I hear a lot about the Track Cars and people saying to avoid buying on for obvious reasons. How do you determine if a car was a Track Car? Is Chrysler required to disclose this information? Is there a site based in VIN # to check on it? I question some that I looked at but how do you know?

Steve

 

Steve,

I asked this same question and as far as I know there is no way of knowing which ones were track experience cars, EXCEPT for using a liquid on the windows and seeing if there is any evidence of the Track Experience decals.

Due a search on this as someone posted a specific spray to use that would show the sticker residue which isn't visible to our eyes without something beading up on it. The only way people could've got rid of it is to polish the windows and I'm sure most dealers wont do that prior to sale.

On the other hand, look at worn floor mats, brake/gas pedals, more scratches on the interior than what you would consider normal, tire wear, new tires on a 'new' car, excessive rubber buildup behind tires, excessive rock chips, etc.

SQ

 

I can see on my car on the bottom passenger side corner where some type of sticker was applied and it has more than the average scratches on the exterior which I have been slowly reducing the severity. It has 21,000 miles on it which I feel it is too high for a track car but not sure how long they keep the car for that purpose. I am the second owner. The original tires had about another couple thousand miles before needing replacement on the rear but there are signs of the wheels going on and off a lot. The interior had one scratch on the center console arm rest. I may be just paranoid but I just replaced my pads this weekend with Rotex Golds due to the dust problem and noticed where the rear tires rubbed a few times in the upper inside wheel well. Either someone loaded the rear with something heavy and hit some dips or it was run hard through some corners. It was a lease car so I am sure the chances are high that someone didn't care about putting a scratch on it.

I will be pissed if I found out it was a "Track Car."

Steve

 

Steve,

From what I was told, most of the track cars had 1k-3k miles on them.

Your car has much higher mileage than I have heard of from ANY of the track cars. It was likely just driven a little harder (like they are made for) than your typical cream-puff car.

As long as you can get most of the scuffs/nicks out of it, I wouldn't be concerned.

The only thing that would irritate me is if I did in fact find out it was a track car and no one felt the need to disclose it.

How worn were the brake pads? That may also tell a story...

SQ

 

I only checked the mileage on the roadsters at the SRT Track Experience. They were about 1,600 and 1,900 miles.

 

The pads had about 3/4 left on them. I think you are probably correct that it just was not detailed on a regular basis. A lot of people do not know how to take care of black paint. It may have been owned by a female (no offense ladies) but there were even scratches on the roof where a purse may have been put on top while getting things in or out, finger nail scratches around the door handle etc. The hood had quite a few. I believe the local cat may have been the culprit. Someone was very stupid and scratched the wheel well on each side in the front when using a torque wrench taking the tires on and off. Not enough clearance. Just dumb things like that. Enough to irritate the crap out of me but it is getting better over time.

Steve

 

I'd say you are safe, especially if you had that much brake pad left.

How do the pedals and floor mat look underneath the pedals? A lot of hard driving will wear the floor mat in the heel area, and the pedals will be somewhat smoothed out.

SQ

 

Smell the brake fluid, see if it has a "burnt" odor. Same goes for the tranny fluid. But since ya don't have a dip stick, that may be a little tricky.
A lot of times cars that have been run hard and put away wet (so to speak) like the track cars were, get their brakes pretty hot. This in turn "cooks" the brake fluid, but the fluid seldom gets changed.

 

If the car had 21,000 on it and your sure it still had the original tires on it then I highly doubt it was a track car.
Being a ladies car with scratches on the hood makes for some interesting day dreaming though.

 

I posted how to spot a Track ***** a while back... If the car has less than 4,000 miles, carefully inspect the following items...

- Driver's seat wear. With that few miles the seats should still look "almost" new. If there are any pronounced wear and rub patterns on the outside bolster then it is suspect.

- Floor mat and carpet wear. Specifically in the heel pad and foot rest areas. If there is already a noticeable wear pattern, then it is suspect.

