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For me it has to be, People arguing about price. Sure, there’s a bit of discount for regular customers but if you want a good job done it costs money. It’s not just my time, it’s the cost of tools, lifts etc. These things don’t pay for themselves. It’s a business. Calling every 30 minutes to see if your car is ready. I can’t finish your car if I’m spending 3 hours a day answering the phone. I’ll call you when it’s done. Giving a diagnosis from another mechanic. I used to waste so much time chasing up stuff that the customer said another mechanic said was wrong. Sometimes it’s better just to listen to the symptoms and do your own leg work. Getting mad over breakages. Sometimes you have to remove a good part to get access to the faulty part and the good part will break. Sure some mechanics are cack handed but nobody ever thinks the parts on their car are old and brittle and will break if you touch them. It’s not always the mechanics fault. Asking to borrow tools. No. That torque wrench cost 750 dhs and just had a 6 month calibration at 300 dhs. Telling me you diagnosed your fault on google. Ok. I’m still going to plug it in and do my own proper diagnosis. If you insist on paying 2 sets of labour, ok. The customer is always right? Staring over my shoulder when I’m working. I really hate this one. If you ask me how to do something I’ll show you. If you’re staring over my shoulder, it makes me feel like you think I don’t know what I’m doing. Like you know any better? Don’t get butthurt because I’m bashing something with a hammer. I’m hitting it with a hammer because it needs to be hit with a hammer. If your car overheated and you kept on driving, just tell me. Don’t hide it. Knowing exactly what happened makes my job a lot easier and saves you money. Same with every fault, just be honest. It’s not for me, it’s for you. If I tell you what the fault is with your car, that’s the fault so believe it. I have better things to do with my time than guess and rebuild an engine 3 times. It’s not a game. If I diagnose your car, I should be the one to repair it. I see too many parts fitters here. Customer gets the fault diagosed with a reputable mechanic then goes to a hack to get parts swapped. Last one. Clean your car before you come in or at least take the trash out of it. Crawling upside down under a dashboard and rubbing my head on a carpet covered in cigarette ash and dog poop from your shoes isn’t a nice experience.

Let me present to you the Baja 1000. This a 800-900 miles race in the State of Baja California, Mexico. This is done every year since 1967. It allows various types of vehicle classes to compete on the same course with classes for cars, trucks, motorcycles, ATVs and buggies. My dad was asked to build two cars for 2010 truck class (it won 1st place) and 2011 buggie class (it won 2nd place). We used to go every year to watch the race.

Lately I cant help to notice that there are quite a few number of cars with snorkels. I cant help looking around me and see sand. I have driven offroad in other countries for many years and never in my life have seen the need to have a snorkel for my car and yet here in this sandbox we all call home I see plenty of cars with it. Do you really need one? has the amazons magically appeared somewhere in the UAE? I know there are some rivers here in the UAE but does it really justify to restrict the air intake of your car? I was just wondering since I am fairly new to the country

Yes very good topic. I would only see the purpose of putting the air inlet higher as it’s further away from the engine (cooler), and maybe takes up less sand. The cold air intake units take their air from underneath the wheel fenders, where I can imagine there is lots of sand. I like the look, but a fake one is really form over function.

An extremely interesting and highly debatable topic you picked. Just last Friday while I was riding with an IMC recovery guy, who is an ofroader too, he bought a snorkel for his Pajero and asking me the same question - how it helps and why so many people have them here in UAE? Although I'm yet to see Amazons jungle and water wading opportunities here in UAE except a couple of weeks in some remote wadi's during the rainy season. In such water wading that has more than 2 feet deep water, such snorkels are helpful so that air intake which is usually placed under the front fender doesn't suck water and stall the engine. Apart from water wading snorkels practically has no use and instead bring a little toll for sand offroading and cause a restriction and a delay while sucking air through a long tube. Imagine you are breathing with a straw while running. However, this can be managed to some extent, by reprogramming the ECU to adjust the intake long travel. I agree they look cool and some people I know personally they have fake snorkel attached, just for looks without any alteration of intake and air filter modification. Just like the two antenna mod started with Shkmo on his G500 decade ago, now followed by every G and non-G cars and accessories shops even sells a fake stick on antenna these days.

