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Sunil Mathew

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Posts posted by Sunil Mathew

  1. It was a really nice morning drive  @Islam Solimanand i am sure , everyone who joined us got an opportunity to learn a thing or two about handling their cars, shoveling, self recovery, rope recovery etc., we had it all today.  We had a really long convoy of 16 cars comprising of 

    @frederic demolder as S/L beautifully handling his BAIC BJ40 , joined by his Dad. Good to hear that he enjoyed the day, and hope to see him (and you offcourse) for our next one

    @TheUsualSuspect aka Renier, drove without any issue whatsoever, and apologies to have missed you out in our convoy line up roll call .. i need to work on my skills to "read between lines (or names)"  :D

    @Mahmut SARILI had some heating issues with his "Red Kettle" as Renier put it . Hope you had a good look at it and it gets sorted soon. An extra fan would be something to consider. I also noticed that the car struggles even on comparatively easy climbs with a lot of wheel spin. Probably try 12psi next time, as you have big and wider tyres. That car should be able to do everything what we did on Saturday, like cakewalk 🙂.  A little bit of polishing on your straight crossings , is needed to prevent "air time" like you had yesterday. Good that you are safe, and the car had no damage.

    @Amal Sunil - a fellow fortuner rider 👍, i believe you had some opportunities to understand your car. Good that you have a skid plate. A little trim on your front bumper , a kill switch and cutting off your rear mud flaps will help you a lot on higher level drives. TGet a compressor too before your next drive, as most of our drives dont end close to petrol stations. There is a very detailed review of compressors on the forum , which can be found at link below

    https://carnity.com/forums/topic/16760-the-ultimate-compressor-review-2021/#comment-95593

    @Natalia Koryakovtseva  joining back after a break did great in handling her car, couple of refusals and re-attempts must have given you some pointers to understand your car better. Hope you will sort out the tyre valve issue soon.

    @Zeeshan Patel  joining us with his F150 for the first time , must have noticed the change from the previous Y62 . Getting your car crested is very easy, and you gave us the opportunity to give a demo of a rope recovery to the whole gang 🙂. Sure, you have taken home some amount of learning , to be implemented in the next drive. Lets tame that V8 !!!  you can also probably try 12 psi on your tyres (being BFG all terrain) next drive.

    @Robk - as always flawless drive. Your offroad experience with your friends shows in the way you drive, and good to know that you enjoy taking it step by step with @Carnity. Sometimes you need a break from all those fast and furious drives up the Iftar/Super bowl, take a step back and just amble along :D.

    @Mahesh_ - hope you had a great time and a flawless drive. One pointer for you would be to try and manage the gap between you and the car in front. At times, the convoy gets too elongated and you might miss the track. Am sure , once you are accustomed to driving behind different drivers/cars, you will calibrate your style too.

    @Jeevan Koshy and @Shiju Raju - our FJ comrades of the day, had some great opportunities to put the capabilities of FJs into action, especially the ATRAC function. It looks like ATRAC is only active on 4LO, which was a new reveal for me while trying to help Jeevan. Anyhow its a very handy feature and it can get you out of most sticky situations, once you  master it. 

    @Rafey Hashmi - all of us will agree that yesterdays spotlight was on this little Jimny 😉and its driver Rafey, getting himself stuck/un-recoverable in a seemingly unassuming soft sand patch (am not sure if it qualifies as a bowl !!! 🙃)  . We tried various rope recovery angles,  but ultimately deflation to 8psi did the trick and Rafey was able to drive himself out without any rope assistance. I hope you had a very crucial moment of revelation/enlightenment  w.r.t the effect of deflation on tyre traction  👍😉

    @Dan S - the other trucker with us also managed to get himself crested and surely went through some learning moments to handle his behemoth of a car. Thanks for readily agreeing to help us with recovering @Rafey Hashmi the moment we asked you , although we did not need it at the end. Appreciate your spirit and selfless attitude!!

    Special thanks to @Ben Williams sweeping the convoy to safety and giving excellent guidance to the tail enders. 

    Hope to see you all soon 

    @frederic demolderand @Mahesh_ - in case you dont know, we have dedicated photo galleries for each drive to upload photos. Yesterdays drive's gallery can be found at  https://carnity.com/gallery/category/1872-newbie-solar-park-dubai-4-nov-2023/

     

     

    • Like (+1) 2
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    • Well Done (+2) 3
  2. Hello @TheUsualSuspect and  welcome to Carnity Offroad Club. I can see this will be your first offroad drive with us.

    I am putting out some questions on behalf of our trip lead @Islam Soliman, for you to respond to , as and when you see this post...

