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Trip Report - can't remember much, maybe because I've delayed the trip report due to a busy week. I do remember meeting and moving on time. The excitement of extending our drive area by starting from mini Mahafiz. The drive was relaxingly smooth with the odd refusals and stucks to keep the sweep team on our feet. But @Gaurav bhai did not take the revenge for the previous week where we found more time on refusals and stucks rather than driving. My favourite area always start from Mahafiz, and after the first 90 minutes entering our Mahafiz area is where I felt at home. Again with a few refusals and even fewer stucks we managed to reach our playground. As usual for safety @Gaurav bhai was the first to test the slopes to make sure route was safe for all. We all had a go and the level of excitement was evident from the fact that everyone had a few tries. We later shifted to the other side and continued with loads of side sloping. Once everybody had their fill we moved on to Fossil Rocks. Once we came around Fossil Rocks some of us decided to leave, while some of us decided to continue to Faya. Although we headed towards Faya our luck meant we could see it from a distance but never reach it. Couple of small incidents kept us away from Faya. Although the incidents were not so serious, but always better to be safe than sorry. After inflation and hugs we headed home. Until next time I bid you farewell.

I live in sports city too. I’ve seen better roads in the middle of mountains. It looks like they put the manhole covers in them planned to bring the road up level to them. But I don’t see how that will work because the road will be above kerb height in places. My poor car is starting to make new rattling noises every day. I think some day I will catch the exhaust on a manhole and rip it off. The canal leaked too and they had to dewater the ground around it to fix it. The water level is half of what it’s supposed to be. Anyone know what was the stadium they started building then abandoned on the right just as you come into sports city from motor city? The area could have been a really nice place if it was built to plan.

Guaranteed. Not Guaranteed.

Mabrook @shadow79 when you make it to expert level and lead a drive, I will hire a jeep from jeepers and follow you to hell and back ❤️

You can have much older tires and still it won't matter...it all depends on it's condition if the tires are perfectly even and the rim is balanced then it shouldn't make vibration unless something else is involved such as suspension , steering components or drivetarin components they all can contribute vibrations and sounds

Well this has been an adventure! My advice now, find a good mechanic. Someone who can tell you what’s wrong. Not someone who says I only fix Japanese cars or I only fix American cars, someone who actually knows about cars. Once you know what’s wrong, keep driving the car, it’s not a major issue, and order the parts online yourself. Bring the parts to any cheap monkey mechanic and they can fit them cheap. Its korean, it shouldn’t take too long to get. I can get kpop albums from Korea to Dubai in 3 days if I was that way inclined. Most of my work is classic American cars and I can get most parts in 10 days, and America is further away than Korea. Don’t take shit from people. Be proactive

This is what we might see between Murqab and Lisaili coming weekend 😂

If there is sound plus light jurks felt on steering while accelerating or breaking then it also could be the front arms The sound diagnosis is really a pain Sometimes all the bushes are cracked and yet the customer asks to only get the one which is making that particular sound while others are gonna fall apart anyway...

If bushes not cracked just use some rubber conditioner spray on them

Yes Frederic, the less said about Sports City the better. Specially those manholes, I've never seen any such community in Dubai where they can't even get that right

There is an insane amount of speedbreakers and bumps in Sports City, haha I'm 100% sure most of my brakes get worn driving around my living area :

Im like that now I at most change my pads only once during the ownership of my cars . Since most of the time I just cruise to a stop. Old habit I picked up fron doing so much on road convoy driving keep an eye out for the 3 or 4 th car in front of you or as mucb far as you can see and anticipate in advance if you need to slow down if so gently lift off of the gas and then slowly tap the brakes if coning to a halt. I see people givinf it the full beans when 500 mtrs ahead of you the signal just turnee red and then slam the brakes hard 70 mtrs from it.

When I started driving I used to go through a set of pads every 3 months. The security guard at work had a nice Mercedes C class so I started chatting to him about it. Old model but clean and well looked after. Turned out he bought the car brand new 9 years previously and was still running the original pads. I asked him how? He told me the harder you press any of the pedals, the more it will cost you, so just relax and enjoy the scenery.

