Gaurav

And if such list exist for UAE then top places will go to the highest bidders, just like businesses buying awards like a furniture these days on peony reasoning. From hospitality industry to banking to medical to insurance etc.

2 minutes ago, Barry said:

Don’t blame the mechanic. Blame the manager who pushes the mechanic to find non existent faults to increase profits. 

Totally agree.

My personal problem is the lack of honesty from mechanic's here. I don't mind paying mechanic or workshop premium for honesty as far they exactly do what it should be. Some mechanic's are dishonest and others are uneducated resulting same for car owners to keep hit an trial until the actual problem get fixed. What's the point of spending 3000 dhs for the cause of 100 dhs problem and if someone can charge 100+100 premium for fancy workshop or honesty Im fine, as I will still save 2800 in end.

I have been too close to several mechanic in past and when  you see them ripping layman your heart cries.

• Guy came with wobbling complaint in front of me and that mechanic advise him to leave the car and come in evening and in 500 dhs he will fix the problem. Once owner left he showed me that one of rear tire lug (nut) was missing and he need to replace that for 20 dhs. If he would have done that in front of customer he will only get 50 dhs in place of 500. Damn after seeing such nice trade secret, I left that mechanic.
• Another mechanic friend charged 1000 dhs for computer (ECU) reprogramming by changing 4 spark plugs that was acting funny.
• Another mechanic changed 10 parts in place of 1 knock sensor, as he will make ton of labor and commission on parts money before changing the actual faulty knock sensor - some are genuinely not technically capable and others are pure evil. And this was evil as they were 20 years experience in maintaining Land Rover's only and cannot scan the error code first before changing 10 unwanted parts.....?
• Changing most consumable items are the pet for fake mechanics - be it changing oil, tires, brake pads, brake disc, belts, hoses, fluids etc. As none of them has a set life that normal owner can easily identify - its mostly depending on mechanics judgement.
• Another is the scare tactics, you go for small job and then that mechanic point another area of concern if left unattended your car will explode in million pieces "right now" and make you believe that thank god that mechanic spotted that issue in time and you should fix it right now. After all It's all in the mind and people make you fool in jiffy to make their living - its no less than a conman does.

Choice is completely yours.

Change to Yokohama geolander if you are not into Extreme offroading, rock climbing, etc. For daily driver + best of offroading you will be very happy with geo.

BFG are always overpriced, heavy and noisy. They are very good for self recovery in extreme spots but very bad for long hill climb on stock engine, if turbo or supercharge they can rock. Had them for 1 year and seen the huge difference when I changed to michelin, but they aren't good for rocks as much as geo - best of three - road+sand+rock in 400 - 450 per tire, I guess.

I'm using my second set of geo from last 6 years.

Yes it could be tires as BFG are big beefy tires and when old they become hard and start loosing chunks from random places. I had loosing chunk problem with BFG and Cooper ATR in the past.

Before that, I would go to any tire shop and ask them to open all 4 tires to see if there is sand inside, clean them and balance again by seeing proper zero and zero on both sides. Sand in tire will behave in similar manner to vibrate at set speed - usually 80-100 - very common speed bracket for unbalanced tires or with sand presence.

If they still vibrate after this 50-100 dhs exercise then you definitely need new tires.

RIP

If you read that article full, you will understand that writer is "Proposing" not yet confirm to "END" "J200" shape of LC and Toyota is not actually killing or discontinuing the Land Cruiser as a whole. It's a flagship legend of Toyota. 

So even if writer is true, then after 2022 Toyota will launch J300 series Land Cruiser (I assume).

59 minutes ago, Javier M said:

So what's the use of a clean car that is does not start with flat tires? 

Telling you that cleaning is only meant for RTA test passing.

And your first post after a long time 🤣

DRL are more bright, crisp and visible than parking lights in two way narrow city roads. At least in UK, European and many Asian cities they have narrow two-way roads within busy cities, not sure about US though.

So in bad weather or poor visibility these DRL are blessing.

3 hours ago, treks said:

You are right, but the overall contribution of regenerative braking is very small. 

Totally agree and I have seen this live on BMW hybrid to charge a peony battery for 12 miles range they have to take atleast 100 miles on petrol.

