i10: HID Conversion

Just back from a friend's shop (SmartTint Auto Accessories) completing a 35W 4300K HID upgrade for the i10's standard H4. The kit is branded as TRUST Power Live. Paid RM450 for it.
Can't test until it gets darker. The ballast for this is slightly large compared to a OSRAM kit's ballast which was about the thickness of an iPhone.

HID Kit:
Brand - TRUST
35W 4300K with High/Low beam.
RM450

Installation:
i10 does not leave you much working space. An additional hole on the light housing had to be made to accommodate the extra wires going to the ballast. The ballast was mounted to the body side walls, above the tyre well.

You guys might be thinking about the reliability. My only guarantee is the trust I have for them giving me a worry free product that works. There was another cheaper one going for RM200++ and a more expensive one but the recommendation is for this instead of the higher end one. So far they have not let me down yet. Fingers crossed.

As a result of this upgrade I now have 1 pair of H4 Phillips Extreme Vision to let go for RM50. These were in the car for 3 months.

*Update 9 March 2014 - Lights looking good. The reflector does not seem to exhibit issues where there is scatter all over the place. Beams are looking in focus to shine on where they are suppose to be. Will be going back to SmartTint to have the telescopic type installed as I want to have a functional high beam.

*Update 16 May 2014 - SmartTint gave me a free replacement to those that was the telescopic type. But for some reason, I think free stuff does comes with a price. These turned out to be 8000K. Too damn white for my liking. What people say is correct, you can't see shit when it rained. So i ended up getting a pair of 4300K from EBay for about USD10. Took about 4 weeks to arrive. When I replaced it, i noticed extra cabling. There was an additional relay unit for the telescopic unit. How else would it have moved right? Not much problem, just swap out the cables matching the colours and it was done deal. With these 4300K, i hope it stays clear of the law.

Downsizing Experiment: Hyundai i10

ODO Reading: 40244km

Date: 3/1/2014

Downsized

Stock i10 wheel size is 165/60/R14 in Malaysia. Converted to Michellin XM2 165/65/R13 with new alloys. Cost RM720 at Bok Tyre Jalan Mahsuri. They were very kind enough to entertain my experiment and providing input to what possible sizes should be use. They even offered to lend me metal rims to test the theory out. Thank you sir!!

Right off the I can feel the drive is a bit more muted with that extra 5mm of rubber. All I can provide is butt feel as I do not have the instruments to measure the potential changes. Per the calculators, this conversion causes the car to be lower by 9mm and speedo increments by 1%

Hyundai UK's website has a SE Blue Version which offers better fuel economy. The tyre spec for that unit is 155/70R13. I guess car companies here are pushing for the mass market appeal where clients want better looking rims (bigger also) instead of fuel economy. 

Will be posting updates on the mileage and fuel consumption as I have them.

*just checked the spare tyre - 155/65R13

*Update 9 March 2014 - The first full tank reads at 10.5km/liter in mix urban with all the revving from the much more speedier response at wheel. Doesn't look that promising at this point. Fingers crossed for better results in coming refuels.

Wrong wheel/tires can wreck your MPG

This was a post from the forum Ecomodder. 

Prius 15's are better than aftermarket 17's! (Wrong wheels/tires can wreck your MPG)

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So, about a year ago, I broke down and purchased a "new to me" Prius. A 2004 with all the bells and whistles from that year. Among these was a set of 17" rims that I was never really crazy about (I just didn't think they matched my car). So after a year of driving and getting low to mid 40mpg's, I told to my wife I wanted to swap tires with her car (also a Prius, but an '05) so I could test what the difference in MPGs would be. She said she didn't care, so I could do whatever I wanted. I swapped them between vehicles. My MPG went up, hers went down. I had half a tank with the 17's, and half with the 15's, and my MPG went up to 52mpg! She took a 1000 mile road trip, and her interstate MPG went down to 38 (normally mid to upper 40's)! Apparently the rolling resistance of those 17's was terrible.
She really hated the tires, and told me to give hers back, so I did... but not before I found a set of 15" Prius rims (from a 2010) and mounted some Bridgestone Ecopias to them :-). My first tank with the Ecopias came in at a whopping 64mpg! I am going to have to check a few more tanks, since it was a half tank (~250 miles) on account that we would be leaving on a trip. We currently have my car and are traveling on twisty, turney mountain roads in the middle of nowhere, so the next couple fill-ups may not tell much, but so far, EVERYTHING is better than it was. Road noise is reduced, acceleration in increased, tire mass is down, MPG is up (20% or more), the wife is happy, and I like the look of the new rims/tires on my car a lot better. If you are running 17's, just know, you could be paying an awful price for it!

This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized 1104x825.

This image has been resized. Click this bar to view the full image. The original image is sized 1238x825.

Source: Ecomodder.com

LCA Bushings vs Stabilizer Bushings

Its been about 10 months since I got my current ride. When it arrived, it has cracked lower control arm bushes and worn stabilizer bushes. The bad LCA bush can be seen visually but the bad stabilizer bushings can't.

I concluded this from the worn right hand tyres when I first inspected the tyres. My previous ride also had the same issue. You can read my "gluk" battle post for that story.

So when I got this X, the first thing I did was to immediately replace the stabilizer bushings.

After 15,000km and 3 wheel services later, I do not see any uneven wear on the tyres.

Is it safe to conclude that it is possible that you ignore the LCA bushings until a much later time?
If you are cash strapped, maybe. But if money and time are not an issue, please get those bushes changed out.

Change the bush at a workshop outside. If you do it back at Nissan, the will make you change the whole lower control arm. Thats going to cost a bomb ^_^

Downsizing Rims to Improve Fuel Economy ?

Here something I ran into. Maybe we need to consider a downsize at a time when our fuel prices continues to go up.

Car and Driver, a motoring magazine in the US conducted a test to figure out how much of a hit would fuel consumption take if the size of a car’s rims were increased or decreased. To make sure the rim size was the only variable, the tyre make was kept the same, tyre pressure was kept as recommended and tyre compounds were nearly identical. All tests were conducted using a standard Volkswagen Golf and all but the 15 inch rims, were aftermarket alloys.
The results of this test was as expected:
Rim Size (inches)/Overall weight (rim + tyre)/Fuel Consumption
19/24.5kg/(9km/L)
18/23kg/(9.3km/L)
17/22kg/(9.7km/L)
16/21kg/(9.74km/L)
15/18kg/(9.9km/L)

Read the full report on CarandDriver

If you have tried this, I would like to know your experience.

How to jump start a car with dead battery / Macam mana jump start ?

Recently had to jumpstart a car with dead battery. The maintenance free (MF) type batteries are notorious to just suddenly die without warning.

Here are my steps

1. Positive to Positive (+)
2. Negative to Negative (-)
3. Start Donor Car
4. Leave running 5 minutes
5. Start recipient car 
6. Leave running 5 minutes
7. Stop Donor Car engine
8. Remove Negative Leads (-)
9. Remove Positive Leads (+)
10. Car with dead battery should go to a shop to check out its battery as soon as possible.

Most instructions you can find online will tell you to connect negative to Ground (-).
Do you know why?