srini62

Hi sri, I am gutted that so last minutish, I am unable to join the very first 2020 newbie drive I was so looking forward to. Happy new year to all Carnity off- roaders regards srini

Wow xaf and shamil- great videos of the drive, crisp pictures, feel as if I was driving while watching- great guys. Thanks for the videos

If anyone interested in racing then ford versus Ferrari is a good movie about me mans race 1966. there is also a documentary of the same race in Netflix ford versus Ferrari wars which is also interesting. this then led me to see Le Mans 1971 - Steve McQueen movie which was a flop at the time. But I found it interesting. this then led me to watch the documentary about making of Le Mans 1971- the man and Le Mans, on the tribulations during the making of the movie. all in all good few hours spent glued to cinema screen and tv screens😁

It was good to get back with my favourite off rood club after a break. i hope I did not get speed ticket as my friend was a bit late and I was gunning on the highway to get on time and just made it. i enjoyed the drive and equally importantly my 2 friends/colleagues enjoyed the drive as much as I did. So thanks to rahimbhai for leading us. i thought I will be rusty but pleasantly surprised that I was able to remember the tips passed on to me by rahimbhai, gaurav bhai, Sri kumar, Emmanuel, Frederic and others. i remembered how awful I was on my very first drive last year and compared to that I have come some way 😁 again this is a reflection on the great guidance in this close knit group. As always the drive up the pink rock got my heart racing and revs racing more😁 finally and the very best part is rahimbhai’S aloo paratta and Karak chai. with that we returned back to Dubai to spend the night here. i will meet you all again the Friday after Xmas. thank you again for a wonderful morning regards to all srini

Hi Emmanuel, thanks. No worries. I will go in the morning newbie drive. lets see how rusty i am!!

Hi Emmanuel, this is srini. I would love to join the few or drive on Friday afternoon. Hope this is ok by you. regards srini I meant fewbie drive- damn autocorrect!!!!

I am now in al mansour tyres close to diamond park in Dubai.They have repaired my bent wheel rim and balanced that wheel. Cost 225aed. impressed with their service. thanks rahimbhai for recommending this place to me. regards srini

Just an update. i took the fjc to al nanda auto garage in midriff and found that the balance in my tyres were way off, one of the rims bent. so swopped the spare and balanced wheels and did the digital alignment and adjustment. now no vibrations. gaurav bhai- you are a genius. Thanks to you I took the car second time to The above area ,as I was not happy with the first one in Sharjah, after looking thro Carnity forums. costed me 200 dirhams. very satisfied! now to look for r16 rim to replace the slightly bent one- I am told rims come in 4s. tyres can wait till Feb next year before replacement as it will be over 5 years then. It is al nahdha auto garage

thanks gaurav. i was considering yokohama geo. but i have to admit the bfg looks mean and intimidating as a tyre on the fjc xtreme and was wondering if this was good compensation for the lack of these features in me😃🤣

Thanks. I think Toyota looked at this . Not sure if it was changed. by the way- no sand in the tyres- so no luck but to change tyres. If it persists then back to Toyota. best price I got in Sharjah was for 2019 bf Goodrich 270/70/r16-k02 tyre- 700 dirhams including tax/fitting/balancing. i am not sure if it is me or my lack of Hindi, I just got an overwhelming feeling that I am somehow being taken for a ride- I did not have cash and the guy insisted that I stay there till he gets the tires from somewhere in 5 minutes and once fixed can go together to the nearest atm. this might be ok but I just felt being pushed into buying- so I left. Probably should have waited till I saw the tires to see f new or not. i probably will try Abu Dhabi musaffah area for tires on the way back from airport on Sunday.

You are probably right. My email interest in this is because of formula 1 and tennis. I am just getting more info on this.

The wheels were originally with the car. the problem with spare at the tome was the wheel nut was stuck and we had a job to get it out of the frame from rear door.

hi gaurav, thanks for the tip. i will do this this evening, hopefully in sharjah. much appreciated.

Hi, I wonder if anyone has any experience with android set top tv boxes connected to internet which has apps like mktv pro and eagle tv apps. these i understand streams tv/movies/sports from all over world to your tv. i understand these are available in dragon mart. any ideas regarding prices and which shops i an get and any recommendation one of my trainee residents at the hospital was telling me about it but was not sure where i can get one except that it is available in dragon mart! any ideas? regards srini

Hi, My 2016 fj cruiser xtreme has vibrations between 80-110km/hour- i can feel it in the steering and passenger also feels the vibration. As it still has warranty, i took it to toyota in al ain. they changed bushes, tracking rod, something in the propeller shaft connection -all covered in warranty-thank god! but unfortunately the vibrations persist. They say that it is probably the tyres- bf goodridge-all terrain- 2015 tyres. they need changing. i was looking in the forum and both srikumar and gaurav suggested tyre shops in sharjah- with location map. is there any particular tyre shop which is recommended or do i just try a few to see who gives the best prices. i understand there is vehicle balancing as well- is there a tyre shop which will do this as well or do i take it to another place after fixing the new tyres to balance the whole vehicle? secondly- i noticed a paint chip about 2x2cm in the passenger door - you can see the under coat- is there any recommended body shop which will repair this either in al ain or sharjah or dubai. i will be in dubai this afternoon till sunday morning. many thanks for any pointers. much appreciated regards srini

congratulations emanuelle. well deserved. missing your chocolates. hope i can join one of the drives soon. regards sri

