Roger Eastman

When I first got my C-Max Hybrid, I looked at the wipers and thought to myself, "Now how am I going to clean those wiper blades ?" I know, the book says to put them in the "Service Position", but that is easier said than done. I found that with the hood open, the wiper arms can be swung out (like most vehicles) and are then accessible for cleaning (almost! ). The hood on my C-Max isn't open quite far enough when it is held by the stock hold-open rod to make this an easy task. But if the rod is not used, the hood will open another few inches. I had one of those spring-loaded adjustable cafe curtain rods lying around the garage that adjusted to hold the hood open in the wide-open position, and the wipers clear everything fine to swing out for easy cleaning. And the lower windshield area, normally blocked by the wipers, is accessible at the same time.

I haven't found any other way to do it, so I am trying to attach a picture to go with my post about a spare for C-Mx Hybrid. Hope it works this time.

There is a tale of a C-Max flat described under "Spare Tire" in this forum.

I couldn't get the 2nd pic to download, so I will try again:

I haven't seen this in any instructions, but this is what I have figured out : There are probably several ways to jack up the C-Max Hybrid with a floor jack or a lift, but this is the way to jack it with a hand jack. There are (4) marked hard points in the chines for lifting with a hand jack. These are marked by a small triangle printed into the black rocker cladding, under each door. For the front these markers are about 6" behind the rear of the front wheel well, and for the back, they are 14" in front of the rear wheel well. The hand jack that I am using is from my 2003 Ford Windstar. It has a "U" shaped lifting channel on the top that fits onto the hardened chine described above. The jack handle also serves as a wheel lug wrench that is 19 mm. and fits the C-Max wheel lug nuts. On my C-Max, I put a touch of red paint on the marker triangle, as well as the location for the jack to fit under the chine. The jack handle clips to the jack assembly when not in use, making a very compact unit, and it fits into the small storage compartment on the right at the very rear of the rear compartment. I will try to load some pics.

One shortcoming that I personally found with the C-Max Hybrid is the lack of a spare tire. I liked the car so well, in spite of this, that I ordered one for my family, but I was determined to find a satisfactory solution to being able to have a spare tire. Driving around with no spare was not acceptable to my wife or me. We now have 1,200 miles on our SEL C-Max, which has given me time to find a solution for having a spare. We also have a 2003 Ford Windstar, which gave me a starting point for the C-Max spare, as they both have the same size wheel bolt pattern. I had an extra 16" X 7" alloy Windstar wheel and also the original 15" donut spare that came on the Windstar. I was pleasantly surprised to find that both of these fit nicely on the C-Max. With a little research, I found that a 215/60-16 tire of one manufacturer had the same revolutions per mile and a little better load rating as the stock C-Max Michelin . I purchased one of these tires and it it mounted and balanced on the 16" wheel. I also purchased 2 ratchet straps to tie the wheel down in the back of the C-Max. I also discovered that the stock Windstar jack works fine with the C-Max; the jack handle includes a lug wrench of the correct size, and the jack fits nicely in the small storage compartment at the rear of the C-Max at the rear of the battery. As a starting point, we have decided to carry the donut spare when travelling locally and carry the full-size spare when venturing away from our local area and see how things go. I know, the tires (even the donut) take up alot of space, but generally speaking, the C-Max is not short on space. I have some pics to show with this item, but the attach program tells me that they are too big to upload. Can someone instruct me in how to get them to upload, please ?

I wonder if they have changed the active grille shutters since the start of production on the C-Max Hybrid. My SEL was built on 1- 4- 2013 and the grille shutters can completely close off the entire lower and the middle grille components.

I don't know if this has been mentioned : Apparently the Wayne factory is not closed for the whole New Year's week. My C-Max is scheduled to be built on Friday, 1- 4-12 , and I have seen one scheduled for Thursday 1-3-12 , and one scheduled for Saturday 1- 5 - 12.

Zoom - Have you found a way to secure the donut spare when you have it in the vehicle so that it will not become a projectile in event of a panic stop ? Any further thoughts on a jack ?