I know a few drivers like that. Its either full accelerator or full brakes. No middle ground. You start to get woozy after 5 mintues of sitting with them.

Maybe it's unrelated but I'm surprised no one has yet to point out that the OP's tyres are 2014 model.

Just now broke one of rear spring in desert, nothing unusual but just a little jump but nothing flying off, done that million times before. Seems like it was the age and due time for it to go. Appreciate any suggestions for Pajero lift kit or heavy duty 2 inch lifted springs brand, type, suggestion or any other things to consider or avoid. Thanks in advance.

Triple deuce on a Chevy I’m working on. One of the best sounding induction noises I’ve ever heard

I totally get the wrapping thing if you have a super valuable car of which you want to keep the original paint intact and if you have plans to keep the car for a very long time. For a regular commuter car it’s nonsense. Same as keeping the plastic on the seats and interior. Makes you look like one of the Goodfellas Mafia guys.

Springs settle down a bit they always do...

Definitely not my cup of tea but surely I could pull some strings and get it done...there is a old Baloch guy who does only carburetor rebuild and tuning I had my Tercel and few other cars through him...

I thought it was weight loss Carbs, and I was like No....!

Were there Chinese contractors involved in the development/building of Sports City? That might explain the manholes...

By replacing old with New Tyres may Solve the issue of vibration

Great job @shadow79. Mabrook. I really saw an improvement in your convoy discipline, hope you will continue to improve on other aspects of off-roading, I never doubt your skills.

Hahaha, It's not so bad to change drive style just little bit stiff even on comfort settings. On the contrary this heavy duty rear springs + fully stretched shocks (i guess) eating bumps like tarmac. Tried few hard run on rough patches and didn't feel a thing.

I told you too, that Pajero in that year had same spring for SWB and LWB as per the product number search and habtoor adviser. Same have been confirmed with scrapy too today. They have tons and tons of petrol springs, like in hundreds. Now this was a new turn in story about diesel, which I never expected even with scrap here in UAE, but Jabal tokyo main work is bringing Japanese scrap and exporting to various other diesel loving countries.

Great article with details. The Diesel springs look like a good solution. If they are not to your likings, you can always revert to the OEM scrap springs as you were happy with the OEM ones before and i can imagine you are so used to it that any change in your current setup feels a bit 'off", and could force you to change your offroad-driving style to compensate for that.

This is how my trailing arm bushing looked like, and the clunking sound on speed bumps was really bad. On top of that the car was driving very "wonky" and unstable: While the arm is removed, best to do the other bushings also. @shadow79 did both trailing arms with aftermarket bushings, and the difference is night and day.

One of the garage I went to did lift the car and checked for excessive play around all 4 tyres as well as the steering box, transfer case, and drive shaft. They visually checked and tried to wiggle, shake, prod, etc, just to see if there is any movement that will produce a metallic clunk (aka 'tok'). But as expected, it didn't rear its ugly head. On another forum, a similar issue was brought up and a couple of ideas floated around by those is that there might be issues with the stab link, or brakes, or the bolts & nuts of the arms (loose), and even ball joints. But considering that the sound isn't always there - not heard while driving on rough patches, not heard during turning, heck it doesn't even come during the morning traffic (might it be that heat, afternoon and after car has completed warmed up, also plays a factor?) - does this still seem like a bush issue?

I thought so. Guess I was taken for a ride by the garage then.

When you’ve spent your entire budget on your car, but really wanted to have those 24 inch rims

Just pick any porsche. They all look the same

That might work in cold weather but here the heat really messed with things

Not always that wiggle test works I had to change a bush which looked perfect but still made sounds as they become old they loose their consistency to stay in one place under load

Also, if I tell the mechanic this, can they check and test all the rear bushes without having to take the car in a traffic, stop-and-go situation? Asking this as I've already suggested this to the garage who last worked on my car. The garage told me that they ran a 'spanner test' and found nothing. So I am starting to doubt the reliability of the 'test' they did.