Forgot to mention- sri we missed you on the drive. hope you get better soon. best wishes srini

Where can I start- what a night! super duper! lets start right at the beginning. we deflated and moved to the start of the track and fixed our flags. Right after the start I had a refusal! Mmmm I thought... not such a great beginning. we then stopped at a great point overlooking the iftat bowl and could see many more clubs all around. gaurav bhai, rahimbhai ,Emmanuel, shamil all tried their hand successfully to climb thee bowl. The sheer number of suvs climbing the bowl at the same time was incredible. the site where we had camped-so to speak- was a hot bed of sand dunes and up and downs and the number of suvs going around here was unbelievable. At one point it looked like the Dubai Sharjah highway peak hour- seriously. it really was a wonder that there were no accidents. we broke the fast and as usually the food spread was just super- chick peas Sunday, biriyani varieties, aloo & chicken sandwich, chicken bites, meat, and emmanuel’s sweets and many more. I thought I ate very little but 1/2 hour later I was so full I wanted to just lie down and take a nap. then the drama started as we were getting ready to leave. shamil had a pop out at the foothills of the iftarbowl. Not to be outdone my left front was flat and I could not inflate it. thankfully asif bhai, Emmanuel and Aaquil helped me ( meaning they did all the work- as I had no clue of what to do- finding the leak from inside rim, jacking up the car and inflating. Thankfully it worked. so after some folks left for the exit gaurav bhai as lead and asif bhai followed by Mirza and yours truly with rahimbhai as sweep we started the drive. man o man o man- was it exciting. I was driving near blind and having the lights on low beam did not help- must have been dreaming when gaurav bhai told us on the radio to switch to high beam- anyway what is a drive without getting stuck. I did that so many times. Gaurav bhai,asif bhai and rahimbhai bhai were patient and helped me self extricate with constant tips and a shed load of shovelling sand by them/ thanks a lot. the left right twisting the wheel just doubled my biceps in that drive. it was awesome to drive at night and pretty scary- had atleast 3 hard lands after creating and a hard hit of smaller dune I did not see as I came down off one. my fjc earned its money last night. close to the end a shovel in rahimbhai’S suv got loose - probably the number of time he took it out to help me- and smacked his daughter’s head. Thankfully no major injury. we exited the desert but not without one final hard drop after a crest right near the exit. aaquil had joined me as passenger and must still be having nightmares of why he joined me. But boy, that man knows his cars. He was telling me so much about my fjc that I had no idea. Thanks a lot buddy. i am the type of guy who gets into the car starts it and point to where I go and then get lost in my thoughts. My wife says that red lights for me is just a suggestion to consider if I want to stop as apparently I sometimes ignore them. these drives with this group is teaching me so much I wish I could join on the drives each anyway, super night. I reached home by 2 am. i look forward to the next drive- probably July for me. thanks again everybody for such a memorable night

Ok. I just went with rsa and agency garages. next year I will go for the cheaper option.

Thanks gaurav. rsa seems good. Off-road,gcs,breakdown comp comes at 2480. With non agency repairs. with authorised Toyota garage repairs the amount jumps to 4200. so should I go for authorised repairs as it 2016 model and still has warranty contract for service etc Gcs is supposed to be gcc cover

That is my experience. So far comprehensive with off road and Oman and break down cover is 2887 through rsa. that looks good for me. I just might look at some more befor I decide. then to take my fjc xtreme to the inspection. last time around Thy failed the fjc stating ride height too high and I had to truck my fjc to artic trucks to check ride height and get a letter to say everything was ok and no changes needed. hope it is more straightforward this time.

Thanks syedyaseer. Will look into all your suggestions Another question- when they ask how long I have had a license- is it only Uae license or is it since when I got my original uk license ?

It is my second year in uae soon to start. i have to start looking at renewal of my insurance in June. looking through the past comments axa and new India insurance were 2 companies I am looking. are there any recommended insurance comparison websites in uae. i got fleeced (I think) for my first year insurance. In Al Ain only one company was willing to insure me. 2016 fjc xtreme cost me 4500 dirhams- no off-road cover or Oman cover. hope this time around I am a bit more lucky. lets see. any advice gratefully received

I absolutely agree that jebel hafeet Is a great place. I live within 30 minutes of driving to summit. Best spot for me is the outdoor restaurant mercure hotel late evening 8 pm having a coffee or dinner with Al Ain lights at a distance. views during the day are great. i have to admit for a bit I thought gaurav was going to give hiking route on this mountain which I have been searching for some time but what am I thinking!!!! This is an off road suv club- walking - what is that😂😂

Thanks gaurav and Emmanuel, lets hope I do not have to keep getting my points donation begging bowl out each month. look forward to seeing you all on 17 th may regards srini