windguy

Good story Don. Thanks for sharing. I think the TC is great for road trips as well. The large front window is great for viewing and the endless cargo space is priceless. I too wish the van had a hybrid option since my use is mostly short 35 mile trips to the beach.

Cargo Van or Wagon? If cargo, then I'd recommend adding sound proofing material as other posters suggested. For my van I used Kilmat 50mil butyl material for the ceiling with a layer of 150mil Noico liner on top of that. Kilmat 50 mil is lighter than some other brands. I first got 80mil but felt it was too heavy for the ceiling or doors so used it for the floor area and side panels where weight isn't an issue. Doing the ceiling area is hard work because you need to roll out the butyl mats and you're working above your head, but it's a worthwhile project. https://www.amazon.com/Kilmat-Deadening-automotive-Insulation-dampening/dp/B0751G6TMV https://www.amazon.com/Noico-waterproof-insulation-Self-adhesive-Deadening/dp/B074V7Z262

Welcome to the forum and congrats on your new van. Looks very nice. Great travel pics. Thanks for sharing. Enjoy the rest of your journey.

Can't edit my own post and want to correct a mistake, as shown below. I said "The unlock was never a problem since your are pressing the right two buttons at the same time. No timing involved" THAT SHOULD BE LOCK, NOT UNLOCK.

That sure is strange. Sorry to hear about your woes. My keypad has been mounted for 3.5 years, since I got the van, and I have had no problems with it mounted as shown in the pic above. You would think it would be act like the regular key fob on a proximity basis, just not with the same range perhaps. I have no idea where the sensor(s) are located that pick up the signal from the fob and if there is more than one. I do remember when first using the keypad, it took me a while to get used to the unlocking sequence. It's 5 numbers and you have to press with the right pressure and timing. Too slow or fast and it won't unlock. Once you get the rhythm down, then your unlock successes go up quickly to the point of rarely needing a do-over. The unlock was never a problem since your are pressing the right two buttons at the same time. No timing involved. Also, that location on the van has a little bit of bounce due to the soft body panel. For me it was the best location to mount the keypad.

Interesting video - thanks for sharing the link I think you're skilled enough to be making our own maintenance and repair tip videos. Waiting

Nice write-up. Interesting to read and see what you did. I commend your sense of adventure and mechanical skills. Next project? hope adding a flux capacitor is on your short list.

MODERATOR - In my opinion it would be very useful to setup some ground rules regarding forum content. I think thread hijacking with non-related garbage has gotten out of hand lately. I'm noticing a big drift in forum content. The forum never used to be like this when I joined back in 2014. Most discussions were TC related. At least the forum has maintained a decent level of civility to which I am grateful. Aside from an isolated case of a toaster that caught fire a few times a while back, the forum has been a wonderful asset for me as a TC owner. I realize that threads can drift over time but it seems the amount of nonsense being injected lately is way off the rails. The majority of it has nothing to do with the original poster's topic. Perhaps we can suggest limiting these types of discussions, especially political ones, to the Lounge area only. Posters need to exercise restraint outside of the Lounge to stay focused on the topic at hand. I hope I'm not a minority here in my views. Peace!

I totally disagree with your assessment. The forum was never like this back in 2014 when I joined. It was very cool then and up until about a year ago. Primary focus was on TC's, vans and things associated with them. Not political BS. I don't want to read that crap. If I did, I'd join a political forum and read the venom there.

Nice hijack of a 'welcome' thread Welcome to the forum Brad. Would love to see some pics of Indy. PS - and thank you for your service

I'm convinced my 2015 Cargo Van (built in October 2014), that has side and rear windows, was converted from a wagon model to a "cargo model. See the pic below. On both sides of the van, the location where the middle seat belts would have been bolted to the sides was crudely touched up with gray paint (hack job). I suspect the belt setup scratched the paint. Also note the cutouts in the side panels for the seat belt. Why have these cutouts if you're not mounting seat belts?

thanks GBL

51 psi seems pretty high compared to the recommended 44 front / 48 rear. You would think higher pressure would make the ride harsher with increased road noise. I check the tire pressure monthly and the spare twice a year. The OEM tires hold pressure very well for my usage, but that's low mileage.