    • Please share your vehicle details - Make, Model, Color, and Year.
    • Do you have any prior off-road experience? If yes, pls share details.
    • Confirm your vehicle has front and rear tow hooks/eyelets.
    • Advise if you don’t have a programable radio and safety flag.
    • And confirm that you have seen MUST WATCH: NEWBIE VIDEO BRIEFING as below

     

    • Like (+1) 1
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  3. Thanks you for leading us through a nice and interesting Newbie drive @Vanessa8580....and that too without any stucks or major refusals.. Being my debut "official" support drive , i could get away without any shovel time/rope time/jack time etc :D  thanks to the route chosen, the compact sand due to recent rains and off course, exceptional driving by the whole convoy, especially the newbies  !!!

    Driving at the centre, i could see everyone doing a great job, handling their cars starting with

    @Nathan doing great at 2L , giving timely terrain warnings to everyone👍

    @Mahmut SARILI - looks like your offroad experience in Oman is evident and you were not having any issue following the convoy 👍..please get a radio for the next drive, which is really important

    @Robkalso had an uneventful drive with his gladiator 👍

    followed by @Abdulla Alkhemeiri in his Tundra handling it very well in most places, with occasional minor fishtailing on some of those side slopes, which should be easily ironed out with more practise 👍

    Two drivers , i could see very clearly were 

    @Osama M in his QX80  - you handled the car beautifully today and had good control on straight crossings. One concern, as we discussed is very low clearance between your rear wheel and wheel arch. I initially thought you were carrying some kind of heavy overlanding gear, but turns out its the hydraulic suspension. It leaves very little suspension travel , and for higher level drives it is a cause of concern, especially when driving through cross tracks, i am sure you will hit your bump stops continuously . You might want to give it a thought when you sign up for higher level/faster drives. 👍

    @Mostafa Nasef did great for most part of the drive, but needs a bit of polishing in your straight crossing skills. As we discussed, you let go of the gas too soon and tend to end up right on the top of the dune crest , almost bellied. I can see its only your 4th drive, and perfectly understandable. That feeling when you climb up and see only the sky  when you reach the top :D  -  we have all gone through it, so take your time, drive more, get accustomed to it and find the right amount of gas just to get you through it and not fly off or end up crested. 👍

     

    @lucas amat driving right behind me , had me amazed for most part of the drive, having absolutely no problem in driving through those churned, caked sand with his Jeep liberty. At many places, i really expected a refusal announcement from you :-) . Dont forget to get your flag sorted before the next drive

    Everyone behind Lucas - i could not see much of you but being the fewbie lot in a newbie drive, you were driving at the tail end  on all the churned sand , and having a couple of refusals is part of the game.

    Good to meet you all - @Mahesh_ @Martin M @Jeevan Koshy @SamBha - came in a little late and exited early due to his fuel guage issue(hope it gets sorted soon) , @Faraz94 -  at the risk of sounding cliched - you've got a really interesting/unusual car bro !! :D  @Ben Williams

    closing the convoy was our truck marshal - @Islam Soliman - good to see you back after a while, and looks like your car is up for the game now...i am sure our fewbies and newbies learnt a thing or too from all your guidances and instructions!!

    See you all soon in our next sand visit !! A few photos in the gallery  https://carnity.com/gallery/category/1866-newbie-lisaili-dubai-28-oct-2023/

    • Like (+1) 5
    • Haha (+1) 1
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  4. Great drive as usual @M.Seidam doc...always like your night and twilight drives ..

    Big Red is definitely an area where if we dont move in tandem with the lead, the drive experience goes multiple notches down...We as a convoy definitely found our rhythm yesterday and behaved as a single unit throughout the drive...good to drive with all of you @Looper @Ahmad Nerat @Senthil Kumar @Pacific and @Cha..

     

    See you next time!!

    • Like (+1) 4
  5. I also faced the same issue....horn was working intermittently, and not working at all when steering was straight.. when turned towards any side, it used to work randomly.

    The culprit was the clock spring aka spiral cable , located within the steering wheel housing 

    For the fortuner - AED 330 for original part, AED 120 for labour  🙂

    • Totally Agree (+2) 1
  6. 5 hours ago, Frederic said:

    The terrain definitely wasn’t the easiest

    Cannot agree with you more @Frederic.... seeing my name as second lead on a night drive, which was a first for me (i think), and in a terrain i have never driven before, i was consoling myself that i would anyway be following another long wheelbase car - your Patrol.......but it was shortlived ....seeing the green frog lined up when i arrived, definitely gave me the 'oops" thought bubble :D

    Like in your briefing it was really a weird unpredictable terrain with a cocktail of everything - bushes, tree stumps, soft sand, rocks, pipes!!, hoses!!!, pumps!!!, fences !!! and the cherry on top -  a gazelle at night 👇👇 (for those who can spot, or else be content with the scurrying silhouette :-) ...) 