44 minutes ago, Javier M said:

The one who voted for this timing is in maybe 🤣

 

+100000000000000000000000

5 minutes ago, Barry said:

Looks like a Montero Sport crashed into a Prado

Crashed or maybe married

As the early morning weather is getting little better, so its been decided to split the Intermediate drive from midnight to early morning to experience both night drive and day drive in one go. Plan is to start bit late and drive for 2-3 hours in night, then take a break and then enjoy the fast pace morning drive in some amazing set of dunes in Al faqa desert. Al Faqa desert is famous for its long range tall dunes that are fun to drive at good pace for ridge riding, side sloping and testing your offroad skills. The drive is for Intermediates and above only. 

When: 30 Aug 2019, Friday
Meeting time: 02:00 AM, the convoy will move sharply at 02:15 AM
Where: Al Faqa Desert

GPS Coordinate: https://goo.gl/maps/dt57TRJ3ak4SrCkX8

Level of drive: Intermediate and above
Type of Car: Any proper 4x4 with front and back tow hooks and 10 inches of ground clearance.
Plan: Drive and enjoy from 2-5 AM (Night Drive), 5-5:45 AM (Break), 6-8/9 AM (Morning Drive).
What to bring along: Snacks - whatever you like with little extra to share, water, smiles, stories, and enthusiasm.

Approximate finish time: 8 - 9 AM (Max)

MUST READ: 

• Off Road Driving - Roles & Responsibilities
• Off road Driving Etiquette's
• Off-road Convoy Rules

Please RSVP on the below calendar:

Excellent list of points to be checked during RTA Vehicle Testing in UAE. It's good to have this list handy that we can refer to before RTA renewal.

Few things I like to add here:

• Tires: It should have decent amount of tread left for another year of use. RTA fails any tire more than 5 years of age. 3 years and above will only get passed if good enough tread is left.
• Offroad lights: You are fine to install any number of offroad lights, but they all should have cover on it like plastic cap or rexine wrap so that you cannot use while driving on road because use of offroad lights is illegal on the road.
• Stickers: Remove all big size stickers as sometime they fail the vehicle. 1-2 small stickers on body are acceptable as far as they are not on windows or blocking the rear view.
• Metal bumpers: Strict NO for RTA passing as they will increase the damage multi fold to vehicle and human body, if involved in any accidents. Borderline remedy for such offroad metal bumper is to install a big rubber bumps in front to absorb the impact.
• Loud exhaust: Excessively louder exhaust will fail RTA passing. If you opt for performance exhaust go with low noise exhaust and it should not exceed maximum of 95 DB on fully warmed up engine. I had Magnaflow on Mustang with 90 DB (almost) that passed every RTA testing without any wasta.
• Car modifications: If you have done some crazy extreme car modifications then refer to ESMA regulations.

Accuracy has been already discussed above that its more of vehicle issue than the Google maps.

1 hour ago, shadow79 said:

 

Was talk of talking about those dummy ones but am pretty sure ravs will manage well when the needful has to be done

RAV has already failed at the needful time in Sweihan when you wanted me to winch from back against the gravity because front hook is made for single use only.

May be you are already using these stick on hook with 3M tape.

14 minutes ago, shadow79 said:

One tug and rope is gone on the windshield...maybe on the face too if the angle is right

Only if you install on RAV4.

Xterra's are better build and Emmanuel know how to use them properly, dont worry.

3 minutes ago, Shamil said:

Problem with uploading to YouTube is it might get taken down due to copyright issues on the audio track. I have faced this issue before as well.

Yes its there, but you can use any copyright free music.

https://www.youtube.com/audiolibrary/music?nv=1

https://www.bensound.com/

https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/download-copyright-free-music-youtube-videos/

https://vidooly.com/blog/youtube-royalty-free-music-sites-for-creators/

Positioning is very important and then the tug intensity - gradual to constant pull than jerking that may result in flip instantly.

Well done @Emmanuel

Key things for every offroader to notice and learn here:

• Tried self recovering first to the max.
• Clear sand from front tires on both sides.
• Identify a safe spot to recover with least force - Front and left side.
• Position car with utmost precision to deliver just a minimal tug at right angle.
• Stuck 4x4 wheels pointing left to support the recovery process by using engine power.
• Started with a soft tug and then applied a pulling strength and not a jerk to cause a flip.

Well I was living with PA  RO when my J and E alphabet fall off and asif bhai started teasing.