Thank you, Angela and I had a great day , it was so good to finally meet you all. I loved the drive and grew and grew in confidence with all the encouragement I received from everyone. I can't wait for the next newbie drive!! We did get the police report and everything is in hand regarding the repair. Thank you again for your advice with regards to this matter.

Bit pointless on a petrol engine. If you go in deep enough to get the plug leads wet the car is going to stop anyway. On a diesel with a mechanical pump it makes complete sense.

We have had our own @sertac. With a disconnected snorkel kit probably from the previous owner who put it there for the looks and @sertac used to drive along with it for the looks only.

It was superb experience, the encouragement for new drivers & guidance though out the drive was outstanding... it’s my first time with Carnity..I am very happy to join a team with very supportive & friendly attitude...

It was a fun drive

Maybe this dune isn’t the highest in the world as the video pretends, but...

Gaurav is bang on with his post. It's not needed here, the 0.5 hp you gain from CAI with it is lost with the massive restriction of the snorkel. Most here usually prefer form over fuction. All these jeepers with armour plated bodies 2 inch steel bunper. 6 inch lift kits massive knoblly mud tyres and enough lights to light up a stadium only use it to go to the beach on the weekend in the winters.

I’ve always done my own work on my cars. A couple of times I’ve had a bit of extra cash so I thought it would be nice to leave my car into the garage beside my work so I could get someone else to do it and I could just go to work, chill, walk down and collect my car and drive home. First time was a Mk3 Astra (don’t laugh), I fitted new shocks and springs all round, changed every bushing and ball joint, put it in the local garage for a steering alignment. Got the car back with the steering wheel upside down. It took them 3 days to get the steering wheel pointing straight. Second time, I needed a clutch change on a 4wd Subaru Legacy. I didn’t have time to do it myself so I dropped it in the garage on the way to work. I paid my money and picked it up on the way home. They neglected to fit 2 split pins for under 25 fils and the front wheels splayed out and the front of the car slammed on the road at 60mph. After that I swore to never let anyone touch my car again. If I break something, it’s my problem. There are plenty of good mechanics but the bad ones give the good ones a bad name.

I love a nice Baja bug

Hi @SandySandeep and others please post your pictures in the gallery section Every drive has its own album in the gallery for that drive pictures for better organizing. https://carnity.com/gallery/category/110-newbie-drive-malihakalba-8-feb-2019

I am of the opinion that you don't need it, specially here. But fake snorkels? Really? 🤣

@YevgeniyDYM please note that this is an intermediate drive. You can join the next Carnity newbie drive (but please, next time, if you find another convoy at the meeting point and you decide to join them, please advise us so we don’t wait for you)

@Rahimdad bhai, all was shorted out.

OMG man, i seriously can't wait but time flies by so fast, that's a good thing... although sometimes waiting for the next weekend to drive feels like a long time hehe. Thanks for the kind words, means a lot coming from you now I need to learn more to progress Thanks guys, for everything you're doing

