This is probably old news to some of you, but just in case others don't know, Chevrolet IS replacing the aluminum driveshaft on my 2004 SSR with a newly designed one that includes some sort of dampers that will eliminate the "ting" sound I get right now every time I put the SSR into gear, forward or reverse, and sometimes duing gearchanges as well.
What prompted me to investigate is that I drove up to a speedshop where I am planning to get my rear axle ratio changed soon, and the experienced mechanics there instantly asked "do you know your u-joints are failing?"
I took the SSR into the Chev dealer and a Chev mechanic verified that the "ting" was there, but found out that Chevrolet has identified the cause as windup in the aluminum driveshaft followed by sudden release against the u-joints. They have developed a modified driveshaft design that includes some form of damping mechanism to prevent this phenomenon. The dealer orderd it in, and when it gets here, he will install it in about one hour of work.
I wanted to get this corrected BEFORE I had the rear axle ratio swapped, so that there can be no claim that the ratio swap somehow caused it.
Jim G