     

    Another video when i realised i cannot follow the trooper everywhere, took a short cut, saw a bush , tried to steer clear and lo and behold  -  @Gary F calls out - 2 wheels in the air, but the Fortuner's 4LO + Diff Lock did the trick

     

    Good job on your first FB+ @Andrei S, and that too a night drive.... hope you got some pointers to take home and see you soon on the next one!!... good to drive with everyone  -  @Benjamin @Krishna R @Zulfikhar Naiyar another night drive with you guys in a short span  👍,  and great driving again with old timers - @Gok Krish @Waqas Parvez and @Zed

     

    • Like (+1) 3
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  7. @Vishnu Ramankutty   @DP1011- WRT the query  about voiding warranty, i cannot be much of a help, because i drive a 2014 model, and warranty was never a concern when modifying the car. I believe @Waqas Parvez drives a Prado which is under warranty and he has upgraded his suspensions and done other mods. probably Waqas can shed some light on how Al Futtaim views his mods. 

    For my car, which is a TRD version, the first thing i did was to strip those 2 low lying plastic lips on both front and rear bumpers. I have further trimmed the front main bumper to be higher than the wheel centre. attached photo may offer some clarity. Skid plate, UCA, suspension - done as additional mods, which are required to enjoy this hobby safely and with piece of mind for a fortuner. If you plan to trim the bumper or upgrade suspensions with extra lift, do it along with or  BEFORE you install skid plate, so that skid plate front level matches the cut bumper.

    As a separate pointer - I also carry a spare air filter with me and change after each drive, and get both filters cleaned every 2 weeks. Since i dont have a snorkel , the filter gets choked soon, and i can feel the engine slightly hunting/ rough idling after higher level drives. So you might want to give this a thought too. My whatspp - 0559498749 in case you want to have a detailed chat

     

    fort.jpg

    • Thanks (+1) 1
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  8. Excellent drive doc @M.Seidam, really enjoyed the fast pace, the bowls, innumerable criss cross/ switches and climbs… the technical area was also pretty intense , More so for me and my car, trying to save my bumpers and fuel tank guard 😀 ( lost one during a previous tech drive, going over a bush sand mound !!) …

     Great to reconnect again with all fellow drivers, and to engage in post drive chit chat  @Joji varghese @Benjamin @Senthil Kumar and @Rajiv Sam

    • Like (+1) 2
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  9. Just to add some car specific feedback,  as a  Fortuner owner myself (2014 ,V6) , I drive in "manual" gear, mainly because I like to be in control of my gearshifts. Vehicle controlled upshifts are not advisable when climbing long and steep dunes. In the older version of the car like mine, the "manual" gear selects the max top gear allowed. Eg. If you are in M4, it is same as D and the car up/down shifts with the max gear being M4. If you are in M3, the car up/down shifts automatically with max gear allowed being M3, ie. it wont upshift to M4 even if you hit the rpm limiter (resulting in the rat-a-tat-atata exhaust sound, if you have noticed) .

    So , in effect you are actually selecting your allowable top gear, while still allowing "auto" gear shifts within the range . Probably the same in all cars.

    Specifically speaking, i choose HL on transfer case, and toggle between M2 and mainly M1 for higher level drives with lot of climbs. For lower level drives with  flat areas and low dunes, M3 will do fine, but M4 is not so comfy for me.

    I have tried LL occasionally, toggling between M4 and M3 just to get a feel of it , and felt more grounded overall.

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  10. Thanks @Looper..i have changed my video settings..

    By opting "made for kids" i thought i was just declaring that it was "safe" for kids to watch..and thereby increasing the audience base 😀 and not restricting it. Because there is another option to restrict to 18 yrs or older, which i did not select........anyways...

    I see now, it was kind of counter intuitive!!

    • Like (+1) 3
  11. Thank you for the hot afternoon drive @Davie Chase through a tricky, bumpy, vegetative terrain!!

    Faqa is definitely not one of my favourite terrains going forward :D , but the drive was pretty intense at many places due to short and steep climbs, technical dunes, avoiding trees, shrubs , bushes , steps etc and keeping our cars stable on low rise side slopes, trying to get on top of ridges, negotiating sharp drops etc. I've got a scary moment of fishtailing captured on my dash cam, posting here for academic purposes 

     

    It was good to see @Islam Solimanback in action after a break, but his car had other plans, decided to boil over and shut down ...hope you get it sorted, and return to the sands to retain your title of Carnity's only LWB truck marshal!!

    @Paolo Pellegrini's drive also had to be cut short due to overheat , see you soon mate!

    Good to drive with all fellow Carnitians

    @Joseph Raju - who had to respond to a good number of terrain warnings from Davie , and reacted quickly. 

    @Pierre de Maigret - who is joining after a long break from offroading , and looks like you feel a bit rusty 

    and @Bjoern - our paths cross again, good to see you .

     

    Looking forward to more drives in this hot summer, making most of the low traffic in the dunes!!!

     

    • Like (+1) 2
    • Totally Agree (+2) 1
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