DiamondDallas

On 3/3/2019 at 11:09 AM, Rahimdad said:

Great thread @Barry. I started checking all at a very young age. My father used to handle a private cab company in Pakistan and he used to check everything before starting the day, so that became part of my habit checking all levels for him before he started driving. Another habit I have from him is at the time of cold start leaving the car running for 2 - 5 minutes to get all the oils coming upto level before heading out.

@Rahimdad got a bad habit also time of cold start I lit a cigarette finish my cigarette than drive the car. Give me and my car time to start the day.

Why is that Cars people say are not good or reliable more expensive even if Old. Specially 2 brands of 4x4 Old jeeps the price of used old jeeps are sky high. Old Chevy Tahoe are other 4x4 which are expensive. Then why do people say American cars have no resale value? 

Prices of old patrols and Land cruiser are high but these American beasts higher. Can someone explain.

Short Term : Drive my POS for another year. Did all fluid changes and extra for renewal.

Long Term: Convert My POS to best 4x4

No I think it's just a Mitsubishi Thing. Nativa Pajero ASX Outlander seen this problems in all of them.

I make sure I check everything twice daily. Sort of a fobia I got driving my POS in reality my 2003 is  more perfect than many new Cars but still I keep check on it.

18 hours ago, Gaurav said:

That's the problem with everyone these days, always hasty to ask in the beginning and when ripped off then they have all the time for sharing sad stories with every minute detail. Little time and patience go a long way.

18 hours ago, Gaurav said:

That's the problem with everyone these days, always hasty to ask in the beginning and when ripped off then they have all the time for sharing sad stories with every minute detail. Little time and patience go a long way.

for the exact reason I asked my Friend to give the cash he wants to spend on his car and so I can spend it wisely doing other stuff and getting his car done in another 2 years.

18 hours ago, Ren13 said:

I have used a China lcd android unit (Dont remember the brand though)on my optra which costed me 350dhs 4 years back  and its still going strong as the car had been sold to a colleague in office and I get to see it quite often. It has bluetooth,reverse camera,DVD,aux,USB functions in it. Except for navigation.

Thank You for such kind advice

2 hours ago, Gaurav said:

Well said and documented @Frederic, 1 like is not at all enough for such detailed and crisp explanation.

In the morning, I was busy and though @DiamondDallas merge two different questions in one post so I assume no point in explaining all things in details and let him research bit on Crutchfield first and then we can slowly build upon.

Sorry for doing this actually I did that under pressure. This guy was just to hasty to ask. And I mixed up the questions my bad. 

2 hours ago, Frederic said:

With regards to the Audio question: your sound will only sound as good as the weakest link. Do not expect any kind of speaker, subwoofer, or amp to do a proper job if wiring is too thin or cheap, or if you skipped on other things. My two cents on this one:

1) Invest in a decent headunit (Sony, Kenwood, Clarion, Pioneer) that has RCA outputs. DO NOT buy these crappy converters that convert speaker output into RCA....

2) In upgrade phase one, buy some decent stereo speakers for the front and connect them to your head-unit. Your sound will already be 5 times better than the cheap Toyota crap speakers. Make sure all connections are properly soldered and not twisted like most shops in Sharjah will do.

3) Upgrade phase two: Buy a 2 channel amplifier and 2 more speakers for the back, OR buy a 4 Channel amplifier and connect also the front speakers. Install everything the way it should be done with proper grounding, power cables, fuses, and put new speaker cables all the way through if possible. Fine tune your amp and learn to set it correctly. A good rule is setting your headunit to 80%, putting the amp sensitivity to lowest possible and slowly start increasing until you hear some distortion, Then dial it back again a bit. Learn to fine-tune your settings such as Lowpass, Highpass, and EQ which you can set according to the speaker capability (regular speakers can be filtered to everything above 80hz). Give it some time and lots of listening to all preferred genres.

4) Upgrade phase three: Buy yourself an additional amp with sub or active system where sub and amp are in one tube or box. Only buy a sub if you really need it, because it takes up space and after having many subwoofers in the past, i came to realize that you can perfectly go without if you listen on "normal" volumes. If you have space for 10" rear speaker then they can deliver pretty good bass. 

I have seen so many friends and colleagues in the past that would go through these steps in one weekend and go for a full fledged audio setup in which they have either no clue what was installed and they ended up paying too much, or they blew up their amps or speakers after 3-4 months because they simply do not understand the basic audio rules.  

Can you blow up a 1000 Watts subwoofer with a 100 Watts amp ? YES you can; when you send a distorted signal from the headunit or amp to the speaker, this alternating sine wave becomes DC voltage that burns your speaker coil in an instant. 

Can you put a 1000W amp on a 100Watts speaker without issues ? YES you can, it is all a matter of setting the sensitivity setting correctly and learning to listen how your speaker reacts and plays. Beware, Subwoofer distortion is difficult to hear...

Thank you for a great advice. Please also advice on those LCD ANDROID head unit sold in many shops are they good. Again thanks for sharing your experience.

21 minutes ago, Rahimdad said:

In my experience, Sharjah has it all.

For the upholstery there are plenty of shops in the Sharjah Industrial area, just need to check 3 to 4 shops and bargain even if you feel he is reasonably priced or within your budget, you will be surprised. Make sure the shops you check at have work and are not sitting idle, as you can check the quality of work from the work being carried out.

As for the stereo, @Gaurav and @Barry are the knowledgeable people, but there are a lot of stereo shops behind Yasmeen Building opposite Sharjah Cricket Stadium who can suggest a do a decent job at a reasonable price.