- Noticeable wear on the brake pedal. Look for shiny worn spots on the edges of the metal. Are all the rubber nubs even and not worn down or rounded off?

- Scratches and uneven finish on the shift ****. If the shift **** is worn shiny smooth on either side or on top, then it is suspect.

- Inspect the brake pads. With that few miles they should have about 90% left. If they are noticeably worn, it is suspect.

- At 3-4K miles, the tires will show some wear and probably won't have many rubber "hairs" left. If the tires look NEW NEW and have 100% full tread depth then they may have been replaced already, that makes it suspect.

- If the tires have major wear on the outside edges and have notable tread gone, then suspect it.

- Last, but not least, the "Window Cleaner Test" FTW! Take a can of aerosol window cleaner like Stoner Invisible Glass or similar brand(must be aerosol. Normal spray bottles like Windex don't work as well. Spray the top 8 inches of the windshield with the cleaner and wipe off the foam. quickly look and watch as the residue evaporates. If there was a Track Experience Sticker(they are LARGE) on the window at some time, there will be a "ghost" image of it that evaporates at a slower rate than the rest of the glass. It sound funny, but it sticks out like a sore thumb. It's hard to miss.

Hope this helps.

 

Very good points and this is helpful. I have gone over most of what Shawn and you both have mentioned. No extra wear inside but I don't know what the deal was with the wheels being removed many times. I was thinking that other rims and tires were on and off frequently. You know how your imagination can run away at times. I think it is great to offer the "Track Experience" but I feel strongly that it should need to be disclosed. Maybe giving a free bumper to bumper 7/100,000 would give a good piece of mind. On the other hand, wouldn't you think that the people running these promotions would want to impress everyone to the max and mechanically maintain these cars so no breakdowns occur?

Steve

 

I would think you could run a carfax on it to see if it was private owner or corporate car couldn't ya? I don't know how they title track cars but i would think if it came back with somebody's name on the title you should be fine.

 

Good idea. I didn't think it gave owners names as much as it gives service records. I may give it a try and see.

Steve

 

I don't think the track cars had plates on them when I went. I wouldn't be surprised if they were never registered at all since they never left factory hands till that had finished ravaging them.

As for CarFax, it won't tell you anything about that. CarFax is actually a false sense of security. They aren't all that reliable to tell the truth. That guarantee they have is BS. Nobody ever signs up for it, so they hardly even get a claim on it. Even though alot of the cars they show as clean with no problems have been wrecked and stolen or whatever. The only thing they are 100% on is wrecks where a police report was issued and title problems. If the car was in a signal vehicle accident or it was a minor accident and there was no police report, it WILL NOT show up. I see cars all the time that have good carfaxs that have OBVIOUS paint and bodywork. Its commonly believed that a carfax problem is reported if the car has an insurance claim or has been repaired by a dealer. That isn't the case. A few Car brands and dealers report to them, but not many. Hell, they don't even show recall notices most of the time. Most carfaxs will show that "no recall information is provided by this manufacturer" You really think Ford wants a consumer to know that 2002 Ford focus they are looking at for little Suzy has had 11 recalls? I think not. That would make them look bad to the consumer. Carfax.com advertises for car companies, you think that would continue if they published information that showed their vehicles is a poor light? Car fax is snake oil... The same can be said for Consumer Reports, Motor Trend, Car & Driver etc. Whoever pays them the most advertising money gets the best marks...

If you want to be sure about your purchase, have a certified independent mechanic closely inspect the car. It cost more than a carfax, but its a better bet. Carfax has its uses, especially for title issues, but the history report is about 50% bogus at best...

 

What a carfax would tell you is how the vehicle was titled. Was it corporate lease private lease purchased or what. I'm not sure how they would list track cars but it may tell the story. I got a good friend who is a car dealer and he would run the vin for you if you want. Just post it and i can get it done for ya.

 

Even if it shows that it was registered to Chrysler as a corporate car, it doesn't mean that it was a track car. It really could have been a corporate fleet vehicle. Most of the track cars I've seen had less than 7,000 miles on them.