Thanks Fifty150 for the info and pics of your tires. Your tires appear to have more tread than mine and you have 13% more mileage on them than mine. I have seen Conti tires with an 80,000 mile rating. See screen shot below from America's Tire website (Discount Tire outside CA). Perhaps that's where I originally got the 80,000 mileage rating not noticing that this tire isn't the exactly the same as the OEM tire. The OEM tire with a similar name shows 60,000 on the same website. With a replacement tire I'd be willing to give up mileage life if I could have a quieter tire. That's most important for me with handling being a low priority. The reality might be that my driving habits will prematurely destroy any tire out there so might as well get the benefit of a quieter tire.

Thanks for the replies GBL and Fifty150 Tread depth on the spare is 5/16 and on the other tires is 1/16". Crudely measured using a carpenter's combo t-square. Not very precise. No snow in my parts and I avoid driving when it's raining. Biggest road hazard to the tires would be sharp rocks fallen onto the road when crossing the canyon roads. I'll stop by a tire place and have them check it out and see what type of proration they can offer me. It might be more prorateable before the tires go to no tread. Will update.

Your van is the same as mine. The sliders have this white thin foam covering, as pictured below, and the back doors a plastic film only on 3 doors. I ended up making a covering out of a thin plastic cutting board and using contact cement to hold it in place. Probably not as water tight as the other 3 covers but good enough. I think you might be on to something with the slider panels being a noise source and I like the idea of adding a buffer to the inside face. After doing the sound deadening, I tried to add plastic bags of wall insulation but ended up removing it as I didn't like how it bowed out the foam covering when it expanded. I couldn't get it to fit like I wanted it to so abandoned that idea. But if I tap around the slider panel it sure does have a rattling noise that increases away from the edges. I hear this type of noise when driving on rough pavement and it sounds like a low level popcorn machine going off. Hard to describe. Hard to determine the source of the noise when you're driving but it could be those slider panels. I should remove them and see if the noise abates. The one advantage of sound proofing the van is it lets you pinpoint sources of road noise easier because the overall noise level of the van has been reduced. I'll add that to my van todo list for when the weather cools down.

Thanks for the input guys. I would agree that having Road Hazard insurance is worth the added expense, especially since tires for me are like magnets for screws. So far the TC has been good to me for that but I've run into some bad luck over the years. In some cases the tire can be plugged, but in others it has to be replaced if the hole is near the sidewall. After reading the warranty guide I got the feeling that there are two warranties, one from Ford and one from Continental. I need to stop by a local tire shop and discuss my options with them. We have every major chain tire store on the west coast in town but through years of elimination from bad experiences I've found America's Tire (in CA and Discount Tire in other states) to provide the best service and competitive pricing. Attached are snaps of each tire. The tire wear seems to be fairly even across each tire and among the set of tires. My crude measurement shows about 1/16" of tread left at best. Tough to tell who is going balder faster, my tires or my head ? I've been inflating tires per the spec at 44 fronts and 48 rears. Tires hold air very well on monthly checks but with low mileage between checks.

Thanks desert_connect. Interesting about those panels being a noise source when painted. I can see that happening. Underneath them is some material that you'd think would buffer any resonance. I sound proofed all the doors and I think it's helped out a lot. Something to consider down the road.

My 2015 Gen 2 cargo model has all the mounting holes for belts and seats. There is also evidence that some of those mounting holes (seat belt mounting on both sides) were used and then brush painted kind of crudely to hide the scratches. Believe what you want but I'm assuming this van was imported as a wagon model and changed to a cargo model to avoid the tariff. On a side note, given the current troubles in Turkey, I'm sure Ford is very happy they moved production from Turkey to Spain for the Gen2 models. It would be cool if these vans were made in the US to reduce the lead time for custom orders. Current tariff policies might force that decision for Ford.