Trip report: Wonderful day, great weather and amazing people made this drive the perfect outing. I must start by thanking everybody for being on time. Started from the Adnoc pump on time and reached the deflation point. Everybody was patient during the briefing and had a good ideas and questions to understand the ettiquettes, safety aspect and basics of driving in the sand. My sincere thanks to @Gaurav bhai for making it just before the start of the drive even after facing gear issues. He also took on the sweep duties to keep the convoy moving. I would also like to thank @Emmanuel for being the busiest person on the day with most responsibilities. A very big thank you to @Javier M for being my second lead and keeping the convoy safe at all times. A big thank you to @Jamy B. and her Scottish friend (sorry I forgot her name), hope you got the police report. @Chirag S. hope all clear with the police report, you drove well but still need to understand how your car reacts in the sand. Thanks to @yogic72, @WiLfY, @BilalAhmad, @Brette, @Djamelus, @Sajith Kumar, @SandySandeep, @Julien V and Ben and his family joining us for the trip. As usual we started off on some tracks and eventually build the level to give a feel of the dunes and how best to manage them with small dunes, straight up and down. Some descends were a bit steep but everybody managed well. We made it to the gauge track on time for Ben and his family to depart as they had to catch a flight at 10 pm. @Julien V later checked with the family when they had already boarded their plane, perfect timing. We later headed to the top of Fossil Rock which everybody managed well. By this time the sun was setting and it was getting cold. There was a huge temptation to go down on Fossil Rocks, but with the stars not properly aligned we decided to drive around it to our spot. We sat down and with all in high spirits we laid our goodies down. From karak tea to some salty treats and some sweet ones I enjoyed them all. More amazing than the treats were stories as we all had our chance to give feedback and exchange stories. With everybody having their fill for the weekend it was time to pack up and head out. Thanks to all for using garbage bags and keeping the environment clean. It was a great to see only our tire and foot prints without garbage flying around. As we packed our cars and headed out we found a nice easy track with lead us straight to the closest road. After a quick stop to switch off our off road lights and remove the flags we were off to the Adnoc pump. We inflated here, said our goid byes and continued on our way home. I saw @Jamy B. on the way back and wanted to ask them if the police report was sorted out, but have to appreciate the fact that they are very arlttentive to the road and do not get distracted by anything. Thank you to everyone for their participation, until next time take care. Live you all and hope to see you soon.

Thanks for sharing @Gaurav bhai. Now it's my turn. I have never been cheated by a mechanic as I have always been fascinated by cars and from a very young age as my father used to always ask me to help him with small car jobs. However I never learned to tackle people and have always been straight forward and expect people to treat me the same way. But this is not an ideal world and people don't always mean what they say. Recently I had the small task, of removing the bull bar from my wife's car for passing and put it back on once done. It was a simple task of 15 minutes to remove and 15 minutes to put back. When I asked the mechanic how much it would cost me, he told me what should I charge you for this small job, just give whatever you like. So he removed the bull bar, I went to pass the car and as it was almost his closing time I called to inquire if he will still be there. He said he would wait and it's just a 15 minutes job to do. So as I reached he left the job with his colleague and left for home. After job completed I paid the guy AED 50/-, he refused saying the mechanic had asked him to collect AED 400/- from me. I was shocked and called the mechanic, to my surprise he was serious. I told him that I could buy and instal a bull bar for that price and why so expensive for a total 30 minutes spend? To this he replied that he had to wait back for me which incurred overtime. This pissed me off as when I called him there was no mention that it would cost me so much or else I could have done it the next day. I was further pissed because once again he told me I could pay whatever I felt right to which I tried to give the other guy AED 50/- again refused saying mechanic asked to collect AED 200/-. I called him again and confronted him, why he was telling me to pay what I think is right and kept on giving a figure to this other guy which was still ridiculous. To which he replied don't pay anything, I asked him on speaker phone to say the same thing to the other guy, which he did. Now this guy would not accept the money. So I left the AED 50/- in his draw, called him and told him that I had left the money I felt right in his draw, but I would never use or recommend him again. For the past 8 months I've found that there is life beyond that garage and always to confirm the cost before leaving my car for any job to be done. Rant over.