19 minutes ago, Gaurav said:

For seat cover, the best place is Deira naif where the shops are next to each other so you can pick and choose the style, color, and price very quickly. Satwa is also good in Dubai but Naif is better in pricing.

Maybe someone staying in Sharjah can advise a few seat cover shops in Sharjah too.

If you are looking for a complete redo of upholstery and looking for professional guys

Dubai:

• https://carnity.com/business_listing/car-care-services/car-upholstery/lamst-fn-upholstery-cars-r1162
• https://carnity.com/business_listing/car-care-services/car-upholstery/al-kashkha-auto-upholstery-r1115
• https://carnity.com/business_listing/car-care-services/car-upholstery/golden-sun-car-upholstery-car-accessories-r1085

Sharjah:

• https://carnity.com/business_listing/car-care-services/car-upholstery/britania-auto-seat-upholstery-r682
• https://carnity.com/business_listing/car-care-services/car-upholstery/discovery-auto-upholstery-accessories-r673
• https://carnity.com/business_listing/car-care-services/car-upholstery/noor-al-fajr-auto-seats-upholstery-r670

For Music system, my advice is to stick to all component of one brand to get better output, also research bit on Crutchfield site to mix and match the wattage and type of amp and sub. There comparisons and advices are awesome

Bhai I saw some in the business list I gave the reference to my friend also before I posted in carnity. He told me one shop listed in sharjah is closed permanently. 

Can Someone recommend any Person or Shop who can do upholestry of car for cheap. Seat covers , door panels.My friend wants to change the interior color of is corolla 2009. Also please advice if Pioneer 250watt speaker with xplode 500watt amp and 800w pioneer subwoofer is good idea for the same car.

Feels Good to  Be Back

Happy Birthday Bro

1 minute ago, Gaurav said:

It's called key in ignition beep/chime

thank you Bhai

1 minute ago, Gaurav said:

Yes, that's the same thing I mention. Those bells come when you just insert the key and don't turn ignition half or full right...?

And that sound will not come if you just remove the key. It's only at OFF position and half ignition ON you get those beep beep noise

yes

1 minute ago, Gaurav said:

It's for reminding you that key is inside so that you don't walk away without locking your car.

Also, a long beep is there like teeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, is when you leave headlight on and switch off the car to remind you to switch off the headlight before you flat the battery.

Bhai, the bells before turning the key to start the car.

36 minutes ago, Rahimdad said:

Like this.

Mine will be Better

Hopefully very soon. Still Trying to teach my POS (Camry) how to do offroading. Maybe will get lift kit Good Suspension and as soon as THE RAV is back can borrow some of its part for baptizing MY P.O.S for some real off road FUN   

2 hours ago, Rahimdad said:

@DiamondDallas not sure how the saying came about, but the saying bells and chimes to me means full options, power windows, power seats, heated leather seats, nowadays with a few top end cars leather cooled seats, etc, etc.

that ting ting ting sound when you turn the key before ignition.

On 2/10/2019 at 9:27 PM, Barry said:

I was in the shower earlier, just before 15:00. Mrs Barry was screaming for me to come out and see the earthquake. Didn’t feel it at all but the lights were swinging a little bit from the roof. 

Did anyone else notice anything?

The earthquake last year was worse. I was in al quoz. It was all over in 10 seconds. The worst thing I ever dealt with was a bit of snow but I felt like I was standing on a pancake being cooked. 

Why people want to move to places like New Zealand I’ll never know. 

Bro Dont Mind anything But you mentioned something about Mrs.Barry Running might have been a reason for slight termor.

I always wondered what those Bells & chimes means when you turn those Old car that used and still  start with keys like mine when in AAC before ignition. Then I remebered I am apart of one of The Best Car forum in UAE so why should I wonder and ask all my car buddies what does those Bells and chimes mean. 

It was Warm and very Pleasant meeting Rahim Bhai after very long time.

On 1/20/2019 at 5:54 PM, Srikumar said:

Rav is in hibernation this winter. So it must be your imagination

Legend has it Rav is offroading in Mars this Season

1 hour ago, Barry said:

But what if you’re engine is designed to run on something like 5w30 and you try running it on 10w40, even for a short while? You’ll have awesome oil pressure but the oil will be too thick to circulate properly and will wear out the bearings, cam lobes etc in a shorter time. You need to stick to the oil grade recommended for your engine.

This is why I cringe every time I hear a “mechanic” saying it’s old, just put 50 in it. In actual reality it’s doing more harm than good even if it is stopping a rattling noise. 

@Barry Toyota recommends 20W40 or 10W40 for Camry starting from 2000 models. That's y I said flush it with 20W40 and change to 10W40. Just an Old truck driver advice. To flush. I don't a sh*t about mechanics of car. You are my cheif adviser. If it's safe to flush the engine like that what else is safer.

With all the Professional advices from @Barry @desertdude I can't say much I don't know how many will agree with me. My advice buy a gallon of 20W50 4ltrs. Get the old oil removed fill in 20W40 without changing the filter drive for 100 to 500km. Go back to oil change person remove the oil check the oil while it's draining if it's good and not gunky but dirty it's as good as flush now Get your Oil change done again with 10w40 or 50 this time change filter also. You will be fine. And what can go wrong with a Camry it's a Donkey among cars. I own one

 @shadow79

4 hours ago, Barry said:

If you want a land rover you’ll have to pay for my visa because you’ll need a full time mechanic. 

@Barry what confusion I got myself into I am not buying any of them but driven both. Driving LR3 was different than LC200. On Road drive only. I am happy with my POS. But really I would love to drive LR3 OR 4 off-road.