Glad to hear you'll be around at least until your mom tries to thin out the herd. I've had a few close encounters with the common mule deer in my area darting across a canyon road at night right in front of me. Scares the bejesus out of you as they come from nowhere and you're at the mercy of which path they choose. I try to drive slower at night knowing they are waiting to play frogger with my van.

Can anyone confirm the mileage rating on the OEM tires, Conti Pro Contact Extra Load? My notes when I bought the van in 2015 are showing 80,000 miles, but I'm not seeing that online now. The reason I'm asking is that on my last oil change at 15,000 miles when tires were rotated (done very 5,000 miles), the service advisor told me the tread is down to 30% and I should replace the tires. I'm not surprised because the tire wear on my last vehicle, Volvo 850 wagon, was terrible, usually 15,000 or less. Most of my miles are on a very windy and mountainous canyon road en route to the beach and I'm usually hustling to get there and back home. With the Volvo wagon, an alignment tech once took a look at my tire wear and asked me if I drive around in circles. I laughed and explained my driving pattern. He compensated the alignment to help that. I ended up getting tires that had a good proration policy so help absorb the replacement cost, even though I was still shelling out money for mounting fees and damage coverage. I thought part of the problem was the vehicle so I was hoping the TC would do better with this issue, but it looks like I'm having the same issues. Has anyone else had poor wear on their OEM tires and if so did they try to get a proration discount on them when replacing? Tire warranty guide posted below. I asked the dealer if they will prorate the cost of the tire and he gave me this blank stare. He said he didn't know about doing that and didn't seem to care about finding out if they could. It seems when they can't make top dollar on something their enthusiasm of helping you quickly goes away. Par for the course at a dealership. And then the question goes out if I can get them prorated at a local tire shop, should I stick with the OEM tire or a Conti equivalent or jump to a different brand and skip the proration? I would try another brand if I found a tire that would give me more tread miles based on my heavy usage. Thanks for the help! 2015-Tire-Warranty-Guide-version-4_tirtw_EN-US_02-2014.pdf

What a crazy story. Rat (mouse) bastards. Glad you could remedy the situation with some resourceful ingenuity.

Nice job painting those panels. That came out really nice. I did mine recently and also considered doing a textured finish but choose semi-gloss paint instead for ease of cleanup. I only finished the front surface and edges, not the back. Probably will go back and do the back if I see moisture getting picked up there. I also sanded the surface first with 150 grit and then rolled on BIN primer (water based) like you did and sprayed just the fronts using the same 2X paint. The small rear panels came out okay, but the larger slider panels looked crappy. It's hard to spray a non-flat finish and getting a consistent finish over a large area. I ended up rolling on semi-gloss paint instead using a sponge roller. Came out much better with a more consistent finish. I'll pass along that this Rust-oleum painter's touch paint is crap. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Rust-Oleum-Painter-s-Touch-32-oz-Ultra-Cover-Semi-Gloss-Black-General-Purpose-Paint-1974502/100208855 I bought it at a local hardware store and when I got home read the reviews at Home Depot, which were terrible. I figured the negative reviews were all by hacks and used the paint anyway. They were right and I was sorry I didn't heed the warning. The paint works better with a brush but with a roller it pulls up and bubbles leaving a pitted surface. Not good. I'll leave it for now but down the road will refinish it using a better quality enamel paint.

Sorry to hear about your accident and loss of your TC. That's a bummer. Glad you weren't hurt - most important. I hope you still stick around the forum as an honorary TC owner. Would hate to lose you.

Me too! I have no issues with my latches so I'm reluctant to have the dealer make the situation worse. I keep telling them I'll do the recall later on since I don't think there's a time limit on it. @dons - sorry to hear about your woes with this repair. Hopefully in the end you will be satisfied with the outcome.