still exist. Besides, its ALL electricity nowadays!!! Ain'tchoo got no 'lectrissty up there in Indianner?

We have 2 Lello Musso 4080 Commercial Ice Cream Makers at our kitchen. A little pricey at $750 each but they certainly will get the job done.

My 2011 is out of warranty and the dealership will charge me an arm and a leg to get it fixed. Cost doesn't justify the need for gridlines.

Best for home use I have found is the Cuisinart 2 Quart Ice Cream and Frozen Yogurt Maker. No salt to mess with or ice. Just freeze the canister and then add ingredients and turn it on. Ice cream in about 1/2 hour. Chef recommended! About $75 on Amazon.

Well I guess that I am not destined to have gridlines anymore. They were there and worked fine this morning but just a bit ago when I left work they were once again gone. Oh well, I'm tired of re-calibrating the cam just to have them disappear again. I'm done. At least I have an ELM327 device and learned how to use Forscan.

I went through the Bondurant Racing School program many years back. In a previous career I was involved in the IRL (on the sponsor side not the driving side) and have driven (not in a race car but a pace car) most of the superspeedways in the US. I was fortunate enough to get to drive a few laps around Indy Motor Speedway in a pace car. That was a hoot!

My plan is to save all my pennies not doing mods and when I retire (in 3 years) buy a GT40. No mods required.

Yes, I just set it to 5k and it starts giving notifications around 4500 miles. If there are some other notifications or oil life parameters available, I've never seen them.

How is the 2011MY IOLM an exception? I typically change at 5k intervals regardless but I am interested in the reasoning for the comment.

How could loss of gridlines be an indication of a camera end of life? The video performance of the camera seems to be functioning fine. The digital overlay of the gridlines is the problem. I'm not sure how losing the digital overlay might indicate a camera issue. But hey, could mean anything at this point!! If the camera does become non-functional at least there are replacement cameras available that meet OEM spec and now that I have Forscan and the ELM327 device I can get it calibrated.

This is to start a new thread about troubles recalibration of the backup cam to restore gridlines on a 2011 Limited AWD although I'm sure the procedure is applicable to all Gen 1.5 and probably some others. So after downloading and installing Forscan on my laptop I obtained a USB wired OBDII ELM327 module from OHP Tools on Amazon. Shipping was prompt and the unit works great. Just search on OHP ELM327 on Amazon and it will come up. Last night I recalibrated the backup cam and the gridlines were restored! Yay! There are numerous vids on utoob on how to do this so I won't go over it here. This morning I drove away thinking that all was fine. Later in the day it was necessary to shift into reverse and the gridlines had now disappeared again! WTF? I just went out and did another recalibration and the gridlines have once again reappeared. Later tonight I think I will drive around the block and shift into reverse at some point to see if the gridlines stay there. I'm beginning to think I have gremlins in my MFT software. Ghosts in the machine, as it were, simply to annoy me!

No problem. Sorry about that. Will start another thread.

OK, so is Ford playing some kind of cruel joke here? Last night I run the recalibration procedure and gridlines re-appear and everything is fine This morning I drive around a bit then need to shift to reverse, AND NO GRIDLINES! WTF? I will run the procedure again in awhile and hope that I sticks this time. If not, I have no explanation for what is going on.