I’ll start with the very unique Badain Jaran desert : Badain Jaran mysterious lakes

As a car enthusiast, I'm sure you must be having tons of experience with mechanics and workshops in UAE. List your worst mechanic experience here with as much as details, I'll start with mine: Back in those when I got my new license and my first car, I was very happy with the first mechanic who has served me honestly and fairly all the times. After I sold my Sunny, I got an Accord, he has been maintaining that as well. Every time I take the car for other jobs, I use to ask him to check everything from engine - gear - bushes etc and every time he used to say yes all done. As few of Honda guys know that Accord is notorious for gearbox failure, so on first jerk or late shifting, I reported to him and ask him to change the gear oil and filter. And after that still gearbox died and I went to gear specialist who showed me stale oil and said it was never changed. That gear rebuilding because of cheating cost me 10 times the price of gear oil change and forced me to not to trust mechanics again. Get a critical job in front of your eyes - no matter how much you trust your mechanic or long relation you had. Then again things change and I met real professionals and start trusting mechanics again but with a "pinch of salt".

@shadow79 @treks any comments?

I will take another route rather than wade through water so deep that the bonnet will be under it. I'm not that adventurous. Agree with @Frederic that it helps to reduce intake of dust.

I’m a fan of the Dirt Every Day show with Fred. He’s done Baja too on a few episodes. Great stuff.

Hi guys, I want to get my BMW 330i wrapped in a blue metallic foil. Any suggestions for a company that can do it with good quality and reasonable price. Cheers, D

You can contact Ultra Gard and give Carnity reference to get the best service at competitive pricing, they are really professional in the foiling business.

Thanks @BilalAhmad, seen the pictures, looks amazing, I want to experience it, as a passenger, whenever possible can't wait to become intermediate level to start joining these rides see you next time

You can take a walk on the tire market in Sharjah and will have plenty of replica options, maybe some are close to a genuine quality From here till the end of the road about 1 km stretch has all shops for fancy wheels and tires https://goo.gl/maps/UMx5VRkMmyz

It completely normal for AC to blow cold air in 30 seconds to a minute depending on the type and size of system most of the factory service manuals recommend that the evaporator temperature be recorded in idle rpms after the cars rpm is raised up to 1500 to 2k for 3 to 5 minutes that means that the refrigerant should be in full circulation... Those vapors could be a sign that the thermostat is set at very low temp or in some cars that the evaporator thermostat is bad and is not cutting out when reaching the desired temperature...to check that you have to open bonnet and monitor the clutch (if it's a clutch driven compressor) while in idle it should regularly disengage and re-engage if it's a direct drive compressor then you have to get a diagnosis machine and read live data of air conditioning ECU from there monitor the evaporator temperature sensor and AC duty cycle percentage both should be inversely proportional....now about the screeching noise could be the clutch bearing going bad could be the belt going bad could also be a sign of overcharged system There could be a blockage in the system which the compressor overcomes Could also be that something is broken in the compressor that when not in the right place stopes or make it harder for the compressor to start pumping refrigerant

I think my total spend in fines since I've been driving cant me more than 4000. One traffic violation in the past 10 years.. So majority of those was in my younger years. Pays to be a cautious driver and drive like a granny on road.

@Gaurav AC isn’t my forte. I just hook it up to the machine and let it do the hard work for me.

https://goo.gl/maps/5r2WMHH2g7k

The risk : to end up in the water after a mistake while side-sloping

Dont change the compressor until it get fully break.

Oh wow, finally we have all the stars, moon and sun align in one line, lololol Thanks, Bilal for lovely shots

Oxygen sensor isn’t a service thing. Only needs changed if it isn’t working, which will bring on the engine warning light. Theres no harm in changing the fuel filter, check out this video of one I pulled out of a Bentley a while back. See how black the fuel is coming out. Fuel quality here isn’t the best.

Fortunately haven't had such an experience, although it wasn't for the lack of grease monkeys trying to rip me off though. Also to add to Barry. I've met more good mechanics than bad ones Also I can take some pride in saying over the years I've probably stopped more people than I can remember from being ripped off too. But I do have this one good friend who is a glutton for punishment mostly due to being impatient. Be lazy and knowing absolutely nothing about cars also doesnt help. Sometimes he goes in knowing hes getting ripped off but in some weird grand scheme of things in his mind its worth it somehow.