This is because your rear differential bushings have failed. To change the entire arm would cost a lot. So you might have to search for the bushings separately and replace them. Doing the same for my Jeep, but with Jeeps you get the bushings more easily. Pajero will be a bit more of a challenge. And also dont try to replace the control arms with those from the scrap yard as they would also be equally worn out.

I have this exact same sound but mosly when my car has recently started after some pause of few hours, when I'm driving over speedbumps, or driving up from my basement parking (so gradient and turning at slow speed). The guy I'm getting this fixed through has said it's the bushes, and they may have cracked. I made a post on this 'bushes and brakes replacement' recently. I hope this sounds goes away. I can update you once I've got the bushes changed in a day or two and report on whether this sound has gone or not? Just a clarification, this sound feels like coming from the base of the car right, somewhere around the front or right beneath your seat? Cuz that's where I'm getting the clunking sounds from

I have the same sound on my wifey's 2008 Pajero. I always assumed it sounded like the rear diff teeths locking into each-other, but come to think of it, it is probably the rear bushes on the arms. In this climate they tend to dry and crack.

500%, as brakes are always pressed under full load and when heated up, they wear the brake pad faster than melting ice. 35K on single pad is pretty decent and actually good knowing you have done mountain descend too.

Yes, on mountain offroading your brakes will have to work a lot more than in the desert. I think 35000 kms with the same brakepads is fine. Again this depends on so many factors. I drive 55 kms to work and all on E611. Hardly need to use my brakes if i drive a bit "smart".

With a Pajero, I rarely run the risk of braking too late as anyways the car needs some time break smoothly so I usually maintain distance and very rarely need to smash breaks. I do drive with a lot lane changes and light breaks going to office and coming back but none of it is what one would consider hard breaking, I think I do manage it well. I do more of mountain off roading than desert, so often traversing through hard rocks or coming down on steep gradients can also effect brakes I guess? I think i have done about 30-35000 KM in 18 months.

The Taiwan bushes should be perfectly fine and won't affect performance. These things are not rocket science. With lathe pressing they mean that they will take off the complete arm and use a hydraulic bench press to insert the bushes into the holes of the arm. This is recommended instead of hammering them in which would again damage the bushes and limit their lifetime. @shadow79 did my Pajero recently and the difference with the new bushes is amazing. Your brakes don't wear much from off-roading as we avoid using them in the desert as you'd get bogged in too easily. They wear from using them often, and that depends much on your driving style. Many people can't seem to read the traffic and keep driving hard until the last minute and then smash on the brakes. Not saying that you are one of those drivers but just stating that the biggest influence of brake wear is wheel alignment and driving behavior. How many miles did you do in those 18 months ? 1700 dirhams looks ok for these works.

Just to add to the confusion, Montero Sport is called Shogun Sport in Ireland, even though it’s a totally different body style from the Shogun.

You can always cut springs but better not weld it as it looses it's tamper

That's also not possible now, as Patrol GQ springs lifting LWB pretty high (3-4 Inch) and SWB will shoot over the sky as per my latest digging.

Thats pretty shitty of mutsubishi then. Then I guess Patrol springs are the best option.

@Frederic that's a good idea with magnetic pads, exactly what I'm looking for! How do you fix your wires going from the light bar to the engine bay? Any hints there? Thanks!

Of course I'll change both rear springs together. I want to go OEM but height is an issue and instead of adding 2 inch spacer as a temp fix, better to drop an oversize spring to gain 2 inch lift at back, while at it. Remember in cruiser and range we have had oem option of standard springs or standard oversize heavy duty springs, that's what I'm torn in between. Yeah model year and type is a big pain for finding aftermarket parts. I have to research on height and type and then match with other available ones in market.

Welcome back

All these marketing jargon and tech spec aside which maybe hard for layman to test/verify, after my first bad experience I went with the self testing technique. I tested 10 different lights in various brand shops, that they were happy to hook up on small car battery and give me a demo.